FirstBank, one of the nation’s largest privately held banks with numerous banking locations in Arizona, announced that Peanut Butter Americano (PBA) was Arizona’s grand prize winner of their “$20K Good Business Giveaway” contest.

With FirstBank’s tagline of ‘banking for good’ in mind, several hundred businesses submitted a video demonstrating how they “do good,” for their communities, customers, or employees. Five Arizona finalists were selected, and their videos were entered into a round of public voting. At the end of the voting period, PBA received the most votes of all the Arizona businesses and was declared the winner.

“Peanut Butter Americano ties into our goals of bettering communities,” said Joel Johnson, President-East Valley for FirstBank. “We congratulate them on winning the $20K Good Business Giveaway. It was a pleasure to celebrate with them today.”

PBA was founded by Jeff Malkoon in 2013 after a trip to Uruguay that inspired him to create delicious, good-for-you nut butters that give back to the world. Today, he and his sister Denise run the business, and they offer a variety of products that are made to order using non-GMO, U.S. sourced nuts.

“We plan to use the winnings to expand our giving mission and to create awareness online for what we do to reach new markets,” said Jeff Malkoon, Head Nut at PBA. “And, of course, we’ll continue to make a positive impact.”

In addition to winning $20,000, FirstBank will work with PBA to promote and feature their business on a variety of online, email, and social channels as part of a larger effort to bring awareness to their organization and help grow their customer-base.

“We just felt so privileged to have the chance to participate in this contest and to be recognized as a business that does good, so thank you FirstBank for this opportunity,” said Malkoon.

The runner up in the Arizona contest was Practical Art in Phoenix, and they will receive a $2,500 cash prize from FirstBank. FirstBank also awarded a grand prize package to Colorado business Knotty Tie Co. and a runner up prize to CANNED GOODS.