Ways to Give Back

Today business is about more than just making products or money. It's about making a difference. So Fast Company invited 19 business leaders to share their insights on giving back to the community. Their stories reveal areas in which people are contributing today education, technology, environment, health, community development as well as shared beliefs about the new philanthropy: Giving time is more important than just giving money. Personal commitment matters more than corporate involvement. And action, as always, counts for more than mere words.

Paul Brainerd
Founder
The Brainerd Foundation
Seattle, Washington
brainerd@brainerd.org

There's an emerging generation of social entrepreneurs who are not satisfied with blank-check charity. They want to make a difference but they don't know how to get started. I began Social Venture Partners to teach people how to give back strategically. Here are a few things I've learned.

Start now. Some people think that the time for philanthropic pursuits is late in life. But the best time to give back to the community is while you're young. Focus your energy on things you care about. Learn how to leverage your passion and creativity.

Grow the grass roots. The people with new ideas are at the grassroots level. They're also the ones who need the most help. Large national organizations like the Sierra Club tend to get most of the support. But the real battles are waged by people who want to make a difference in their own backyards.

Think like a venture capitalist. Invite proposals from groups, meet with them, and then pick groups to form partnerships with. Your expertise can help them create a plan of action something like a business plan to refine their strategy. The problems that come with giving back can be just as challenging as business problems. And solving them can be much more satisfying.

Paul Brainerd, known as the father of desktop publishing, started The Brainerd Foundation in 1995 to support grassroots environmental projects. Before embarking on a full-time philanthropic career, Brainerd was the founder of Aldus Corp., which merged with Adobe Systems in 1994.

Ami Dar
Executive Director
Action Without Borders
New York, New York
ami@idealist.org

Sixteen years ago, as a young paratrooper in the Israeli army during the Lebanese War, I spent several months on the Syrian border. I realized that my platoon was made up of two types: "good guys," who would give you their last pair of dry socks if you needed it; and "other guys," whom you learned to avoid. While watching the Syrian soldiers, I figured that there must be a similar division on their side.

I started to daydream a little: Why didn't the good guys on both sides get together instead of fighting each other? Years later these thoughts led me to form Action Without Borders, a nonprofit organization that uses the Web to link volunteers and groups all over the world. The Web has drastically improved our ability to give back and to get involved.

Even the smallest companies and the busiest people can make a big difference with very little effort. Start by changing your perspective. Recognize that your company has a lot to offer whatever its size. The challenge is to find a way to employ your resources creatively.

Use the Web to help small organizations: add a link from your Web site to theirs; if they don't have a Web site, help them create one. Donate your used, working computers. Offer to share your management and marketing experience. And yes, giving money always helps.

In his for-profit life, Ami Dar is president of the North American subsidiary of Aladdin Knowledge Systems an Israeli company that supplies tools for software developers.

Jeanne Wisniewski
Vice President, Human Resources
Oxford Health Plans Inc.
Norwalk, Connecticut
jwisniew@oxhp.com

Too often, corporate giving boils down to large contributions that mean nothing to the employees. Our challenge was to make our HumanCare Corps a program in which employees could decide whether, where, when, and how often to volunteer. If a program isn't theirs, it won't work. We've also learned a lot about making a corporate volunteer program succeed.

All giving is local and individual. HumanCare Corps is an individual commitment, not a company program. We promote a spirit of giving and offer financial support to individual initiatives. But we also depend on local team leaders to keep the volunteer spirit alive and on people's radar screens.

Let your policy follow your workers. Our giving follows our employees' efforts. For example, take someone who's working in a domestic-violence counseling center and needs money for an initiative. Because the person is donating time, we'll donate money. Focused giving tied to employee volunteer efforts makes a difference.