Giving Back

Getting may be satisfying, but giving back is fulfilling. Last year at this time, Unit of One focused on ways that businesspeople were giving back and making a difference, in categories as diverse as education, finance, technology, urban affairs, and the environment. The response to that feature suggested that for many Fast Company readers, the holiday season is a time when giving takes on more meaning than getting -- and that the magazine should return to this theme regularly. So this year, we asked 10 leaders to describe how they use their skills, time, creativity, and money to give back to children -- one category that everyone agrees is of transcendent importance. Here's your chance to consider the many ways there are to get involved -- and then to figure out how you can give back.

John Starks

Guard
New York Knicks
New York, New York

Do you want to know the best thing that you can do for a child? Give him or her some of your time. You might not be able to quantify this type of giving. There may never be a bottom-line calculation of the benefits. But the rewards will far outweigh anything that your work can give you.

I didn't have it easy when I was growing up. But I know that I was incredibly fortunate to have great coaches. My first basketball coach, Roy Gage, volunteered his time -- showing us sixth-graders how to play ball. But he did a lot more than coach us on layups and free throws. He talked to us -- about life, about school, about family troubles. There were even times when, after we won a game, he would take us to the store that he owned and say, "You earned this. Go get whatever you want." Sometimes we forget what a profound difference the most simple gestures can make.

I started my own foundation for kids four years ago. And I spend a lot of time talking to kids -- in schools, in correctional homes, and in my basketball camps. Most kids just want someone to talk to. And if you've already been through what they're going through, they eat up everything you say. I can "coach" someone by sharing what I experienced as a kid and by listening to what they're experiencing.

I can give even more by leveraging my name -- for example, by getting Scottie Pippen and Patrick Ewing to participate in the John Starks All-Star Basketball Classic, a fund-raising tournament. Most NBA players had tough childhoods themselves, and it's easy for them to relate to what I'm trying to do. Also, a few years ago, I made a deal with Minolta that for every three-point shot I made during that season, they'd donate $100 to my foundation. I ended up shooting $24,700 worth of three-pointers. I remember being extra careful when I got close to the three-point line -- not only because I wanted those three points but also because I wanted that $100.

John Starks Foundation has awarded more than $60,000 in scholarships, aided more than 2,500 students through its various programs, and donated more than $200,000 to charities in such cities as New York and Tulsa, Oklahoma, where starks grew up.

Keith Rowe

Director of Technology for Interactive Media
Microsoft Corp.
Seattle, Washington

After eight years of working in a hard-charging environment, I realized that I was turning into a guy who was just an engineer, just a manager. I wasn't doing anything else. When people would start talking about their interests outside of their work life, all I could do was think, "I'm really excited about what I did at work yesterday." I didn't have anything else going on. So last year, I decided to look for ways to become more of a full-fledged human being -- including ways that I could start giving back.

I was contacted by the head of Social Venture Partners, a group that was in the process of forming. Everyone who was joining the organization had felt frustrated with standard philanthropy: too much check writing and gala attending, and too little focusing on specific problems and real solutions. SVP's approach is to engage people who are used to having control and who want to solve problems from the ground up.

We decided we would treat the funding that we provided -- especially for projects related to children -- as though we were a venture-capital company. We'd hunt down interesting ideas that others had ignored, and we'd plant seed money. But more than that, we would give our time and expertise as business managers, accountants, lawyers, and technologists.

I'm the lead partner in an endeavor that SVP is starting with one of our grantees, Talbot Hill Elementary, a school in a Seattle suburb. I spend most of my time planning how best to apply our money and our members' skills. For instance, a few of our software-design engineers are helping to install an email system at the school that will give students another tool to interact with one another. I brought in a former television-news director, who's helping to create a student-newscast program. We'll hook it into the school's closed-circuit TV system, which will enable the students to write, produce, and direct their own programs.

Everyone gets satisfaction from helping to solve problems. That satisfaction is abundant when you can look back at the end of the day and know that you actually did something.

Keith Rowe consults on technical strategy for all of Microsoft's Web properties. He has led the development of such projects as MSNBC.com, The Microsoft Network, and the software program Visual C++.