This year, the Mister Tranmission tournament raised $18,000 for a variety of causes, including food banks, youth mental health initiatives, and wildfire relief efforts across Canada. CEO Tony Kuczynski says an important part of how they decide which causes to support is the ongoing participation of franchisees.

Getting together over a round of golf to raise money for good causes is a strong tradition in the aftermarket, but there’s more at play than just errant drives and raising money: it’s a great opportunity to connect.

Mister Transmission’s 36th Annual Charity Tournament is a great example of how organizations can make a difference for causes—and for their own community.

“Relationship building is so important in business and, and it just makes work and life much more pleasurable,” says CEO Tony Kuczynski. “We have franchisees from across the country. We also have many of key vendors who come.

“It’s a great chance for us to talk and have some fun. And there’s always some business done at the same time. It’s really about friendship and camaraderie and a good time and, and for a good cause.”

This year, the tournament raised $18,000 for a variety of causes, including food banks, youth mental health initiatives, and wildfire relief efforts across Canada.

Kuczynski says an important part of how they decide which causes to support is the ongoing participation of franchisees.

“Back when I joined eight years ago, we looked at how we were handling charity and there was a lot of discussion around the particular charities we supported in the past. We really couldn’t get everybody behind a particular charity.

“So, we started up the Mister Transmission Charitable Fund, which is focused on children and youth in our local communities, and it focuses on supporting them from a health, hardship, community and education perspective.

“And every August we reach out to our stores and ask them if they know of kids that looking for scholarships for post-secondary. We actually we get a lot of our technicians and staffs’ kids that we support.”

“So, it’s a great event, an opportunity for people to get together, to do something fun, raise some money, and get the money back into our local communities for children and youth.”

He says that community approach also works to help emphasize the local ownership of Mister Transmission stores—and lifts the brand too.

“Fortunately for us our brand, Mister Transmission, has been around for 61 years. Transmission repair is expensive, unplanned, unbudgeted. When you have that kind of problem, your local mechanic doesn’t do that kind of work. We want them to think of Mister Transmission as somebody they can trust. Someone’s going to treat you like a friend and someone’s going to look after you.

“And I would say giving back to your community sends the right message. It’s not why we do it, but it’s one of the benefits. People see Mister Transmission doing good things. I think about other companies, one example, Tim Hortons. They’ve got their hockey, and they’ve got their camps, and how can you not feel good about an organization doing those kinds of things?”