Company Giving: Doing Good That’s Good for Business
Big and small businesses are constantly the target of charity giving requests. While it’s good to give, it also can be good for business.
I believe in giving as both an individual and as a corporate responsibility. When I was PR Manager of McKesson Corporation President Tom Drohan and Chairman Neil Harlan launched an initiative in San Francisco to create a 2 per cent club, giving 2 per cent of pre-tax profits to charitable causes. We did a lot of good. I think our focus was “cultural.” Among other causes, McKesson funded an 11-city tour for the San Francisco Symphony.
Companies big and small — and I’m including consultants — are getting better at creating giving programs that match their business focus, i.e. they may be aimed at healthcare, children, safe water or the environment.
By tying giving to business goals, you can advance the quality of life in the community as well as advance your own business interests.
One of our clients, Redwood Investments of Wachovia Securities in Fort Bragg, California, gave generously and frequently to a wide variety of causes. They rarely got much “press” and the giving wasn’t aimed at their target audience. And that was getting to be a problem. For example, they gave $10,000 for a high school stadium sign. After more than a year, their names still were not on the sign, which means their community investment has gotten no recognition. And the parents of the kids who are going to benefit are not Redwood Investments’ target, i.e. they have little investment money. While you can argue that these are the investors and clients of the future it that doesn’t help meet current business goals.
To help the Redwood Investments partners get control of their giving so that it does reach target clients, as well as helping managing donation requests (which inundated the partners), we created the Redwood Investments Community Grant Program and blog.
To apply for a grant, you must visit their website blog (another business goal was to get people to come see their services). The application is very short and allows requests for grants of up to $750. Grants total about $1,000 a month or $12,000 a year, versus up to twice that much in the past. However, this new managed program makes a bigger impact on the community and business by matching grants to potential client groups.
Our internal rules are this:
•Grants must be to major target audiences (to generate new business).
•Grantees must allow a Redwood Investments partner present the grant check in person (puts them in front of potential clients).
•Grants must issue a news release to the local press, which we write and they approve. It’s just two paragraphs with a quote about who benefits (less self-serving than if it comes from Redwood Investments.
The first two months, Redwood Investments received 10 grant requests and made five grants ranging from $250 to $800. Recipients have been very please. One organization that didn’t get a grant praised Redwood Investments for making a good choice — an unexpected positive.
So far, the program is working well and Redwood Investments is doing good, while doing well.
A side benefit: when asked to make a contribution, they are off the hook: they can honestly say they have a grant program, direct people to the website where they can apply. No one is put off and their appear to be white knights for creating the program.