Findlay Automotive Group Grants Wishes

On a Las Vegas news channel segment, well-known disc jockey John Price taps a button on an electronic wheel with varying sums of money in the multiple slots. The wheel spins and lands on $750. Just like that, the Alzheimer’s Association will receive a donation for that amount from Findlay Automotive Group.

It’s the Findlay Celebrity Spin Zone, where each month, a charity wins a donation from the Las Vegas-based group, the amount determined by the spin of the wheel.

The monthly donation is among the many charitable activities the Findlay Automotive Group supports through its corporate headquarters and individual dealerships. It’s one way the group says thank you to the communities in which it operates, Tyler Corder, the group’s chief financial officer, tells WardsAuto.

“We have been very successful and have been able to grow, and I feel like it is an obligation to give back,” Corder says.

Family-owned Findlay Auto Group spans 35 locations across five states – Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, Utah and Washington. In 2023, the group donated more than $2.1 million to local charities, up from $1.8 million in 2022, Corder says. The donations and sponsorships come from all 35 Findlay locations, plus its corporate office.

The dealerships can choose what events they want to sponsor, whether a local golf tournament or a charity walk, Corder says. The events are “things that resonate with their customers,” he says.

At the corporate level, among other donations, Findlay this year gave $100,000 to Spread the Word Nevada, a nonprofit dedicated to spreading literacy among low-income communities, and $7,750 to Signs of Hope, a nonprofit devoted to serving victims of sexual violence and human trafficking.

In deciding which charities to support, Findlay tries to sponsor organizations where someone connected to the group is personally involved, Corder says.

“We also want to make sure it is an established nonprofit,” he says. “They need to have a little bit of a track record.”

Attracting Better Employees

There is no way to accurately measure a return on investment for charitable donations. Still, the group does tie the donations in with its media announcements, including posting them on social media, Corder says.

It also allows one monthly charity to tell its story on a local TV station. “It ties us to (the charity). We think it is good for us,” he says. That charity receives the prize money from that month’s Celebrity Spin Zone.

Findlay’s employees are involved in various charitable activities, as well. Recently they worked with Three Square Food Bank in Las Vegas delivering food, Corder says.

Employees also recently collected 2,000 unopened new boxes of breakfast cereal, then lined them up in the hallway of a local elementary school. The boxes were toppled like dominoes and then were donated to students “because a lot of them don’t have anything to eat over the summertime,” Corder says.

The group’s employees were there, and “they just loved it,” he adds.

Corder credits Findlay’s charitable giving and its employees’ involvement with attracting the right kind of people to work at the group. “I think it helps us to get better employees,” he says.

Last Bastions

A few of the charitable activities he has been involved in over the years stand out for Corder. The group has long supported Miracle Flights, a Las Vegas-based nonprofit that flies children to access specialized medical care. This year, Findlay donated $8,200 to the nonprofit.

The monetary support is appreciated, Mark E. Brown, Miracle Flights’ CEO, tells WardsAuto, but Findlay Automotive Group’s help spreading awareness of his organization is equally valuable. It does so through social media, television, and community activities.

“Money makes the world go round for an organization like us, but it is heartbreaking to hear people didn’t know about us,” Brown says.  “It is an ongoing challenge to create awareness; that is where Findlay is an enormous help.”

Through Miracle Flights, Corder met Little Levi, a Mississippi teenager with a rare form of dwarfism. He has flown on Miracle Flights many times for treatment. Levi “loves cars, so we’ve taken him for a ride in a Lamborghini and a Corvette,” Corder says.

Findlay “made a young man’s dream come true,” Brown says.

Best Buddies is another charity whose work with Findlay stands out for him, Corder says. Best Buddies is dedicated to finding friendships, employment and leave for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

In 2021, Michelle Desrochers, a Findlay customer relations specialist with Down syndrome, asked Corder to run for Best Buddies Champion of the Year, which involved raising money for the organization.

“We decided we wanted to win it big,” Corder says. He and his team raised over $230,000, and Corder was the national champion that year.

The work Findlay and other dealership groups do with local charities is irreplaceable, Corder says. Many of the larger business entities in Las Vegas do little with local nonprofits, he says. “They lose their connection to the local community.”

Not so auto dealerships. “We are the last bastions of hometown businesses,” Corder says.