The White Dog Café has a mission to fully serve. This means 1) serving customers, 2) serving the community, 3) serving each other, and 4) serving the earth. These efforts are so central to the restaurant that founder Judy Wicks jokes: “we use good food to lure innocent customers into social activism.” But it is hardly a joke.

The White Dog Café is one of those businesses that seems to be supporting everything. A quick visit to its website will leave you almost overwhelmed with all the causes it supports and initiatives it has going on. Just a quick list: organic farming, conflict in Darfur, Living Wage (a $9 minimum wage for employees because it finds the $5.15 cut off unrealistic), racial profiling, water management, urban sprawl, HIV/AIDS, US foreign policy, underrepresented artists, & and the list goes on. There is however some method to the madness, at least in how it tackles these causes.

The Café has a three pronged approach to encouraging social activism and local community development: it supports local causes with events and programming at the Café, it arranges educational tours and partnerships, and it has a separate Foundation. Programming at the Café itself consists of everything from art exhibits to dinner discussions and book readings. A newsletter goes out to customers every three months listing the programs going on in the near future.

In this sense, the Café merely serves as a catalyst and vehicle for local groups to express their opinions and raise support. It also has the effect of building business with customers whose values are aligned with those of the White Dog Café: “they come here not because they are hungry for food, but because they are hungry for a sense of community or a sense of being involved with something bigger than themselves.”

This approach combined with top quality food (and top tier prices) has led the restaurant to gross over $5 million a year. It also proactively seeks relationships with other restaurants and non-profits. The Café has both local and international sister restaurants, encouraging customers to visit women or minority-owned sister restaurants and taking groups to other sister restaurant countries to learn about US foreign policy.

Other educational endeavors include tours around Philadelphia to look at what various non-profits, such as community mural initiatives, are up to. Rather than choosing specific causes, the Café tries to address all issues it can, from what’s in the news to what local group needs their voice heard.

Unlike programming at the Café, the White Dog Café Foundation is cause-focused. 20% of restaurant profits go to the Foundation and its mission of building a local living economy. Its two primary programs are: Fair Food and the Sustainable Business Network. Both of these programs give grants and philanthropic consulting to local and sustainable businesses. For example last year they gave out four $10,000 grants to local farmers trying to move towards sustainable agriculture practices.

Judy Wicks is also the president of the Foundation. She founded the Café and Foundation with the priority of connecting her values and her work: “I don’t have time to do all the things I care about on the weekends or after work, so I need to integrate it into my work life.”

By Louise Doyle

Based on the Susan Hyatt’s audio interview with Judy Wicks, owner and founder White Dog Café and president of the White Dog Café Foundation.

More information on the White Dog Café can be found at: http://www.whitedog.com/
More information on the White Dog Café Foundation can be found at: http://www.whitedogcafefoundation.com/

To understand the impact that New Belgium has on local communities, one need only visit its brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is a bustling hub of activity: employees are biking to and around the facilities, Colorado tourists are visiting for a tour of one of the most environmentally friendly breweries, locals are biking in to refill their re-usable beer jugs to prevent wasting and drink tap beer at home, and there are preparations under way for the night-time ‘bike-in movie’ on the side of the building.

This is only a small part of community efforts made by the company. It was founded by a social worker and electrical engineer in 1991. The couple and now company have maintained this combination of values through its growth, emphasizing that community efforts are not only philanthropy, but also a fundamental part of the worker-owned company. Employees even receive half their hourly wage for volunteering.

Two of its biggest programs are donations to local non-profits pegged to barrel production and sales, and a biking/beer/fundraiser event called ‘Tour de Fat’.

For every barrel of beer produced, New Belgium donates one dollar to local non-profits, totaling over $1.6 million since its inception. In order to make sure that funds are going back into communities proportionately, it pegs donations per state based on sales in that state. Areas of giving fall into four main categories: environmental, social, cultural, and drug and alcohol awareness.

The process of decision making regarding donations has also added value internally to the company. The Philanthropy Board to review grant applications and award funds consists of interested employees who volunteer on the board. Anyone can join, from beer packagers to management. This has not only served to help the corporate culture but also to empower employees, showing that the company belongs to everyone and that all employees have decision-making power.

There is a grant application on its website, and all applications are considered and reviewed annually. This process ensures that all non-profits interested are considered, and that networking relationships don’t hold too much power. Furthermore, rather than auditing non-profits regarding what they did with funds, all organizations are required to re-apply every year, encouraging a dialogue.

In new communities where its name is not yet out there, New Belgium often has trouble finding enough non-profits to fill its quota. In these cases they do two things: rely on the ground sales force to look around and get the information out there, and cosponsor events with local non-profits.

One example of these events is the ‘Tour de Fat,’ a ‘fun bike festival’ named after New Belgium’s most popular beer, Fat Tire. Local nonprofits, often bicycle advocacy groups, are designated to receive all proceeds from beer and t-shirt sales, and local bands perform. As the beer grows so also does this festival, happening in 11 cities this year. 

These festivals are consistent with New Belgium’s efforts to be involved in the local community, and serve as a marketing tool for the company. Considering it almost a ‘cult’ of beer drinkers, they help New Belgium tap into groups of people looking for a good product that also does good in society.

While a bike festival may seem an odd event for a beer company, it is consistent with the foundations of the company. Fat Tire beer refers to the tire on a bicycle and was conceived on a bike trip through Belgium. All employees are given a bicycle for their 1-year anniversary at New Belgium. This community of cyclists ties New Belgium to its community fundraising events, and its community of consumers.

These activities are a central part of the legacy that New Belgium founders and employees want to leave behind. Great beer, great people, and strong involvement.

Summary by Louise Doyle.
Based on Susan Hyatt’s audio interview with Brian Simpson, media relations at New Belgium. To listen to the full interview:
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<p>More information on New Belgium can be found at: http://www.newbelgium.com/

More and more companies are helping their employees be involved in the community & empowering them to do more. Four main trends have recently been in the news. With the growth of business philanthropy and community involvement, companies are using their greatest resource – their employees – to help fuel change. Four general ways to do this are to: *donate employee brainpower *employ people in the community *employ those in need *recognize and reward employees who go the extra mile Regardless of the magnitude of projects, they can have the effect of building longer-lasting community relationships and empowering employees to help. Example 1: In a follow up to its survey showing that non-profits need more donated intellectual capital, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP kicked off its annual volunteer day. It introduced a new approach, however, and many employees volunteered by consulting with non-profits regarding internal challenges. Example 2: ExxonMobil partnered with Volunteer Center of North Texas to launch a Community Summer Jobs Program for college students. This program helps employ summer interns at local non-profits, and pays for their attendance at local career development workshops. Example 3: A Colorado construction company, UNI Design tries hard to give people a second chance through the hiring process, hiring some of its employees from correctional facilities. Example 4: Time Warner hosts an annual event dedicated solely to awards for outstanding employee contributions to the community and public service: the Andrew Heiskell Community Service Awards. Honorees are recognized in front of the whole company, and receive money to donate to the charity of their choice. For more information visit the CSR Wire Press Releases at: http://www.csrwire.com/PressRelease.php?id=5733 (Deloitte) http://www.csrwire.com/PressRelease.php?id=5731 (ExxonMobil) http://www.csrwire.com/PressRelease.php?id=5721 (Time Warner) Deloitte homepage: www.deloitte.com ExxonMobil homepage: http://www.exxonmobil.com UNIDesign homepage: http://www.uni-design.com/ Time Warner homepage: http://www.timewarner.com