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When Westaff was considering what kind of
philanthropic program to pursue this year,
it decided to take a strategic approach. Having
chosen education as its issue, the Walnut
Creek, California-based international staffing
company focused on helping college students.
But, like many companies today, Westaff also
wanted to be responsible to its shareholders.
It wanted some kind of return on its investment
that would benefit the company.
Westaff's College Internship Scholarship
Program met all of those goals. The program
offered a $3,000 scholarship to an outstanding
college intern working as a Westaff staffing
employee at a client company. The intern had
to be exceptional in his or her work ethic,
ability to learn quickly, punctuality and
skill in putting college skills to use in
the workplace.
"Our scholarship award is part of our
on-going effort to support learning initiatives
and recognize the performance of our workforce," said
Dwight Pedersen, President and CEO of Westaff. "It
is also made in concurrence with our clients.
We give clients the opportunity to nominate
deserving Westaff college interns who contribute
significantly to their businesses during the
summer."
By allowing client companies to nominate
the Westaff interns, Westaff built stronger
relationships with its clients. The program
also show-cased the high caliber of Westaff
staffing employees like Matthew Jochym,
a 19-year-old college intern at Unisource,
Inc., a Westaff client in Exton, PA.
Jochym was this year's winner, said Lori
Dugan of Unisource, because "he has an outstanding
work ethic and the skills to go along with
it...His professionalism and drive have reflected
the talent pool Westaff has to offer."
Jochym spent 11 weeks at Unisource as
a database miner before returning to his
studies at West Chester University where
he is majoring in Computer Science. Dugan
said Unisource extended Jochym's contract
for as long as possible because Jochym
was such a great asset to the company.
For Jochym, who has three other siblings,
including one sister who is about to start
college and two others in the pipeline,
the scholarship really came in handy.
"Things are kind of tight right now, so this scholarship really helped," Jochym
said. "I got the call (that I won the award) when I was walking to class
and I couldn't believe it. I was really happy. It's paid off one whole semester
for me."
The program provided yet another return
to Westaff - by supporting the further education
of staffing employees like Jochym, the program
helped to improve the quality as well as the
loyalty of Westaff's workforce.
Jochym said he is strongly considering returning
to Unisource or another company as a Westaff
staffing employee.
"I had a very good experience at Westaff," he said.
And, wherever he goes, he'll take his work
ethic with him: "I like to get
everything done as soon as possible, but also achieve really, really
high quality," he
said. "I aim for quality because I think my work
basically reflects who I am."
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When does charitable giving become a two-way street
in which you're likely to get something tangible
back? When you give strategically. That's the tack
- strategic philanthropy - that more corporations
are taking as they develop their corporate philanthropy
programs.
"We've seen a trend in corporate management
running their philanthropic programs much more
like the rest of their business units," said
Charles Moore, Executive Director of the Committee
to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy. "They
are operating them with clear objectives, an emphasis
on measured results and defined reporting structures
for internal and external stakeholders."
Fortunately for the many struggling but worthy
social programs out there, corporate giving seems
to be on the rise. Many corporations remain committed
to a particular issue for years regardless of other
giving opportunities, and many others give without
any expectation of return. But an increasing number
of companies are asking tougher questions about
nonprofit programs' effectiveness and are raising
the bar for programs and causes they will support.
They now have shareholders in mind as they weigh
why they should give, what to give, and how to
give.
"They want to be responsible to their shareholders," Moore
said. "They want to see a real return on their
investment in terms of benefits to a charitable
cause. At the same time, they often want to see
some kind of return to the company."
Over the last fifteen years, corporate giving
has increased by 66.2 percent in real dollars.
And it has increased by 1.9 percent over the last
year, according to Giving
USA, a publication of
the AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy. Of the $240 billion
in charitable giving last year, corporations donated
$13.5 billion, or 5-6% of total giving.
Some experts believe corporate giving will continue
to rise, assuming increases in profitability. Other
factors that may spur philanthropy include a growing
demand for aid as our society continues to deal
with issues like disease, hunger and children living
in poverty. Neither government nor the contributions
of wealthy individuals can do it all, experts say.
"Government can't guarantee care from cradle to grave," said
Tom Ruppanner, former CEO of United Way and President
of United Group Insurance Trust, a benefits provider
for not-for-profits and businesses in California. "That's
why it's imperative that corporations and individuals step in. Many corporations
also recognize they have a duty to give back to their communities because of
the privileges they've been awarded. They understand that the tax and legal advantages
society has given them are substantial."
Finally, more companies are recognizing the competitive
benefits they reap from giving back to the community,
whether their gifts are cash, products, services,
creative solutions, employee volunteerism or real
estate.
Among the benefits are an increase in consumer
loyalty. Eighty-three percent of consumers, for
example, say they have a more positive impression
of a company that supports an issue they are concerned
about, according to the 1999 Cone/Roper Report
based on a five-year survey of American consumers.
With the right price and quality, American consumers say they are even
likely to switch to a brand or retailer affiliated
with a good cause.
"It's a key to any growth strategy to have synergy with the community you
plan to sell to and profit from," Ruppanner said. "Strategic or context-driven
philanthropy aligns philanthropic goals, corporate values and business goals.
Implicit is the importance of results."
Some results-driven, strategic giving might include,
for example:
- A toy manufacturer donates educational toys
to inner-city child care centers. Eventually,
the program draws the attention and the business
of other for-profit child care centers attracted
to the high quality toys and the idea of doing
business with a company that cares for children.
- A highly successful ice cream maker in search
of a cookie dough supplier links up with a nonprofit
bakery that trains and employs unemployed or
underemployed people. The new business relationship
allows the nonprofit to hire more unemployed
people while providing the ice cream maker with
the needed supplier.
- A computer networking company headquartered
in the inner city of a major metropolis pours
money and technical expertise into the city's
revitalization plans, helping to improve its own immediate environment
in the process.
One of the most powerful ways a company can
give, Ruppanner noted, is through volunteerism,
especially by providing free expert or technical
help. Employee volunteerism not only improves workers' morale and
sense of loyalty to a company, it can also boost
the effectiveness of a company's giving program.
"People who volunteer give twice as much as people who don't," Ruppanner
said. "They also gain insights into what's really needed in
the community. By building a corporate culture that empowers people
at all levels to decide what's in the best interests of the community
and the company, you're going to have a much more effective outcome."
SETTING UP
YOUR OWN PROGRAM
As your company considers setting up or
revamping its philanthropic giving program,
here are some tips from the Committee to
Encourage Corporate Philanthropy:
KEY COMPONENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL CORPORATE
PHILANTHROPY PROGRAM
- Know
your beneficiaries
- Select grant
recipients in alignment with
strategic corporate philanthropy objectives
and ensure regulatory compliance.
- Highlight leadership involvement
- Organize
leadership from the top while ensuring
that it is inclusive.
- Define program character
- Identify qualities
that will produce a strategic, accountable,
focused, and transparent corporate
philanthropy program.
- Establish sustainable partnerships
- Develop relationships with organizations
to maximize the impact of your contributions.
- Identify measurable metrics
- To measure the success of your program,
define inputs and outcomes metrics
to demonstrate achievement of goals.
Inputs measure what you give (i.e.,
cash, in-kind, volunteerism, management
and program costs), and outcomes measure
what you accomplish (changing behavior,
improving skills, raising awareness).
- Communicate results
- Outline a communication plan to disseminate
the results of your corporate philanthropy
program to employees, shareholders,
and to the public.
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Sources:
Charles Moore, Executive Director of
the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy,
212-825-1000, www.corphilanthropy.org
Tom Ruppanner, President of United Group Insurance
Trust, 866-675-0775, ruppanner@benefits.com
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