The groundwater theory goes like this. Let’s say you have a lake in your backyard, and you find one fish floating dead in that lake. You would assess the fish. What’s wrong with it? Now apply that to one child failing in the education system. You might ask did that student study enough? Are they […]
Everything impacts everything in some way. This is an agreed upon concept, often referred to as system thinking, that is pretty basic to understand. And is often completely left behind in corporate philanthropy. When you somehow contribute to a community, or an organization, or an issue, that issue isn’t the only thing impacted. Tons of […]
You invest in the market, in local businesses, in your employees. But what about the community? So often, when we think about philanthropy, our minds go to charity. We are giving back to the community out of the kindness of our hearts. It feels good, it looks good, it’s the right thing to do. We […]
CRA stands for the Community Reinvestment Act. It requires that financial institutions commit a portion of their resources to underserved communities. Basically, financial institutions open branches, give loans, donate money, in communities that they normally wouldn’t, or they get a big fat fine (and plenty mess up still). It was designed to fight inequality in […]
So you’ve done your research and figured out that philanthropy can be a huge benefit to your company. You are ready to commit employee hours and expertise, your company product or service, and make a public commitment to community work. You are excited, your team is excited, you are ready to do this! I am […]
Accenture is a giant consulting firm driving innovation in the corporate world that prides itself on preparing industry for the digital age. They run the gamut from technology to business operations, partnering with the majority of Fortune 500 companies around the world. Essentially, Accenture is a B2B powerhouse. Plenty of professionals think that B2B businesses […]
If you go back to my very first blog post, I tell you WHY I started this business. Why I am passionate about corporate community investment. But why should YOU care about community investment? Why should your business want to do this work? I need to start with a disclaimer, or a reminder: when I […]
Salesforce.com, a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, is a shining example of effective philanthropy strategy. The Salesforce.com Foundation has existed since very early in the company’s life. At the inception of the foundation, the founders invented the 1:1:1 strategy: 1% of founding stock, 1% of employee time, and 1% of product would go to the […]
For most of my life, I hated politics and everything to do with it. In my recent years, I have fallen in love with the game, worked in the field, and learned an astronomical amount of skills and life lessons. Most people think politics is yucky. It’s a yucky game controlled by money and manipulation. […]
The general thought process behind corporate philanthropy is that philanthropy=charity=public relations=more business. Look at us, we built a house for a homeless family,collected canned food at Christmas, and gave $10,000 to the animal shelter, be our client, work for us, etc. Very few businesses think about the social and economic gain that results from actual […]