GIVING BACK
HDG's passion for excellence in building strong communities spills over through its dedication to giving back to the local community. Each year, the firm supports local nonprofits through community sponsorships, participation in community service projects and matching employee donations to non-profits.* Whether it’s going the extra mile for a client or hosting a toy drive, the firm’s work reflects a sense of greater purpose to work together for the benefit of the community.
Community Partners
Through the example of our senior leadership team, and firm sponsorship of events throughout the year, HDG Architects is heavily involved in supporting community groups from across the Pittsburgh region. We believe that creating strong communities is not only found in the design and creation of wonderful places, but also in helping to build up the people in our communities.
Corporate Citizenship
HDG was honored to be recognized as a winner of the 2019 Corporate Citizenship Awards by the Pittsburgh Business Times! The Corporate Citizenship Awards honors individuals and companies in western Pennsylvania for outstanding philanthropic contributions and collaborative relationships with nonprofit, civic and government organizations.
ADOPT – A – LANDMARK
As architects, our focus is on designing and building strong communities. We have a great opportunity to showcase our profession and skills through helping to keep important local landmarks and architectural icons maintained. There are examples all across our region, and truly, in any region, of historic landmarks that are in critical need of volunteers to help with their upkeep and promotion. We want future generations to continue to enjoy the rich local history and culture they provide.
To that end, in 2016, we kicked off our Adopt-A-Landmark program by volunteering at one of the most recognized architectural landmarks in the world, Fallingwater in Mill Run, PA. In 2017, we found an opportunity practically in our own backyard, giving a day of service to the Woodville Plantation near Bridgeville, PA. In 2018, we volunteered at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, a historic landmark and real community treasure in Carnegie, PA, just minutes from our office. In 2019, we volunteered at the architecturally significant Emmanuel Episcopal Church on Pittsburgh’s North Side, a National Historic Landmark. In 2021, we volunteered at Allegheny Land Trust’s Historic Walker-Ewing Log House in Oakdale, PA. We have provided services such as weeding, mulching, edging, gardening, building fences, leveling planting beds and gravel parking lots, tree trimming, resetting railroad ties, cleaning, and helping with a mosaic mural. Most recently, in 2023, we volunteered at The Oliver Miller Homestead in South Park, PA. Along with Oliver Miller volunteers, HDG employees completed interior cleaning of the homestead and various outdoor landscaping tasks, including the widening of footpaths, staining outdoor furniture, and general landscaping.
We are looking forward to many days and years of service in the future, and encourage our fellow architecture firms to join us and ‘Adopt-a-Landmark’ to help highlight our profession’s great work and commitment to the community!
AIA Pittsburgh: When Architects Give Back, Part 1
Pittsburgh Business Times: Around Town N’at: HDG “Adopt a Landmark” Event
HDG Article: HDG Holds Fourth Annual Adopt-a-Landmark at Emmanuel Episcopal Church
Signal Item Article: Adopt Our Landmark
HDG Article: Hayes Design Group Holds Third Annual Adopt-a-Landmark at the Carnegie Carnegie
Pittsburgh Business Times: After Hours N’At Featuring Pittsburgh Companies
HDG Article: Hayes Design Group Holds Second Annual Adopt-a-Landmark at Woodville Plantation
HDG Article: Hayes Design Group Kicks-Off Adopt-a-Landmark Program at Fallingwater
Holiday Toy Drive
For HDG staff, the holiday gift buying season includes an annual holiday toy drive. Since 2015, the firm has donated clothes, books, and toys to several charity organizations. The drives in which we participate give us the names and ages of actual children whom we are purchasing for, providing a very personal connection to the effort. We also enjoy wrapping the gifts as a firm while enjoying a holiday film or music. Sponsoring groups have included St. Paul of the Cross Monastery (Pittsburgh), the East End Cooperative Mission, and the Appalachian Christmas Gift Drive. With matching funds from the firm augmenting staff donations, from 2015 through 2022, the firm has raised over $3,500 in cash to augment the physical gifts.
HDG Article: HDG Shares the Magic of Christmas Morning With Annual Christmas Gift Drive
HDG Article: HDG Gets Into the Holiday Spirit By Wrapping Presents for Local Children
The Almanac: The Spirit of Giving is Alive at the Hayes Group
Crossroads Scholar Corporate Sponsorship Program
For the last two years, HDG participated in the Crossroads Foundation’s Corporate Sponsorship Program. The program is a meaningful mentoring and internship experience that matches eleventh grade Crossroads scholars with working professionals at sponsoring companies in the greater Pittsburgh area. Corporate sponsors assist in funding a scholar’s junior and senior year scholarship plus provide a constructive summer internship to help ensure success after graduation for these high school students. This emphasis on exposure and exploration enables scholars to survey a wide breadth of post-secondary options, connect with professionals and gain hands-on experience in their career fields of interest, and prepare for the transition to college and the professional workplace.
HDG Article: Crossroads Scholar Completes 2019 Internship at HDG
HDG Article: Crossroads Scholar Completes 2018 Internship at HDG
Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership Spring Cleanup
In May of 2015, associates from HDG Architects participated in the annual Spring clean-up effort hosted by the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. The group from HDG armed with their rakes, shovels, rubber gloves and garbage bags spent the morning cleaning up the Allegheny Riverfront, under the Ft. Duquesne entrance ramp to I-276, collecting garbage and cleaning the concrete walk along the river.