I am in the process of finishing up my book, Strategic Business Giving: How Smart Companies Grow Their Bottom Line by Giving Back.  It will be published this fall by Love Your Life Publishing.  Christine Kloser, owner and author herself, has had her graphic artist working on my book cover.  And I remain confused which direction to go…

Which of these do you like?  I would appreciate your input.  Please leave me a comment.  Thanks!

Cover - Option 1

Cover - Option 2

I continue to ponder the effects of this Wall Street mess on business philanthropy as I watch friends of mine whose hard earned investments are evaporating seemingly over night!  What is true is that at times like this there is a tendancy for everyone to tighten the belt - one way many companies choose to do that is by reducing their charitable giving.  But what a Catch 22!  Giving is down right at the time that the need for assistance skyrockets!  While on one hand such a reaction is understandable, staying “in the game” is also important.  Not only can your company truly “do good” at times like this but your reputational capital in the community and among customers and employees can be truly strengthened by continuing to give back, even if in smaller ways than previously.

Dollars are down for social service programs from all sources – federal grants, foundations, individuals, businesses…  There was an article in yesterday’s New York Times that I found interesting - Economy Expected to Take a Toll on Charitable Giving by GERALDINE FABRIKANT.  In the article, Fabrikant states, “Foundations are required by law to give away at least 5 percent of their assets a year. But when their assets shrink, their donations tend to shrink as well. Gathering enough money to return to their previous level is often hard.  At the same time, individual and corporate gifts to foundations and other charities generally slow during hard times. According to research prepared by Giving USA, donations did not keep pace with inflation for three consecutive years around two economic slumps, in 1973 and 2001.”

So maybe you don’t have dollars to give right now but stay calm – your company has other resources it can share with worthy nonprofits – many of which you probably take for granted.  Maybe you know how to prepare press releases, collect customer satisfaction data, set up bookkeeping systems, develop and manage databases, have a conference room or parking lot you could loan out…the list of possibilities is long if you think out of the box about your assets.

One problem is that as nonprofits feel the pinch, there is a tendency for them to default to begging for cash which you may not have available.  The dialogue of how you could partner to benefit both organizations and share some other resource you have can be cut short prematurely unintentionally.  If you are approached for a cash donation, if you don’t have cash, you can’t give.  But if it is a cause or organization you want to support, take the time to explore other possibilities and needs they may have.  Get beyond the knee jerk reaction of saying times are tough, how can they ask for money when we are sucking air here and your guilt at having to say no – to seeing what IS possible.

Your company can’t support all the worthy groups out there.  One pack of hotdog buns to every nonprofit that asks doesn’t really make much of a difference.  During times like these, it is essential that your company be very strategic and creative about how you give back.  Being strategic does not mean taking advantage or being crass and inauthentic.  It is certainly more than OK to develop giving criteria and say no to the masses.  Focusing your efforts on a small number of nonprofits that you have some mission connection with can allow you to make a greater difference – both in the community and show that you are one of the “good companies” that didn’t cut and run when times got tough.

Rethink your business giving but please, don’t cut it off completely!  Be part of the solution in whatever ways you can!!

Yesterday, in my Google Alerts for Business Philanthropy, I got a link to an article on Rethinking Business Social Responsibility posted by DanS on Political Groove Forums.  It turned out to be something I had already read sometime back but I think it is interesting to read, if you have not already done so.  DanS provides a transcript of the dialogue that between Whole Foods CEO John Mackey and world famous economist Milton Friedman and Cypress (semiconductor) CEO T.J. Rodgers.

Mackey states, “there can be little doubt that a certain amount of corporate philanthropy is simply good business and works for the long-term benefit of the investors. For example: In addition to the many thousands of small donations each Whole Foods store makes each year, we also hold five 5% Days throughout the year. On those days, we donate 5 percent of a store’s total sales to a nonprofit organization. While our stores select worthwhile organizations to support, they also tend to focus on groups that have large membership lists, which are contacted and encouraged to shop our store that day to support the organization. This usually brings hundreds of new or lapsed customers into our stores, many of whom then become regular shoppers. So a 5% Day not only allows us to support worthwhile causes, but is an excellent marketing strategy that has benefited Whole Foods investors immensely.”

Friedman stated, “I believe Mackey’s flat statement that “corporate philanthropy is a good thing” is flatly wrong. Consider the decision by the founders of Whole Foods to donate 5 percent of net profits to philanthropy. They were clearly within their rights in doing so. They were spending their own money, using 5 percent of one part of their wealth to establish, thanks to corporate tax provisions, the equivalent of a 501c(3) charitable foundation, though with no mission statement, no separate by-laws, and no provision for deciding on the beneficiaries. But what reason is there to suppose that the stream of profit distributed in this way would do more good for society than investing that stream of profit in the enterprise itself or paying it out as dividends and letting the stockholders dispose of it? The practice makes sense only because of our obscene tax laws, whereby a stockholder can make a larger gift for a given after-tax cost if the corporation makes the gift on his behalf than if he makes the gift directly. That is a good reason for eliminating the corporate tax or for eliminating the deductibility of corporate charity, but it is not a justification for corporate charity.”

So just a little tension, eh? They both had a lot more to say than the small pieces I pulled for you.  Read the whole thing and see which parts of these positions resonate with you!  Of course, I am on the side of strategic business philanthropy being an essential component of business social responsibility.  I also believe, especially in light of recent issues on Wall Street, it is only good that there is rising peer and consumer pressure on companies to rethink their values and operating practices and give consideration to the Triple Bottom Line – not profit at any cost.

Last year, the Corporation for National and Community Service (the federal agency promoting service and volunteerism for which I have been a trainer/consultant for 14 years) and the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation launched an exciting new initiative, A Billion + Change to increase corporate pro bono service in support of nonprofits nationally.

I was in DC this week helping run the State Service Commissioner Institute for governor-appointed representatives from Commissions on National and Community Service that promote service and volunteerism and administer AmeriCorps at the state level.  Shannon Maynard,  Executive Director of the President’s Council, did an update on Pro Bono for the commission executive directors that I was unfortunately unable to attend but I picked up one of the extra brochures on the initiative that she left behind.  I am in the process of trying to set up an interview with Shannon who I have known for years to get more specifics of the initiative so I can share the details with you.

In the meantime, here is a brief overview.  The brochure cover gave a definition of pro bono: “Pro bono service uses the specific skills of professionals to strengthen nonprofits and communities in need.  Latin “for the public good,” pro bono refers to professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment as a public service.”

“Why Pro bono?  Pro bono service is a powerful way for companies to increase their value.  Once the sole purview of law firms, pro bono service combines business strategy and corporate giving to achieve meaningful results for communities.  For decades, businesses have given financial contributions and organized volunteer projects, but the concept of providing and applying corporate expertise and intellectual capital to the world’s biggest challenges is gathering tremendous momentum.”

The brochure goes on to state…”extensive research proves that pro bono:

• benefits your bottom line
• attracts investors
• improves your market share
• builds your brand
• expands your ROI on corporate philanthropy
• enhances your recruitment and improves staff morale.”

In my forthcoming book, Strategic Business Philanthropy, I have a whole section which outlines the myriad ways businesses can engage strategically with nonprofits to maximize impact for both organizations.  Pro bono service is of course one important way that companies can share their expertise and perhaps make a greater difference than they could through checkbook philanthropy alone.

What specialized skills do you have as a company that you could offer to strengthen the capacity of a nonprofit whose work and mission you believe in?

This was the title of an ad I saw in the 9/22/2008 edition of USA Today while I was in DC working with AmeriCorps.  The ad is for a special event, Eat With Your Paws for a Good Cause, on September 24, 2008 sponsored by WholeMeals Food for Dogs and LA’s restaurant, The Farm of Beverly Hills at the Grove.  You can either make a reservation for a free “hands on” eating experience with your dog at the restaurant (with a donation being made by the WholeMeals company to Much Love Animal Rescue.  Or, you can buy WholeMeals Food for Dogs until October 31st to use at home and the company will make a donation to needy animal shelters nationwide.

The ad had several lines of fine print which I found interesting…and made me wonder how much a nearly full page color ad costs in USA Today…looks like some where on the area of $143,000???  Anyway, the fine print says that the restaurant event will result in a total donation of $10,000 and the donation associated with buying bags of food at the pet store was buy one-give one, i.e., for every bag of food you buy, they will donate a bag of food to a shelter up to a value ot $250,000 (aggregate retail value).  

So…nice ad that cost $143K, they will sell product, got good PR and the donation is $260K.  How do the numbers look to you?

I have been thinking a lot lately about the impact of tough economic times on smaller businesses and their philanthropy - the subject of Carol Tice’s article in October’s Entrepreneur Magazine for which she interviewed me.  However, this morning in the USA Today was an article by Emily Bazar and Dennis Cauchon, Financial mayhem hurts non-profits, foundations.  Watching the news about the market situation last week, until I read this article, I now realize that it had not yet fully clicked through for me the impact this volatility was having not only on businesses but also on community foundations and nonprofits that invest in the stock market.  The article talks about the greatest impact being on those community organizations that rely on endowments and donations as they are expected to decline - resulting in lower payouts from foundations in upcoming years because of what is happening now. 

The article talks about the role of diversification of financial portfolios as a way to minimize losses…however the  closing quote from John Griswold, executive director of the Commonfund Institute, stated that “Diversification has been the name of the game in endowments, and that’s good,” he says.  “The problem is, in a crisis like this, everything can go down and diversification doesn’t help.”

To read the full article, click here.

Sitting here still minding my own business at Peaberry Coffee working on my book and I see this group of young hotties setting up a table outside…what is going on?  Then I remember the sign I saw on the back of the ladies’ bathroom door…that from 9 am -12 pm today, Colorado Firefighters would be outside Peaberry Coffee on 2nd in Denver’s Cherry Creek to sign their 2009 calendar to raise money for the Children’s Hospital through the nonprofit Fired Up for Kids.

Fired Up for Kids’ website says, “The Colorado Firefighter Calendar is produced and created by Fired Up For Kids, a non-profit organization. Fired Up For Kids donates all proceeds received from special events and sales of the Colorado Firefighter Calendar to The Children’s Hospital Burn Center, who is committed to providing the highest standard of burn care to neonates, infants, children, and adolescents up to 21 years of age in the Rocky Mountain region. To date, Fired Up For Kids has raised more than $250,000. For more information about The Children’s Hospital Burn Center, visit www.thechildrenshospital.org.” 

Peaberry Coffee is one of the official sponsors of this calendar project. Peaberry has a long term partnership with the Children’s Hospital and so supporting the calendar event and Fired Up for Kids was a logical extension of their existing commitment.  The two organizations are closely aligned and Peaberry has a coffee kiosk at the hospital itself.  Every year Peaberry does a special label coffee promotion (beans or ground) to benefit the hospital donating $1 per pound of coffee sold.  Peaberry staff are proud of the company’s support of Children’s Hospital.  Today the manager is giving the firefighters sitting outside signing calendars free coffee on her, saying,”It is just good business”, when I asked about it.  She also told me that every day of the year, Peaberry offers any uniformed person (fire, police, military) free coffee or the same discount on specialty drinks they give their employees. 

So, as I sit here thinking about this and watching people going through the line to get their calendar signed by the hunks, I am feeling a little shy about getting one and then I have a brainstorm!  My women’s book group does an annual holiday gift exchange – this is THE perfect gift!  Now I can make my contribution and not feel like a desperate middle age woman.  Cool…or should I say Hot!

Peaberry Coffee (a Colorado gourmet coffee shop chain) on 2nd Avenue in Denver’s Cherry Creek,  is one of my favorite remote office locations – a Big Joe nonfat cappuccino while working on the computer is great!  In the past week, they have put up four new posters in the shop announcing their partnership with Socially Conscious Coffee, a nonprofit founded in 2002 to provide education, healthcare, opportunity, and support to the families of coffee harvesters and their neighbors. The SCC website has a partners page and Peaberry is listed with its logo as a major ongoing partner giving between $10,000 – $24,999/year.

SCC has a web page titled, Why We Do It.  I have been to many nonprofit websites and unfortunately few have such a page (but I wish they did!) so it tweaked my interest immediately.  It says, “Our programs invest directly in education, environmental stewardship, and economic development within an underdeveloped remote region of Northeast Brazil. We are providing assistance to the most disadvantaged people in the coffee supply chain – those who harvest what’s in your cups.

Prior to the assistance and programs provided by SCC, these farming families lived and worked in area with limited infrastructure, schools, services, and transportation. The coffee harvesters continued to work very hard but have historically had limited opportunities to gain an education, obtain healthcare, or develop diverse workforce skills needed to build a better future for themselves and their children. Without assistance, these families will continue to face the same issues of poverty and subsistence living.”

In addition to the posters, they also have flyers by the coffee machine with information about SCC.  This is a great example of a company supporting a nonprofit that is ABSOLUTELY relevant to the core focus of the business.  Good job Peaberry!

I have been checking the bookstore daily for the October edition of Entrepreneur Magazine to be put out on the shelves.  Today I found it in the Barnes & Noble near my house in Denver.  The wait is over!!

I was interviewed a couple months back by Carol Tice for an article she was writing on the effects of tough economic times on small business giving.  She found me online and called to do an interview.  She was very knowledgeable about business social responsibility and the world of nonprofits so we had a great conversation.  I was contacted later by an editor at Entrepreneur to check the spelling of my name, the company name, that I was a Business Philanthropy Coach and from Denver.  So I knew I was going to be mentioned but had no idea what she would say exactly.

The article, Keep Giving Back: In a Struggling Economy, Entrepreneurs Get Creative with Philanthropy is on page 54 of the print version.  I am one of five paragraphs and got the closing line!

“If you’re short on funds but still want to help out your community, be focused and strategic, making sure the giving you do participate in is impactful and resonates with employees and customers, says Susan Hyatt, a business philanthropy coach.  Your company could loan out executives, provide mentoring, donate goods or participate in walkathons.  Entrepreneurs can also help charities raise their profile by chairing a fundraiser or serving on the board, which will inspire others to give as well…Says Hyatt, “This economy forces people to be more creative and rethink the best way to support their local communities.”

For the full article, click here.

I got an email today from Hands Up Holidays.  They found my site and requested to be linked with me.  So I went to their site to check them out and I REALLY like what they are doing!

Hands Up Holidays is a travel company based in London that combines eco-sightseeing with a meaningful taste of volunteering. Their website says their volunteer adventures ”are for you if:

• you are interested in having a break, want to explore a destination, and also give something back to a local community.
• you value meaningful interaction with other cultures – achieved through the medium of volunteering.
• you value small group or tailor-made sustainable tourism practices that directly benefit local communities.
• you do not have specific skills, but have a lot of enthusiasm and a positive attitude (OR if you do have specific skills, we will match your skills where possible.”

Sounds great to me.  I especially liked that they say, “It is our hope that after experiencing a Hands Up Holiday voluntourism trip, you will feel inspired to  volunteer for a longer period somewhere (even in your home town), or become a lifelong advocate or donor for the Community Development project you got involved with.”

Hands Up Holidays also offers corporate trips that blend both community service with relaxation or adventure. “This works well for companies that are seeking to both reward employees and also improve their Corporate Social Responsibility profile; ideal for:
- Incentive trips
- Team building trips

These trips are formulated after close consultation with your Senior Management and HR regarding the goals for your organisation.

Some of the benefits of such a trip for your company include:
- Higher staff motivation and employee loyalty.
- Social image enhancement of your company.
- Measurable results with a tailor-made project (we can include a team building component as well).
- Contribution to a better world.”

Hands Up Holidays is a founding member of the Ethical Tour Operators Group, part of Tourism Concern that is committed to sustainable tourism that benefits local communities and the environment.

I am looking for a great adventure for my 50th birthday later this year…I will definitely check them out as an option!  You should too!  Click here for their eBrochure.