SupplyHouse moves its trades scholarships and giving under a new foundation

Twenty scholarship winners split $50,000 from SupplyHouse.com in 2024. This spring the online distributor launched a foundation to bring that program and its other giving under one structure.

SupplyHouse announced the SupplyHouse Foundation in late April from its Melville, New York headquarters, Contracting Business reported. The company described it as a single hub for its philanthropy, pulling scholarships, community partnerships and workforce development programs into one structure aimed at plumbing, HVAC and electrical workers.

According to Contracting Business, the foundation will serve as a central hub for SupplyHouse's philanthropic efforts, bringing scholarships, community partnerships and workforce development programs under a single structure. Its president is Kaylin Staub, who is also chief marketing officer at SupplyHouse.

What the foundation actually consolidates

Contracting Business listed three initial priorities. The first is expanding access to trades education through Track to the Trades, the company's existing scholarship program. The second is supporting nonprofits that work in local trade communities, and the third is building entry pathways for people who are not yet in the workforce.

None of that is new activity. What is new is the wrapper. SupplyHouse said the foundation is meant to support long-term workforce development by widening access to training and career opportunities, according to Contracting Business, which reads as a commitment to keep funding these programs rather than treating them as year-by-year marketing campaigns.

Kaylin Staub is president of the foundation and also chief marketing officer at SupplyHouse, per Contracting Business. Staub said in the announcement that customers and the trades community sit at the center of the company's work and framed the foundation as a deeper commitment to giving back to the people who keep the industry running. The announcement does not spell out how day-to-day foundation work is divided from her marketing role.

Staub holds both titles, president of the foundation and chief marketing officer at SupplyHouse, which sells more than 280,000 plumbing, HVAC and electrical supplies online, according to Contracting Business.

The 2024 numbers

The foundation did not start from zero. In December 2024, SupplyHouse.com reported that its community outreach for the year put more than $90,000 into trades-aligned partnerships, according to the company's announcement on PR Newswire.

Track to the Trades is the company's flagship community outreach initiative. The company awarded $50,000 in scholarships to 20 recipients, per PR Newswire. Recipients were chosen on demonstrated commitment to the trades and their potential to contribute to the industry, and the full winner list is published through bold.org.

The 2024 money also went to four named organizations: Operation Tiny Home, Miracle Mechanical, the PHCC Educational Foundation and Tools & Tiaras, according to PR Newswire. Christine Boehm, SupplyHouse.com's content marketing and communications team lead, said at the time that the scholarship program was a key piece of the company's corporate social responsibility vision and a way to create career pathways for recipients.

SupplyHouse.com described its footprint on PR Newswire as four fulfillment centers across the United States. According to PR Newswire, the company's 2024 community outreach campaigns provided over $90,000 to industry-aligned partnerships, with $50,000 of that going to Track to the Trades scholarships.

Neither source states a 2025 total or a budget for the new entity.

Why the structure matters more than the dollar amount

Corporate giving that lives inside a marketing department tends to move with the marketing calendar. Giving that lives inside a foundation with its own president tends to have a name, a mailing address and a reason to still exist next year. SupplyHouse's stated goal of long-term workforce development, as reported by Contracting Business, suggests the company wanted the second kind.

In 2024, Track to the Trades awarded $50,000 in scholarships to 20 recipients, according to a December 2024 SupplyHouse.com release. The sources do not state an application cadence for the program under the foundation.

SupplyHouse sells more than 280,000 products online to the plumbing, HVAC and electrical trades, according to Contracting Business. PR Newswire describes SupplyHouse.com as an e-commerce company headquartered in Melville, New York, with four fulfillment centers across the United States. According to Contracting Business, the company says the foundation is focused on supporting the skilled trades workforce and strengthening local communities.

How a contractor or training director can plug into this

• Check the Track to the Trades listing on bold.org for the current application window and eligibility criteria before pointing an apprentice or student toward it.
• If a shop already works with the PHCC Educational Foundation, Operation Tiny Home, Miracle Mechanical or Tools & Tiaras, ask those organizations whether SupplyHouse Foundation support continues into 2026 and what it funds locally.
• Contractors evaluating supplier relationships can ask their distributor reps, including SupplyHouse, what workforce programs they fund and whether local nonprofits can apply, since Contracting Business reports nonprofit support is one of the foundation's three initial priorities.

Neither source publishes a giving total under the foundation's name. The most recent public figure is the more than $90,000 SupplyHouse.com reported for 2024, according to PR Newswire. Contracting Business reports that, in the company's words, the foundation aims at long-term workforce development, with the goal of widening access to training and to career paths throughout the trades.