When I was growing up, my Dad
owned a small store in a declining inner city neighborhood. As the faces in the
neighborhood changed, my Dad was always the same, greeting each customer by
name and bringing their stories home at dinner time. I always thought my Dad
was the luckiest man alive, to know such amazing people.
Next door to my Dad's store was a
hardware store. The owner was vocal in his disdain for the changing color of
the neighborhood. Being the only hardware store left in the neighborhood, the
residents had little choice but to shop there, but they hated him as much as he
hated them. The more he mistrusted them, the worse they treated him; and the
worse they treated him, the more it reinforced to him how justified he was in
his opinion of them all.
We in the NonProfit world pride
ourselves on our open minds. We identify with my Dad. We reflexively hate his
neighbor. And deep down, we figure that if the neighbor's shop were burned in a
riot, we would understand why, and we might even secretly
cheer.
We shouldn't be so quick to pat
ourselves on the back. Because there is a bigotry that runs just as deep in the
world of philanthropy. And just as it threatened my Dad's neighbor, it
threatens the integrity of the work we do. It threatens our very
existence.
I am talking about the
anti-business bias felt by so many in the NonProfit world.
We hear it in different ways, but
it all sounds pretty much the same. Usually it is whispered, or spoken only
among a certain circle. "They don't really care about our causes, they just
want to look good - cause-related marketing." "Why would they give us such a
gift? What's in it for them?" The bottom line sentiment is:
"Businesses only care about money,
and individual business people only care about money. Their philanthropy isn't
REAL philanthropy."
And just like my Dad's neighbor,
who would swear it wasn't a bias, but "Just look how those people act," we,
too, believe we are being objective as we talk behind the backs of the very
companies and business people who make our good work possible - our donors and
board members.
I know about corporate
philanthropy first hand. And I also see the bias firsthand. I own a For Profit
business, a consulting firm that works with NonProfits and Native American
Tribes. Through my company, I have the opportunity to work closely with
NonProfit boards and staffs across the country, and to see and feel their
responses to the business world. But also through my company, we give
substantially to the community, and it is through that giving that I understand
philanthropy.
After our first year in business,
we created and hosted an event to benefit a few agencies that help children -
something simple and effective to give back to the community during the
holidays. The event was such a huge success that, as it grew year after year,
it began to take over our lives. Last year, the event benefitted 30 agencies,
taking months away from our real work. This year, the event has finally left
the nest and become its own entity, the Southern Arizona Community Diaper Bank,
providing diapers to every single agency in Tucson that works with needy
populations.
As for benefit to my firm, the
event has put us in the red for the past 3 years. The local PR has no value to
us, because all our business is in other states and countries - we have chosen
not to work close to home.
Why would we do such a thing?
Simply because it needed to be done. We had discovered an unmet need, and we
worked to meet it. We simply couldn't NOT do it.
I know it is hard to make the leap
to think that a larger company might also give only because it is the right
thing to do. Through our own philanthropy, however, I have had the opportunity
to discuss philanthropy with leaders of large corporations. And they give for
the same reasons - because they feel an obligation to give back to the world
that has given to them. A leader in the banking industry once told me "It has
to be God, family, and the bank, in that order."
Those of us involved in the
NonProft world might benefit from reading James Collins and Jerry Porras's
groundbreaking book, Built to
Last, a well-researched account of visionary companies worldwide - those
who, despite hardship, always seem to come out as the premier institution in
their industry. Their findings? That the companies who succeed the best are
those for which there exists a set of core values and a sense of purpose beyond
just making money. Put another way, the same things that make up a decent and
successful human being are those qualities that make up a successful
business.
Businesses are no more or less
than a collection of human beings, with human values. And those values are
expressed, among other ways, through their volunteerism and
philanthropy.
Until those in the NonProfit world
can rid themselves of their anti-business bias, their struggles will only
continue. It is an 'us and them' mentality that is counter-productive at best,
and ugly at its worst. NonProfits want corporate support, want business people
on their boards to raise money. And yet they sneer at the values of corporate
entities, suggesting that the word values should be put in quotes when it comes
to corporations - that all they really value is money.
Now it is true that there are
companies who will jump on a cause-marketing bandwagon because they think it's
good for the bottom line. But is it fair to lump corporations with a history of
giving back to the world in with those who are merely following the trends? Do
a few bad people of any race or religion justify bigotry against that whole
race?
Lumping all corporate giving in
with those who take advantage of the perception of charity is a horrible bias,
as harmful as any other stereotype. It is harmful because it creates a
disrespect for the corporations that help our NonProfits do the good work they
do, and automatically discounts the many individual human beings who comprise
that corporation - the givers of that gift. And it is harmful because it
creates an unspoken resentment by staff members of business-minded board
members who govern the organization. Like any prejudice, it is insidious, quiet
yet dangerously present.
By discounting the motives of all
businesses, we lose opportunities. Not just the opportunity to get more money,
but the more important opportunity - the chance for a real relationship, a real
partnership. The opportunity to work together, as real partners with shared
expertise - the kind of relationship that makes the whole better than the
individual parts could ever be. That will never happen when we see the other
party as a necessary evil, a money tree, to be tapped and yet scorned at the
same time.
Without a healthy business
environment, there is no money for charity. Period. Even those of us who
proudly wear the moniker of "liberal" have to concede that
point.
NonProfits can keep thinking they
are justified in their anti-business bias, or they can look for opportunities
to forge human relationships that provide real and meaningful giving. They can
stop suspecting the motivations of those who give, and start getting to know
them as people. Start educating them, working with them, one at a
time.
People who run businesses, from
the corner store to IBM, are individual human beings, first and foremost, and
they have real hearts that beat. Stop missing the opportunity to work with
them, to teach them and to learn from them. And watch your community
benefit. |