What's the Best Way to Do Good?

Kevin Fong

Managing partner
Mayfield Fund
Menlo Park, California

You don't have to be the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to make a meaningful difference. But you do need to know that your time and money are going toward something worthwhile and effective. How does a young entrepreneur find reliable information about where and how to give back? Consider splitting research time with your friends and peers to look into philanthropies that interest you. Better still, tap into organizations like Silicon Valley Social Ventures and other community foundations nationwide, where you'll get fast access to trustworthy information. Just as you'd hire a portfolio manager to manage your money, you need to find a trusted adviser to manage your social giving. Then, instead of just writing a check with casual uncertainty, you'll be confident that your dollars are being spent wisely.

Ultimately, though, you're holding the charitable organization that you choose accountable. So don't be afraid to ask reasonable questions: How does the charity measure success? What's the reach of its program? Who is its target audience? If an organization doesn't already have metrics that show how donors' dollars are making a difference, it should create some. We expect that kind of discipline from our colleagues. We require it from ourselves as entrepreneurs. Why not demand it as philanthropists?

Kevin Fong (kfong@mayfield.com) , who spoke at the White House Conference on Philanthropy in October 1999, cofounded Silicon Valley Social Ventures, a fund that promotes "intelligent, active and effective giving" to nonprofits. As a managing partner at Mayfield Fund, a private venture-capital partnership, Fong advises about a dozen early-stage companies.

Marguerite W. Sallee

Chairwoman and CEO
Frontline Group
Nashville, Tennessee

To create real change in this world, you have to have a vision, and you have to have enormous perseverance. It's the same principle that applies in any entrepreneurial venture: You've got to be too stupid to quit.

And when you fuse your giving back with your company's objectives, you'll find that it's good for business as well. It's a powerful thing to organize a business around a clear sense of mission and values. Businesses that provide opportunities for employees to give back create balance -- for the company and for its employees.

For example, when our business acquired a company that manages a nonprofit called Jobs for America's Graduates, it instantly created opportunities for employees to work at the local level, mentoring at-risk youths and helping them find meaningful work or continuing-education opportunities after graduation. It also gave our corporate clients a chance to join us in another form of partnership. We now factor employee and client involvement in JAG into our corporate mission, because we see it as totally in sync with our vision to create an extraordinary workforce that includes young people.

Marguerite W. Sallee (msallee@frontline-group.com) is also cochair of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, a provider of employer-sponsored child care and early-education services that she founded as CorporateFamily Solutions in 1987. She founded Frontline Group, a corporate-training company with more than 27 locations worldwide, in 1999.

Jonathan M. Tisch

President and CEO
Loews Hotels
New York, New York

Why should your business be socially responsible? Because it's your obligation. With all of the cuts in government services, it's up to companies and communities to work together to improve other people's lives.

But if you need another reason, here's one: It's good for business. You really can do good and do well at the same time. For one thing, you'll differentiate yourself from the competition: A client might choose you over the company down the road, because she appreciates the fact that you're a good neighbor.

If you're a CEO in corporate America today, then you already understand the needs of the neighborhood that surrounds your business. Start there. Make a commitment to find ways for your business to contribute to your community. And listen to your employees -- many of whom, after all, live as well as work in that community. They've got some great ideas.

At the same time, you'll send your employees an important message: that your concern for them goes beyond your bottom line. In this market, where everyone is competing for staff, you have to be able to offer people more than just good wages and benefits. Showing that you truly care about the community is an effective way to do that.

Jonathan M. Tisch, a vice chairman of the Welfare to Work Partnership, has received numerous awards for his philanthropic work. Loews Hotels's Good Neighbor Policy, an employee community-outreach program that addresses hunger, homelessness, illiteracy, and the environment, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. Loews Hotels owns or operates 15 hotels and resorts in North America.