Join our Partner Program
Let’s Work Together To Serve the Car Community
Our Partner Program is a tax deductible way businesses can support skilled trade education for future collector car technicians and serve the grassroots needs of the car enthusiast community. The program is open to all organizations that want to support our mission and help create a sustainable future for the collector car industry.
The Need for Skilled Trade Education
There is a skilled labor shortage in the collector car industry. It’s estimated that for every 20 job openings, there is only one restoration technician graduating from a training program.
More than 50% of the 3,000+ restoration shops in the United States need to hire at least one technician right now. This year, 1,425 job openings may go unfilled due to the lack of qualified technicians. The biggest threat to the collector car industry is not climate change or electric motors, it’s a 65-year-old restoration technician about to retire with no one ready to take their place.
A Solution We Can Build Together
The Piston Foundation is working to end the labor shortage and stop the loss of car craft skills by building scholarship and apprenticeship programs that create sustainable career paths into the trades of the collector car industry. To do this, we need partners like you.
Be our partner in this community solution
There are three levels of partnership available, each can be aligned with your organization’s philanthropic and social responsibility goals.
Promotional Partners
Promotional partners support our mission by helping build awareness.
Promotional partners benefit from the positive impression and goodwill created by their support within the car enthusiast community. Promotional partners can be publishers, media outlets, and brands who want to help build awareness of the Piston Foundation by sharing our mission and brand with their audiences.
Spring
Application
Open
Sept 15, 2022
Application
Deadline
Nov 15, 2022
Award
Announcements
Jan 15, 2023
Giving Partners
Giving partners are businesses who support the Piston Foundation mission through direct gift giving.
Each $5,000 gift funds a Piston Fund scholarship for a student beginning their career in the collector car industry by attending a two- or four-year automotive skilled trade program.
Giving partners are recognized in our scholarship award process. Through this recognition, giving partners benefit from the positive impression and good will created by their support for the Foundation, skilled trade education, and the grassroots needs of the car enthusiast community.
Custom CSR Partners
For organizations that want a more active, integrated role with the Piston Foundation, a corporate social responsibility (CSR) partnership provides a unique opportunity to align your philanthropic goals with those of your car enthusiast customers.
Consumers are considering the ethics of the companies they buy from. Businesses that give back may be appreciated, but businesses that consciously give to their community of customers are loved. A CSR partnership with the Piston Foundation can be that difference.
Financial Transparency
Launched in January of 2021, we are proud to have received a Gold Transparency seal from Guidestar in our first year of operations. Read our 2021 Annual Report and review our 2021 financial reporting.
Become Our
Partner
IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN Becoming a Piston foundation Partner, OR JUST WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT IT, GET IN TOUCH THROUGH THE FORM BELOW.
From the Piston Blog
Caffeine and Carburetors Supports the Car Community
In 1995, Doug Zumbach started Caffeine and Carburetors, a gathering of car enthusiasts on Sunday mornings outside Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee. This year, Doug has invited The Piston Foundation to be a charity sponsor and we couldn’t be more honored to be a part of this iconic, epic, car community event.
The Piston Foundation Partners with Lime Rock Park
The Piston Foundation announced a new partnership with Lime Rock Park in which both parties will have an active role in providing automotive career opportunities for talented men and women who want to learn and practice the skilled trades needed by the car enthusiast community.
The Cavallino Classic and Our Common Cause
Piston Foundation CEO, Robert P. Minnick, reports on our growing partnership with the Cavallino Classic and Canossa Events, and our shared commitment, with Canossa Chairman Luigi Orlandini, to bring more young people into the collector car industry through skilled trade career opportunities.
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Updates
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