The Ask

When I first started thinking about flush local companies, one came to mind front and center, over and over again. They win awards for philanthropy, community service, sustainable building practices, and employees serve on important boards all over the city.

Somehow I've managed to score an informational interview with one of these most-impressive men. I quake when thinking of his hourly income and know what a favor he is doing me. I'm intimidated and really excited. Time to get out the good suit and wipe my baby's boogers off my face.

I wonder what percentage of their pretax profits they give?

But I cannot ask that!

So this is what I plan to talk about (tweaked from a VERY helpful list provided by Marci Alboher in the NY Times):
1. I have great respect for your company. What do you think is unique or differentiating about your company?
2. What do you like most about what you do, and what would you change if you could?
3. I've spent my entire career working for non-profits. How can non-profit organizations do a better job of understanding the corporate sector and presenting business-relevant proposals?
4. I have managed a grant-making program that redistributes public money for 12 years. How do people break into the field of corporate philanthropy and foundation management?
5. My experience is in public programming, community outreach, grant-making and consultation. I am a skilled communicator, project leader, and generate creative ideas to solve unique problems. What additional skills or experience would you recommend I develop?
6. Are there any professional or trade associations I should connect with? Are you a member of the ACCP (Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals)?
7. How do you see corporate philanthropy changing in the next 10 years?

I would love to know where he went on his most recent vacation, but then he might ask me where I went and I'd have to say Detroit and that might just blow my cover. What do you say next? They sure could use some money in that city!?!

Profits and Losses

Ironic that just last week I was talking up my neighborhood. Then we were burglarized. It's actually the second time it has happened. It sucks.

It takes time to get over it and meanwhile you look around and are angry and everything looks ugly. You want things to be different and think that maybe you should move to the suburbs. 

I think that periodically. It's when I'm most angry, as if it would serve them right if I moved. Of course, the city wouldn't notice. And the burglary wasn't personal. In fact, it was distinctly not personal and almost certainly was our own fault. We must have left a door unlocked because there was not any sign of a forced entry. We watched a movie and went to bed exhausted and failed to secure the premises.

Our loss.

People are hard up and we have lots of stuff. 

These things do make you remember to be grateful. Grateful for the fact that it wasn't worse. It helps to hear about people who are having a worse time, frankly. I took a personal day today, went to yoga and a cafe to drink wine in between getting a new wallet and ID card and datebook. I ate lunch at my favorite restaurant in town, a place that is truly a chunk of Nepal patched into State Street. I sat with one of most beautiful women you could imagine, a true Nepalese Didi, and she told me stories of other people whose fancy-pants homes were robbed while the watch dogs were locked in the bathroom and the security cameras dangled from the wires. They were immigrant families profiting in the U.S. who kept loads of cash in the house. Cash that represented loads of hard work and was meant to be sent to help out other people who needed it more. In other words, a lot was lost. 

Just listening to her gorgeous, accented English and hugging her tiny, plump frame made me remember that being human is both hard and soft. I lay in bed at night feeling so grateful for my luxuriously soft, cushy bed and downy comforter. Outside the muddy, early-spring ground is so filthy hard right now.

I ate and paid my bill. They only take cash. I didn't have exact change and Didi behind the register didn't bother to make change, simply handing me back a bill. One time I was in there she sent her niece next door to make change. Just like in Nepal. But in Nepal, a dollar is worth more than it is in Wisconsin. And the value of my loss is more than many live on for a year. 

What do I do? Get a police report number and file an insurance claim. Buy a new purse and a new computer. I'll get over it. Profits and losses. 

From my perspective

It's useful to be reminded that lots and lots of people live on less than a dollar a day.

When I fill out surveys asking for my household income, I get confused. My husband and my salary combined lands us squarely in the checkbox making us ineligible for any sort of assistance. We are not rich; on the contrary, we both have chosen relatively unambitious paths with relatively unimpressive incomes. But we have college degrees plus some and therefore check a box on the richer end of the spectrum.

But of course, we are rich, in a way. I've been to third-world countries, and so-called second-world countries like India, where it's plainly obvious that living in America is different.

Arundhati Roy, who spoke in Madison last week, left me with a strong visual about our distinct human position: neither beast nor prophet, we think too much but cannot see into the future. We are trapped by our desires for more than family, food and shelter leading us to be greedy without a sense of what our greed is doing to destroy us as a species.

Two months on a journey around south India made me want children. Like so many in my demographic, I'd been on the fence until my mid-thirties. Repeatedly, I was asked by generously friendly Indian men and women where I came from. The next questions were typically more personal: was I married; did I have children. The nomad in me fell silent and the human in me rose to the surface, understanding that, no matter land or culture, everybody has a mother and everybody was a baby. Birth, parenthood, and family are basic commonalities. This is not to judge those who don't have kids, just to say that for me, having kids was a choice not to be so greedy and selfish. I'm focused on something other than more stuff, more experiences, more more more.

Driving through a neighborhood with landscaped yards, two-car garages and cul-de-sacs, I know there are so many things out of my reach financially. But I was raised to be self-reflective and grateful, to see the good in my life while understanding that, even in the worst of times, there is always someone else suffering too, or more. It is human to suffer, and human to have perspective and understand context. That is what I appreciate about the humanities, or all the ways we humans have found to explain and describe and find meaning in our human existence. I think the humanities make us less greedy.

So, if non-profit leaders (many of whom actually have degrees in the humanities) could benefit from a short-course MBA, many CEO's could learn a great deal from the humanities. It's about perspective.

Non-profits need to step it up

Non-profit: Do those words themselves sound high-and-mighty?

How about not-for-profit? Does that subtle distinction leave room for the idea that a not-for-profit group might follow some of the sustainable practices that for-profits have to live by in order to stay solvent. In other words, not hanging by a shoestring and gasping from grant to grant but open to the possibility of making money. Of course, not FOR the sake of profit, but open to the idea it might actually help the cause.

What I'm wondering is this: how many of the 100-plus new nonprofit charities hatched every single day have a business plan?

I saw a film called "Carbon for Water" at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival, hosted by the River Alliance of Wisconsin. It may actually have been an info-mercial, but it was also entertaining. It is about a company that is making money by selling carbon credits, not their product. The actual product is called the LifeStraw. Vestergaard Frandsen states "We operate under our own unique Humanitarian Entrepreneurship business model" that they call "profit with a purpose." 

What I learned from the movie is this: they invented a water filter that they are installing all over Kenya, were there is not enough clean water due to deforestation, where girls are putting themselves at risk of rape or animal attack by walking unthinkable distances to bring water to their families, where people are suffering from horrible health due to the wood-burning fires used to boil water to make it clean. What impressed me was this: they were meticulous about everything in order to be accountable to the market and the public health industry. 

I'm sure there are plenty of people who are critical of how they are improving lives and saving trees, but I drank the 22 minute kool-aide.

Paul Zak says that every choice you make is economic. Who you marry, where you live, who you help, where you vacation, etc. He is the founding director of the Center for Neuroeconomic Studies. He believes that markets, civilization, and democracy are all built on trust.  This is based on his research of the hormone oxytocin, dubbed "the moral molecule," which he believes drives trustworthy behavior for MOST people (98% of the population). It stands to reason that 98% of CEOs and 98% of non-profit directors are trustworthy people, they are just operating in different worlds. Worlds with different rules. Worlds that seem not to really understand each other or respect each other.

At least, that's what I see from the non-profit world. Taking money from the corporate world, unless it comes funneled through a foundation, feels dirty. It's like selling out. Nobody wants Coca-Cola buying naming rights for the homeless shelter, right?

Non-profits raise money from various philanthropic sources to keep the doors open, pay salaries, and do their good works. I understand that banks don't give non-profits loans because that would be a very risky loan. There are some socially-conscious investors out there that want to support charities in innovative ways, but...

I think that non-profit leaders could learn so much from the business community. Of course, those wealthy folks could also learn a heck of a lot by walking in our shoes, using our slow computers, sitting in our broken chairs, filing endless paperwork for our travel reimbursement.....

What the heck is the United Way?

Thinking about money so much is making me nervous. Learning something new as an adult is inherently a humbling activity. I am realizing how little I know!

For example, the United Way. Until I googled their history and mission, I didn't know what it was, exactly. It's a household word, but like my computer, I didn't really know how it worked.

I'm the kind of person that writes (small) checks to a few non-profits. I can't imagine giving to the United Way; it seems diffuse and less satisfying somehow. But I'm understanding that it's a really convenient way for companies to direct money toward the good. And since it has been around for more than 125 years, the household name thing inspires trust.

Locally, I am familiar with the Madison Community Foundation, which defines itself to potential corporate donors as an efficient and cost-effective alternative to a private foundation, also offering the advantage of anonymity.

I've never had any reason to give anonymously but presume that it's done by people who don't want to be known as deep pockets, easy targets for needy causes, or braggarts. On the other hand, public companies may want to stay under the radar of their shareholders, who don't want "their" profits given away willy-nilly, or of the media looking to point out that corporate donations are self-serving and paltry.

Community foundations, and the United Way, seem like a great thing. I think they are. As I naively wade into the unfamiliar waters of charitable giving, I keep thinking: There should be a way to get more money from the business community to support local needs. Is the community foundation the answer? Or is there still a gap, a need for more ways to connect local needs with local businesses to everyone's benefit?

Who is doing good business?

I read that a 2006 study of 251 businesses proved that charitable contributions enhances revenue growth. Not surprisingly, it helps consumer companies most.

So I started thinking about myself, a consumer, and what I care about. I have spent my career working with culture, but I am passionate about urban planning. I have no degrees. I just have experience living in cities (Columbus OH, Austin TX, Washington DC, Hanover GERMANY, Aix-en-Province FRANCE) and have traveled extensively around the world (sometimes on a bike). I appreciate cities that are built for people because I love walking and biking.

That makes me a consumer of shoes and bikes.

First, bikes: I'm NOT one of those people with a bunch of pretty bikes in the basement. I just ride a bike to get places and I always have. I realize now that I'm unusual for my generation (I was born in the mid-seventies) because I actually biked in high school. I had panniers and went touring in Acadia with my parents. They still make fun of me for not using my gears efficiently on those crazy big mountains, but my legs were young.

I have always just had one, highly functional but not very pretty bike. More important to me is bike gear. There is a Madison-based company called Planet Bike that makes great stuff (lights and fenders, etc). So I look on their website and find "Planet Bike helps out by donating 25% of company profits to grassroots bicycle advocacy groups." I see someone from the company serves on the board of the League of American Bicycles. The average company in America gives less than 1% of its annual pretax income to charity.

I have far less to say about shoes. This little exercise, however, has brought to my attention a local business I've never been to but have known about for years. Reading about Movin' Shoes makes me want to support them because they promise both good deals and a really good mission. And seeing that they've been around since 1975, when "the only way to purchase running shoes was by mail order," I'm sure some graduate student could do a research paper on how their business has shaped the city into what it is today. 

I wonder if these two businesses can correlate their annual pretax net income with their annual giving program? What is the difference between an irrelevant and flimsy giving program and an effective and meaningful corporate contributions program? 

Strategy. Process. Relevance to both society AND the company! Create more consumers for your product by making the world into a place where your product makes sense. Duh. 

But what if I don't like the world where your product makes sense?


People I believe in, doing good business in Madison:

Are we living in a third-world state?

May Day celebration in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Wisconsin will spend 15 cents per person on the arts this year while Minnesotans will get $5.77!

That is public money. I keep hearing this totally shocking comparison between Wisconsin and Minnesota, our neighbor to the west, thanks in no small part to Gayle Worland's article in the Wisconsin State Journal last month. Along with a color-coded map showing where arts have it good it the U.S. is general information about where money for the arts comes from (ticket sales, etc).

Nationwide, 9.5% of money comes from foundations; 8.4% from corporations.

I can't find number for humanities spending. People tend not to know what you mean when you say the humanities. In fact I've spent much of my career explaining the difference between the arts and the humanities but I'm not sure it's a good idea to do that. Anne Pasternak of New York's CreativeTime, at a talk here in Madison last week, reminded everyone that the reason we separate arts from humanities is to suit funders. It's a false distinction in order to get at the pots of money.

The Wisconsin Arts Board has worked hard to show how the arts are intricately linked to the economy. It's nice to hear numbers, like "local nonprofit arts organizations generate $535 million in economic activity annually" and "resulting in $479 million in resident income." But I think that a lot of folks inherently understand that artists are trendsetters who revitalize neighborhoods, bring in high-end tourist and clients, and make a city look and feel good. The argument, really, is about who should pay for the art.

The humanities are tied to higher education and are seen as elite subjects, so they have other challenges. Governor Walker just made some statements about how funding for the Wisconsin university system should be tied to the success graduates have in getting jobs. It translates to mean that degrees in the humanities, where there are surely fewer jobs to be had, will get pushed out. Ironically, or whatever, that means there will be even fewer jobs in the humanities. Go to a private school if you want to study anthropology, he says.

Public money is drying up for things that I think are important.

The arts and the humanities are just different ways to say culture. Universal human capacities we have for making meaning of the world.

What about all those businesses out there that depend on, serve, and want to distinguish themselves to a cultured client? Isn't it in their best interest to support the arts and humanities?