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There are plenty of fine examples of business leaders who have effected strategies for change to address the global risks outlined on this web site. Their profiles illustrate the potential for making a world of difference.
Todd R. Wagner Founder, The Todd R. Wagner Foundation, Dallas, Texas I pursued the American dream and won -- by almost any standard. At the ripe old age of 38, I found myself CEO of a public company that, at the time, had the biggest one-day gain in Wall Street history. We sold the company, and I'll never have to work again. Not everyone has an equal chance to attain that kind of dream. I had the background and the training to make it happen. What percentage of Americans really have such an opportunity? Everybody can do something that makes a difference. Everybody has talents that could help someone else. Entrepreneurs, especially, can contribute real business skills to nonprofits that can help programs function more efficiently and reach more people. That kind of social entrepreneurialism isn't philanthropy. It isn't just writing a check. It means devoting time and skills to doing something -- like mentoring a business. I chose to work with minority-owned technology startups, because growing businesses is what I know and love. I also believe in the equalizing power of technology. It's the one thing that can create a level playing field. Everyone can't get a four-year college degree, but we can all gain technology skills and open up limitless possibilities for ourselves. I realize that what I've begun to do this year is just the first step. And I know that I'm going to make a bunch of mistakes. But the one thing that I don't want to be guilty of is hesitation. I'd rather be out there trying than sitting on my couch wondering what I should do next. Todd R. Wagner (toddwagnerfoundation@yahoo.com) cofounded Broadcast.com, where he was CEO until Yahoo! acquired it in 1999. He turned down the COO position at Yahoo! to pursue private ventures and to fund an equity-capital initiative for minority-owned technology businesses. He also helped launch a neighborhood technology center in southern Dallas that provides free Internet access and training. His work with the Inner-City Games Foundation in Los Angeles earned him a Man of the Year Award for 2000 from the organization.
Bea Salazar In 1990, I had undergone back surgery and was on disability. I was depressed
and just trying to get through each day. One afternoon, when I was putting out
the trash, I saw a little boy digging in a dumpster for food. I took him inside,
made him a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, and sent him home. Fifteen minutes
later, there was a knock at my door, and I opened it to find six more kids
standing there. "Is it true that you're giving away peanut-butter-and-jelly
sandwiches?" one of them asked.
I couldn't believe that there was no one caring for these kids. It was
summer, and school was out. They told me that their parents had to work. The
next day, more children showed up, and more arrived the day after that.
When school began again, kids came and asked for help with homework.
Volunteers and supplies from local churches and schools poured in. My landlord
donated an apartment, and soon I had 100 children coming to visit each day. Ten
years later, 5 of the kids have begun community college.
I never thought that making one peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich would grow
into something that would affect so many lives -- especially mine. Those kids
pulled me out of myself. There was a point when I stopped thinking about my own
pain and started concentrating on somebody else's. It's true that when you help
others, you help yourself.
There are so many people in need. We all tend to live in our own little
worlds, and we don't see that. Step outside, and look around for places or
people in need of your help. You'll benefit as much as they will -- maybe even
more. Bea Salazar (beaskids@aol.com) , a grandmother of seven and a great-grandmother of four, was an electronics-plant shift worker before founding Bea's Kids. Since its establishment as a nonprofit in 1992, the program has provided after-school meals and mentoring to more than 500 children. Last spring, Salazar received Oprah Winfrey's Angel Network Use Your Life Award.
Kevin Fong You don't have to be the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to make a
meaningful difference. But you do need to know that your time and money are
going toward something worthwhile and effective. How does a young entrepreneur
find reliable information about where and how to give back? Consider splitting
research time with your friends and peers to look into philanthropies that
interest you. Better still, tap into organizations like Silicon Valley Social
Ventures and other community foundations nationwide, where you'll get fast
access to trustworthy information. Just as you'd hire a portfolio manager to
manage your money, you need to find a trusted adviser to manage your social
giving. Then, instead of just writing a check with casual uncertainty, you'll be
confident that your dollars are being spent wisely.
Ultimately, though, you're holding the charitable organization that you
choose accountable. So don't be afraid to ask reasonable questions: How does the
charity measure success? What's the reach of its program? Who is its target
audience? If an organization doesn't already have metrics that show how donors'
dollars are making a difference, it should create some. We expect that kind of
discipline from our colleagues. We require it from ourselves as entrepreneurs.
Why not demand it as philanthropists? Kevin Fong (kfong@mayfield.com) , who spoke at the White House Conference on Philanthropy in October 1999, cofounded Silicon Valley Social Ventures, a fund that promotes "intelligent, active and effective giving" to nonprofits. As a managing partner at Mayfield Fund, a private venture-capital partnership, Fong advises about a dozen early-stage companies.
Marguerite W. Sallee To create real change in this world, you have to have a vision, and you have
to have enormous perseverance. It's the same principle that applies in any
entrepreneurial venture: You've got to be too stupid to quit.
And when you fuse your giving back with your company's objectives, you'll
find that it's good for business as well. It's a powerful thing to organize a
business around a clear sense of mission and values. Businesses that provide
opportunities for employees to give back create balance -- for the company and
for its employees.
For example, when our business acquired a company that manages a nonprofit
called Jobs for America's Graduates, it instantly created opportunities for
employees to work at the local level, mentoring at-risk youths and helping them
find meaningful work or continuing-education opportunities after graduation. It
also gave our corporate clients a chance to join us in another form of
partnership. We now factor employee and client involvement in JAG into our
corporate mission, because we see it as totally in sync with our vision to
create an extraordinary workforce that includes young people. Marguerite W. Sallee (msallee@frontline-group.com) is also cochair of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, a provider of employer-sponsored child care and early-education services that she founded as CorporateFamily Solutions in 1987. She founded Frontline Group, a corporate-training company with more than 27 locations worldwide, in 1999.
Jonathan M. Tisch Why should your business be socially responsible? Because it's your
obligation. With all of the cuts in government services, it's up to companies
and communities to work together to improve other people's lives.
But if you need another reason, here's one: It's good for business. You
really can do good and do well at the same time. For one thing, you'll
differentiate yourself from the competition: A client might choose you over the
company down the road, because she appreciates the fact that you're a good
neighbor.
If you're a CEO in corporate America today, then you already understand the
needs of the neighborhood that surrounds your business. Start there. Make a
commitment to find ways for your business to contribute to your community. And
listen to your employees -- many of whom, after all, live as well as work in
that community. They've got some great ideas.
At the same time, you'll send your employees an important message: that your
concern for them goes beyond your bottom line. In this market, where everyone is
competing for staff, you have to be able to offer people more than just good
wages and benefits. Showing that you truly care about the community is an
effective way to do that. Jonathan M. Tisch, a vice chairman of the Welfare to Work Partnership, has received numerous awards for his philanthropic work. Loews Hotels's Good Neighbor Policy, an employee community-outreach program that addresses hunger, homelessness, illiteracy, and the environment, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. Loews Hotels owns or operates 15 hotels and resorts in North America.
Frances Moore Lappe The problem with the phrase "giving back" is that it denies our true nature.
It presumes that we perceive ourselves as standing on the outside of our
community, feeling obligated to contribute because we're so privileged -- as
opposed to being deeply entrenched community participants. Fundamentally, we are
social beings. Our true nature calls us to connect deeply to our community and
to find larger meaning in what we do there. Community makes life fun and
meaningful. It brings depth to our lives and enriches our most intimate
relationships. In that way, making a contribution becomes a mutual exchange,
rather than a one-way transaction.
How do we reclaim our social nature? By creating new cultural norms. To
transform our society into something truly life-serving, we have to project
images of people who act on their innate need for connection and meaning -- not
on some sacrificial inducement to be charitable. When the media glorifies a
do-gooder, we think, "I could never do what she did." The do-gooder is turned
into a kind of freak. But really, that person is just like you. The only
difference? She took a risk. She would shock you with her ordinariness, if you
really knew her.
How can you reclaim your true nature? Find an exemplar. Seek out people who
are emotionally intelligent and who are already acting on their deeper social
nature. Call them, get on their boards, become friends with them. When you start
associating with people who are living the way that you want to live, you start
to become a different person. And when you break away from the give-back
mind-set, you will begin to reinvent social expectations about what it means to
be an entrepreneur -- and a human being. Frances Moore Lappe (smallplanet@mediaone.net) is a social commentator and the author of 12 books, including Diet for a Small Planet ( Ballantine Books, 1971 ) . In 1995, she cofounded the American News Service to cover possible solutions to social problems in America. The New Diet for a Small Planet, which Lappe coauthored with her daughter, Anna, will be published by Ballantine in 2001.
Lisa Belzberg Before you give your energy or your money to a particular cause, be clear
about why you're doing it. Understanding your motivations anchors you and keeps
the idea of giving back appealing. Once you're clear about why you're giving
back, start by thinking small. Thinking small doesn't mean that you lack
ambition. It means that you're building something meaningful, manageable, and
sustainable. The smaller you set your sights, the more likely it is that you'll
succeed. Learn to find joy in the baby steps.
That lesson became clear to me during PENCIL's first few years. Business
leaders who had the resources to help dismissed public education. Their stance
was, Why should we care when our kids go to private schools? Meanwhile, many
public schools were defensive: No outsider was going to tell them what to do.
My strategy? Baby steps. I asked people in the private sector to be the
principal of a school for a day. When you actually see the human faces, I told
them, you'll see a very different story of public education. At first, people
asked, "How can I get deeply engaged in just one day?" But once they walked
around in the principal's shoes, they understood. They learned that principals
are shrinks, managers, customer-service agents, and mechanics. From there,
business leaders started to learn the facts about overcrowded classrooms and
dwindling supplies.
That initial understanding was the first step in forging a long-term
partnership between the community and public education. And PENCIL became a
catalyst for ongoing change. Lisa Belzberg (list@pencil.org) was a producer of The Charlie Rose Show before founding pencil in 1995 with a mission to improve New York City's public schools. Through programs like "Principal for a Day" ( in which such celebrities as Bill Cosby, Henry Kravis, Jane Pauley, and Jerry Seinfeld have participated ), PENCIL has created partnerships between public schools and the private sector nationwide.
Win Churchill If you do things right, your philanthropic projects begin to build on one
another, just as your business projects do. In fact, after a while, a
seamlessness develops between your nonprofit ventures and your business
ventures.
We have in our business's portfolio about 30 investments at any given time.
Adding nonprofits to those is just a question of how we organize and delegate.
We support two schools in impoverished neighborhoods of northern Philadelphia.
The Gesu School, a Jesuit grade school, first approached me for help to fund a
cage for a rooftop playground. When I visited the school, I saw that it needed
much more than a cage. It was near bankruptcy.
We endowed a development office to raise money for the school. Once the Gesu
became a stable, vital part of the community again, we started a charter middle
school so that the Gesu kids would have somewhere to go when they got older.
Working with these schools is the most natural thing. We treat them exactly
the way that we treat fledgling or middle-stage companies. The students are
members of our constituency. We feel the same responsibility to them as we do to
our portfolio companies, and we make sure that they have a chance to make the
most of their lives.
If you're an entrepreneur, you already know how to do venture philanthropy.
It's a seamless fit with your business. The next step is just to start doing it.
Hemingway said that a writer is somebody who writes. That's just as true with
giving back. Pick something that jibes with your values, and begin. Win Churchill (wchurchill@scppartners.com) serves as director of various charities and educational institutions, including the Gesu School and the Young Scholars Charter School, both located in northern Philadelphia. SCP manages private equity funds sponsored by Safeguard Scientifics Inc.
Paul Myers The impact of giving can be far greater than you'll ever know. A few years
ago, I was buying a newspaper at the airport in Bangladesh when a man tapped me
on the shoulder. I recognized his face but couldn't recall his name. He looked
at the two men behind the newsstand and told them, "This man saved my life." He
explained: "Several years ago, I had lost two children because I couldn't feed
them. This man gave me a job. Today, all six of my children are in school, and
we don't go hungry." He hugged me and began to cry.
During my six years in Bangladesh working with locals to develop sustainable
micro-enterprises, I was reminded daily of the value of providing people with an
income. Jobs that pay fair wages enable people to live with dignity -- and to
arrive at a point where they too can contribute to their community and to
society.
You can help people earn money in a number of ways: You can purchase their
products or services. You can give them training that they can't afford. But
here's one very simple way: Be more intentional about where you buy. Think
beyond the initial purchase. Demand more of the businesses that you patronize.
Ask questions about where and how a product is manufactured, and consider the
implications. Paul Myers (pem@villages-mcc.org) joined Ten Thousand Villages, a nonprofit chain of more than 120 stores in North America, in 1989. Through its sales of Third World crafts, the organization generated $17.3 million in revenues in 1999 to provide artisans with enough income to meet basic needs, such as food and education. Visit Ten Thousand Villages on the Web, www.tenthousandvillages.org
Stacy Palmer Giving your time is an incredibly valuable thing. But cash is what keeps
nonprofits up and running. Think of charitable giving as part of your financial
portfolio. For example, don't just put money toward your favorite causes -- ones
that you know are reliable and that you'll give to year after year. Take a slice
of your giving pie, and look for something that might be a little risky -- just
as you'd do in your regular portfolio. Take a chance on an untried group, or on
a person with a fabulous idea for running a nonprofit, and then see what
happens. As with any venture, the chance that it might work in a big way is
worth the risk that it might not work at all.
There's been a lot of emphasis these days on "results" in giving. That's
important: You want to be informed and to know that your money isn't going into
something fraudulent. But that focus on results might imply that everybody's
going to win. It's just not going to work that way. The only way that things
change is when people are willing to take risks. That's what philanthropy is
about: investing in new ideas that have a shot at changing society.
When you're assembling your giving portfolio, don't just contribute to your
usual charities. Think about supporting charities that don't attract so much
press, those that might be outside your previous experience. And think about
giving at times of the year when donations tend to drop off. Food banks have a
lot of trouble just after Christmas. Don't forget that there are still hungry
people out there in January and February. Stacy Palmer (stacy.palmer@chronicle.com) was instrumental in founding the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the leading national publication on nonprofit affairs, in 1988.
Tom Reis Three years ago, I changed my job title to director of venture philanthropy.
I wanted to show the world that at least one of these so-called "fuddy-duddy"
foundations was paying attention to new models of giving back.
But what I found as I networked was that the new models weren't new enough.
Philanthropy hasn't seen a new model since the days of Andrew Carnegie. He
enabled individuals by providing the fishing rod, rather than the fish of simple
charity. That was pivotal, of course. But philanthropy today still operates
under that same idea: Make grants, empower people. Money only goes so far.
To drive lasting transformation, we need a more holistic model. Enough with
the either-or bombast: Venture philanthropy is not the new magic bullet. What we
need is a value exchange between traditional philanthropy and venture
philanthropy -- something that will finally shake up the old model of "white
man's social doing."
We live in a networked age, so philanthropists need to work with teams that
are more representative of the global community. We need to sit around a table
with a pair of wing tips, sandals, pumps, sneakers, bare white feet, bare black
feet. And foundations have to become networked contributors, not just bankers.
Funding is important. But we also need community conveners, networkers, brokers,
and knowledge agents. With new players and more-collective approaches, we just
might reach a tipping point in the world of philanthropy where we can build
truly sustainable change. But to get there, we have to be disciplined thinkers.
That's why last September, I switched back to my old job title: program
director. I like the notion of venture philanthropy, but it's time to be sober
about it -- and to recognize what it can and can't do. Tom Reis (tkr@wkkf.org) spent nearly five years in Indonesia as a senior program officer with the Academy for Educational Development before joining the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in 1992. In his role at the foundation, Reis explores new opportunities to partner with successful entrepreneurs who are interested in philanthropy and social development.
Sara Mosle People are afraid to volunteer. They think that getting involved is a
slippery slope: The next thing they know, they'll have to sell their possessions
and become Gandhi. The truth is that as a volunteer, you have to set limits. You
have to be honest about how much time you can really commit.
If you do find time to volunteer, the important thing is to have realistic
expectations about what you can and can't accomplish and to be honest about
those expectations -- with yourself and with whomever you're trying to help. If
you're a mentor, as I was for a group of inner-city kids for six years, you can,
say, provide a child with a really fun day once a month or so. And that's not an
insignificant thing. That's actually a great thing. But you probably aren't
going to save anyone's life, and if you expect that, you'll likely be
disappointed. If you want more -- perhaps to be a real friend -- you'll have to
put in more time. There are no shortcuts. Friendship, with anyone, takes time.
I wasn't always honest with myself or with the kids about the extent of my
own "flake factor," and I occasionally overpromised things. But after six years,
I think we came to know one another and to accept one another's limitations.
Sometimes you can prove a lot simply by showing up. Sara Mosle (mosle@earthlink.net) worked for three years as a teacher in New York City's public schools. "The Vanity of Volunteerism," an article in which she describes lessons learned while mentoring inner-city kids, appeared in the New York Times Magazine this past summer. A former editor at the New York Times Book Review and at the New Republic, she now writes for Harper's Bazaar and the New York Times Magazine, among other publications. She is currently working on a book about an explosion at a school in eastern Texas during the 1930s oil boom. It is due out from Knopf in 2002.
Ronal White It's good to be nosy, to inquire, to be as critical as possible before you
give your money or your time. But it's counterproductive when it leads to
exerting control. In fact, you might find that giving money can actually isolate
you. When you get involved in a charitable project, remember to keep your nose
in and your fingers out.
How can you bridge the gap between you and the people you're trying to help?
Develop the skill of "awaiting." Be attentive. Listen. There is a still point in
each of us, a point where the human touches the divine, where it links to the
universal. To arrive there requires understanding your own core values -- inside
and out.
Wait until you understand how your values relate to the situation at hand.
Wait for the moment when you truly hear what is being said to you. Only then can
you respond in a meaningful way -- and bridge the gap instead of widening it. Ronald White (rwhite@mott.org) is the former director of grant making
for the antihunger organization Share Our Strength and a program officer with
the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, an antipoverty program. The mission
of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation is to make grants in such areas as
environment, antipoverty, and civil society, and "to support efforts that
promote a just, equitable and sustainable society."
Peter Karoff How do you decide where to put your energy, your skills, or your money to
help others? The first step is to establish what you care about. As with
anything else, you'll be most successful in giving back when you let your values
drive you.
For example, ask yourself these questions: What have been my three most
formative life experiences? Who are the three people who have influenced me the
most? Your answers will help define your top-five values. From there, you can
determine your community values.
Then ask yourself, Do my values match up with how I'm now giving? Your answer
may surprise you. You might find that for years, you've given to university
scholarships when what you really care about most is homelessness. Or vice
versa.
Once you've decided on your true interests, rather than taking immediate
action, learn about those topics. "Illiteracy," "homelessness," "environment":
These are huge words. Learn what the issues are and where you might best place
your time and your resources. And then, when you begin, remember that it's not
about you, your voice, or your brilliance.
I learned that lesson the hard way back in the 1960s, when I decided to help
fix up a poor Boston neighborhood. With the hubris of youth and naivete, I
thought that I could fix the people too. Needless to say, that didn't go over
too well. When it comes to giving, you have to guard against your own hubris.
It's the really talented donor who can enter a situation and provide sensitive,
wise advice and help -- without assuming the kind of arrogance that often comes
with doing so. Peter Karoff (pkaroff@tpi.org) worked in real estate insurance
before forming The Philanthropic Intiative Inc. in 1989. TPI helps clients such
as the AOL Foundation and Citigroup Private Bank increase their impact by
developing innovative, strategic approaches to philanthropy.
Lynn Ridenour Who today has the time to give back in a meaningful way? Everyone I know is
overcommitted. And with each new technological development, the time problem
just gets worse. We're all available for anything, 24-7.
Since high technology seems to be the culprit for making us all so harried,
it's only fitting that it should provide a solution for giving back in a way
that's integrated into our daily lives. And it has: At the Hunger Site and the
Rainforest Site, you can "click and donate" every day. Through a corporate
sponsor, you can donate food to a struggling country or help support rainforest
conservation. It takes less than five seconds and costs you nothing. Or you can
shop online through the GreaterGood.com portal, where a percentage of what you
spend benefits your cause of choice from among 3,500 organizations.
Clicking a button to do something like donating 1.5 cups of staple food may
seem like a small thing, but consider this: More than 77 million visitors have
donated 11,000 metric tons of food on the Hunger Site, while the Rainforest Site
has helped to preserve more than 2,000 acres of land. And so far this year,
GreaterGood.com's shopping portal has generated more than $5 million for its
partner nonprofits.
Think about that. Small acts really can add up to big transformation. Lynn Ridenour has spent more than nine years at high-tech companies,
including Onyx Software Corp. In September 1999, she joined GreaterGood.com
Inc., which operates the Hunger Site and the Rainforest Site, as well as a
shopping portal where as much as 15% of each transaction goes to the shopper's
cause of choice.
John Sculley You don't have to move mountains to make important things happen. In fact, if
you start with goals that are too large, you'll get overwhelmed and miss the joy
of what you're trying to accomplish.
When I decided to work with literacy, for example, I discovered that it
wasn't critical for me to be the project head. It was more important simply to
find a place where I could add value to help our project succeed. That's the
great thing about giving back: Business-success criteria don't apply. There are
no winners or losers. Everyone is motivated to work together in the most
efficient way possible.
Fortunately, the Internet makes working efficiently easier than ever, in
giving back as well as in everything else. The beehive is always more capable
than any individual bee. The Net can connect many beehives of people with common
interests, and those people can accomplish a great deal -- even if they never
meet face to face. And those networks can work toward lofty philanthropic goals
without having to wade through the mire of large physical organizations.
Start with modest goals -- and then find a great team to work with. Watch
what happens. It takes only a few really great people to turn modest goals into
something big. In 1995, John Sculley, former CEO of Apple Computer and PepsiCo, cofounded
Sirius Thinking Ltd., which produces Between the Lions, a children's television
show on PBS designed to promote reading in children. Sculley also cosponsors
Pop!Tech, a yearly nonprofit conference in Camden, Maine that focuses on
technology's effect on modern culture. Sculley Brothers LLC is a private
investment firm that funds more than 20 companies.
Reprinted from the December 2000 issue of Fast Company magazine. Copyright © (2000) by Fast Company Media Group LLC. www.fastcompany.com All rights reserved. Fast Company |
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