Are San Fernando Valley businesses more or less philanthropically generous than the rest of the city, the country, and the world? The concept of charity is somehow inherently contradictory to the precepts of capitalism. People work as hard as they can, often relegating ethics, honesty, and fair play to the back burner, while avarice and a win-at-any-price attitude prevail. And then they turn around and donate millions to AIDS relief, the homeless or abused, or to hundreds of other worthwhile causes. The passage of time has dimmed our collective memory of the excesses of the Robber Barons Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morgan, and the like. Today we remember their charitable gifts to libraries, universities, and philanthropies. John D. Rockefeller hired one of the founders of the public relations profession, Ivy Lee, who managed Rockefeller’s transformation from demon to donor by among other things having the tycoon giving away dimes to children on the streets of New York. In our own time, we have gone from excoriating the denizens of Silicon Valley (the first time around) for their lack of charitable giving, to admiring the incomparable giving of Bill Gates and many of his compatriots (this time around). Not to be outdone, Warren Buffett has pledged to support the charitable giving of the Gates Foundation with his own multi-million-dollar gift. And the mid-September issue of Fortune touts the philanthropic success President Clinton has achieved by using his charisma, clout and (others’) cash. Looking closer to home, I had always thought we Californians were a generous people. But according to several publications, we’re not even in the top five among of the 50 states in charitable giving. I was equally sanguine about those of us in the Valley. After all, we support MEND, Haven Hills, the Child Development Institute, New Horizons, El Proyecto de Barrio, and a host of other local not-for-profits, not to mention the large national organizations. Most of us could rattle off the names of half a dozen true philanthropists in the Valley’s business community I am privileged to know several of them. But does it stop there? Some of our larger enterprises a bank, a healthcare company, a few others are known for their giving. But can you name many smaller, local firms that have established a reputation for supporting worthwhile causes? Probably not. Big companies for years have used the concept of cause-relating marketing to both sell products and polish their image. “Buy two of our widgets and we’ll donate $10 to your favorite charity;” “Open an account and we’ll send a donation to the West Valley Boys and Girls Club;” or “Shop at our mall stores and we’ll support one of these charities ” (followed by a long list). A challenge Well here’s (to quote Jonathan Swift) a modest proposal: Why don’t all of us who have small and medium-sized businesses take a page from the big guys’ books? In essence, it’s just doing well while doing good. Instead of just having a “sale,” advertise and promote a donation. Instead of telling us that “it’s fun to buy a car” at a certain dealership, give a Valley-based charity $50 for every test drive. Instead of giving us double airline miles for staying at a certain Valley hotel, donate the second set of miles to a charity’s account. It’s easy, it’s good for the Valley, and it’s good business. Andy, if you donate a dollar to a Valley charity, I promise to let you keep cutting my hair until I go entirely bald. Bert, if you give $150 to a Valley not-for-profit for every Jaguar you sell, I promise to buy my next one from you (of course I only buy one every decade or so I still love my XJS). Veronica, if you give $2 for every meal I have at your restaurant, I’ll promise to order my Santa Fe salad at least three times a month for the next year. See, it’s good for them, it’s good for me…and it’s good for the Valley. After all, as he wrote near the end of his life, Benjamin Franklin believed, “I would rather have it said ‘He lived usefully,’ than ‘He died rich.'” May that be said of all of us. “You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.” Winston Churchill Martin Cooper is Chairman of Cooper Beavers, Inc., marketing and communications. He is the Immediate Past Chairman of VICA, Past President of the Public Relations Society of America-Los Angeles Chapter and of the Encino Chamber of Commerce, and is Vice President of the Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission. He can be reached at [email protected].
