Corporate Philanthropy: Good or (Making Up for) Evil?

This past week, my students brought up an ethical issue that made me think twice. Is it better for for-profit corporations to sin and then repent through corporate philanthropy or to sin and not atone at all?

Perhaps it is a bit hypocritical for that local brewing company to repeatedly dump in the creek and then turn around and give millions to social causes through its foundation. But as a wise friend pointed out, the woman in charge of that foundation likely has no control over, and may not even have any knowledge of, the bad, bad things that the company does, despite the fact that she shares the same last name.

Research shows that 89% of consumers aged 18-35 would switch brands for a comparably priced product if a company showed that it was a "giving" company. Where does your loyalty lie, and do you do the research before you support a company that, on the surface, seems to be charitable?

Asking for Donations Is NOT Begging

At the Colorado Nonprofit Association's annual award luncheon today, I watched a video that moved me to tears about what nonprofits do for the Colorado community. I listened to award recipients who've worked tirelessly for decades talk about what it means to work in philanthropy. I felt good. I felt important. I felt justified in my choice to pursue nonprofit management as a career.

But having spent ten weeks talking to my students about how asking for donations is giving people a chance to match their passion about a mission with an organization's needs, I was infuriated by Lieutenant Governor Barbara O'Brien's speech. She talked about how you have to be comfortable with begging to work in nonprofit organizations. She actually used the word two or three times. She's the former executive director of the Colorado Children's Campaign, so she had a lot of street cred in that room. I heard people around me murmuring in agreement and saw them nodding when she said that.

As long as we have nonprofit leaders and government officials perpetuating that kind of thinking, we will never run our organizations efficiently. We will never maximize donations. We will never help all of the people we are capable of helping. We will never put ourselves out of business by eradicating the social injustice and oppression we fight because we limit our thinking and our possibilities. Wake up, Barbara, and stop teaching the next generation to think just like you.

Spring Is Coming!

I know, I know--we're supposed to get snow tonight. I don't care. Today it's so warm you can be outside without a jacket. The birds are gaily singing, and the mountains are the kind of blue that you could lose yourself in. On my walk this morning, I:

• Saw the first tulips coming up and little patches of green ground cover everywhere
• Heard two meadowlarks calling to each other across the field
• Smelled the first hint of something growing underneath the musty cover of leaves
• Touched the new buds on the tree branches
• Felt the joy of the new season

Hooray!

Learning from Teaching

Last week, a panel of board members was kind enough to give their time to and share their expertise with my students in the nonprofit financial management and fundraising class I teach at DU. Two weeks before that, a panel of executive directors spoke to the class. It was thrilling to see the wheels turning in the students' minds as what I had taught them in class and what they had read in their books came to life right before their eyes. It was true. It was real.

And it was confusing, too. Pitting theory against reality is always a challenge, and never is that more true than in nonprofit organizations. In class, we talk about how nonprofits need to be transparent to their constituents, donors, and the public, but few publish their annual reports or Form 990s (the IRS information return nonprofits must complete) on their websites.

I tell the students that the scarcity mentality is the death of organizations: "begging" for money, not budgeting enough money to compensate qualified personnel, thinking first about cutting expenses rather than raising more money. Then we hear that a very real worry for executive directors of organizations that have been around for a long. long time is that they will not have enough money in the bank to make payroll.

In the end, despite the mixed messages, I know that this class will make an impact on twenty lives. Some of these students will decide that nonprofit management is not for them, that they need to make an impact one person at a time by being social workers. Some will decide that, like me, they will work to change "the system" so that nonprofits will not just survive, but thrive. Maybe one will become an investment banker and live the life some of us secretly envy.

I am blessed to have the opportunity to teach them and learn from them, too. Twenty lives intertwined with mine... awesome.

E's Beads Is Open for Business

I wear the jewelry I make, give it as gifts, and, in the past, sold a few pieces at small craft fairs. Then I found Etsy, which is the online store for all things handmade. If you're a shopper, or you like to buy unique gifts, or you're fascinated by the millions of ways people create art, go there. You won't be disappointed. It's eye candy, it's colorful, and it's always changing.

And now you can buy my handmade jewelry in my online store, E's Beads, at http://www.esbeads.etsy.com/. I'll keep adding pieces, so check back often or subscribe to the RSS feed from my store. Thanks for your support!

Let Your Light Shine

Excerpted from Marianne Williamson's "Return to Love":

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? Your playing small doesn't serve the world. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

The Ethics of Credit Checks

This weeek, a student in my nonprofit financial management class questioned the ethics of conducting credit checks on potential employees. The students in my class are social workers, and I'm finding that their code of ethics (http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/code.asp) can be quite different than the code of ethics I live under as a CPA (http://www.aicpa.org/about/code/index.html) and business ethics in general. But as we know, in some cases, business ethics have gotten corporations into a l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-t of trouble.

The student argued that prying into someone's personal financial affairs and making a judgment about her ability to do a job, even a finance or money-handling job, is not in alignment with the basic social-work value of respect for another human being. She gave good examples of how this protocol could be misused and abused. I can definitely see her point, but I don't want to be the nonprofit leader who has to explain how $50,000 was embezzled by an employee I didn't do a background and credit check on.

I'd love to hear your perspective on this issue!

Good Things Come to Those Who Work Hard

Linda Brisnehan of Lockheed Martin, the 2007 Women'sVision Foundation "Woman of the Vision" was the intro speaker at the Women'sVision Savvy Salon last week. She had three tips for the career women in the audience. I found myself nodding my head in agreement after everything she said, and I thought her advice was worth sharing.

1. Work hard and give 100%.
If you work hard, you get a good reputation, and those who have a good reputation see lots of opportunities come their way.

2. Continuously learn.
This really means create your own opportunities by getting smarter and better all the time.

3. Build your network.
Amen, sister. Can't say enough about this one, because all of the new contacts in my network have opened my eyes to whole worlds I didn't even know existed.

Life Is Good

I haven't had a full-time job in seven months. I pay a ridiculous amount of money every month for health insurance. I push myself outside my comfort zone every single day. I'm frustrated with the nonprofit community and its scarcity mentality. I struggle with balancing my time between maintaining contact with the people in my network, building new relationships, working for clients, seeking new clients, getting smarter by going to classes and conducting informational interviews, working as a volunteer, and looking for work. I'm o- u- t- out of money. I have never been busier in my life.

And I've never been happier.

I am true to my values. I'm having fun. I appreciate and admire my husband, family, friends (old and new), colleagues, and students. I'm lucky to live in a democratic country, as flawed as it seems sometimes. I drive a reliable car that's paid for, and I have a beautiful home surrounded by a garden that takes my breath away. I put my skills and experience to work in a meaningful way. I connect with people.

Life is good.

The Love of Her Life

I attended the memorial for my friend's husband, Jim, this week. A clear picture emerged of a man who worked hard, was loving and fiercely loyal to his family, enjoyed the good things in life (good food, beer, music, art), was incredibly well respected as a smart, stubborn, ethical attorney who did what was best for his clients even if it wasn't what was best for him, was a good friend to many, supported other people emotionally his whole life, was not interested in self-promotion or taking credit, and was a patient, caring father.

Sounds like a saint, right? But what I loved about this memorial was that many people who spoke also talked about the things Jim did that drove them crazy because they're what made him him. He played practical jokes and let people ruminate on it for days until he admitted it was a joke. He could be fastidious to the point of obsession. He worked too much and too hard. He separated his personal and professional lives into little compartments. He was a saint with flaws. He was real.

At the end, the family asked the audience to share memories. A young woman came up to the microphone and said that she'd been Jim's massage therapist for 11 years. She knew all about his family but had never met them. She said that she had lost a son and that she and Jim had connected over the heartbreak of losing a child. "I don't know if you know this," she said as she looked at Jim's grown children sitting in the front row, "but he gave me money to adopt a son after I lost my own." Afterward, she hugged each of them in turn like they were her long-lost siblings.

It's easy to see why my friend calls him the love of her life. She and Jim shared many values and qualities and were different enough that they could continuously learn from one another. He will be missed by the hundreds of people he touched with his humor, love, intelligence, and support.