International Corporate Philanthropy Day (ICPD) falls annually on the 4^th Monday of February – this year on February 28th.  The Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) leads the international advocacy day intended to inspire businesses around the world to engage further in community partnerships. ICPD was created to bring awareness and advocacy to corporations and to inspire businesses to think about their social impact in new ways.

(more…)

Service Jam has 12 hours left so there is still time for you to get involved in this international dialogue.  One of the Service Jam postings that caught my eye today was written by Nate Low, from IBM in Asia-Pacific.

He wrote the following:

“Human capital to complement cash and partnerships

I would say that both cash and partnership are vital to philanthropy, and they both work very well together when a balance is struck between the two. I’d just like to add on that human capital would be a key element in a collaboration – companies must also tap into their best talents and skills who are relevant to the societal problem or business issues that they’re trying to solve.

(more…)

Do you want your company to be more involved in the community but are having difficulty making the case for business giving in this economy?  Check out the following benefits of strategic philanthropy that your company can also tap into.  You can “Do Good AND Do Well.”

STRATEGY – Instead of just throwing money here and there, we now have a deliberate strategy that directs our efforts for maximum impact.

VALUES – Our company’s philanthropy is a way for us to demonstrate our values are heartfelt and go beyond just making a profit.

INTEGRATION – Our giving is now integrated across our departments and locations to leverage more impact in the community and strengthen our internal cohesion.

VISIBILITY – Our strategic giving program sets our company apart from our competition.  We have gone from being “just like everyone else” to doing something remarkable that makes a difference.

SALES – Consumers like to know the products and companies like ours that they invest in are doing good with their money.  Our customers do business with us because they see that we care about the community.

MEDIA – Our community involvement and giving have helped us get invaluable attention from the media – we couldn’t have afforded the great positive buzz this generated for our company.

IMPACT – We were able to create a sound business case for this program.  It’s not just feel good fluff, but work that creates a win/win – for our company’s bottom line and the community.

PRODUCTIVITY – Our employees feel good about being part of something larger than themselves.  Because they feel pride in our company and themselves, they are more productive in their jobs. “We work for a company that cares.”

MAXIMIZE – We are now clear where and how to focus our scarce resources to do the most good in the community.

RESULTS – We actually know how we are going to measure the results of our giving programs.

What can your business do to give back?  How can your give back program be in alignment with your core products or services and company values?  If you can use assistance in being more strategic with your giving program, contact me at shyatt@BNConnections or 303-512-0808…I can definitely help!

One of the difficulties I have encountered talking about business engagement with nonprofits and other community organizations is the varied terminology that is used depending who I am talking with.  Terms I hear a lot include:

• Community involvement
• Business philanthropy
• Corporate philanthropy
• Strategic philanthropy
• Strategic partnerships with nonprofits
• Strategic alliances with nonprofits
• Community relations
• Community investment
• Giving Back
• Charitable giving/contributions
• Charity
• Paying it forward
• Philanthropreneurism
• Venture philanthropy
• Social (civic) entrepreneurism
• Social enterprise
• Corporate citizenship

And the list goes on.  It is mindboggling!  To me, while many sound similar, they have subtle differences under the surface.  So which to use?  I have struggled with this terminology issue for years!!  What is the best term to represent my philosophy and vision concerning the interaction between organizations labeled as businesses and those labeled as nonprofits in the eyes of the IRS?   Do I use one in common usage and define it for my purposes or do I create something new and have the uphill battle to get it recognized and understood like the LOHAS folks?  Generally, I have opted for the terms “community involvement”, “strategic partnerships”, or “business nonprofit connections.” 

Some people strongly prefer “community investment” because it indicates more clearly the notion of two-way benefit and the need for some ROI for the business, as well as the community.  Though growing in popularity, it is still not a term used by the bulk of businesses – especially smaller ones.  I am all about mutual benefits and all-win approaches but I am still lukewarm to using that term in my work.

For years, I also shied away from using the term “philanthropy” because I felt it can imply a sense of noblesse oblige – where the “rich” company (or business person) is providing a handout to those less fortunate from a feeling of burden or guilt.  That certainly doesn’t feel like a strategic partnership or “teach a man to fish” approach to me.  It can seem more like a one way grand gesture from the powerful to the weak that does not fully acknowledge the assets and experience in the trenches of the nonprofit colleague.  Also, it seemed easy to confuse individual and business forms of philanthropy.  However, when I looked it up in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary the definition seems fine:“goodwill to fellowmen; especially : active effort to promote human welfare.”  That’s not so bad, right? “Philanthropic,” however, is defined as “dispensing or receiving aid from funds set aside for humanitarian purposes.” Coming out of the international development field where there was a lot of talk about “trade not aid”, I tend to associate some forms of aid to continued dependency – not breaking cycles poverty and other social issues.  Instead, I sought a term that implies a greater sense of partnership and potential synergy for positive social change that can result from different types of organizations with their varied skill sets, networks, and other assets working together.  So which term IS best for that? Frankly, I have been stumped.  I also have not wanted whatever word choice to seem ”old hippy”, “granola”, or political because I feel that business engagement in communities is for everyone.

The truth is that as much as I originally avoided the term because of the undertones I perceived it had, business people do use “philanthropy” all the time to talk about their efforts as evidenced, for example, in their online search terms to find more information about how to strengthen what they are doing; business people that have good intentions and want to grow their companies and actively show their values through their engagement and support of communities.  Those are the people with whom I want to work.  So why shy away from it anymore?  Why not get off my idealistic high horse and go with a commonly used term?  Wouldn’t that be the easiest path in to a substantive dialogue – later sharing my specific philosophy and principles to help businesses rethink and tweak what they are doing to be more strategic and “all win”?  I now think so – hence the name of this blog!

What terms do you prefer? What do you see as their shades of meaning? What do you see as trends in how people are talking about such activities and initiatives?