Blake Mycoskie: Doing Business and Doing Good

How TOMS Founder Blake Mycoskie created a global apparel brand one step at a time [rf. One for One.®].

I have argued that to do good meaningfully over the long run, one has to have structure, processes and commitment that underpin and sustain that effort.  More specifically, philanthropy succeeds best when it makes money as part of doing good and it does good as part of making money.  This way, it isn't so reliable, or merely reliant, on donors to fund its efforts, initiatives and projects.

So, in this respect, a business is a perfect vehicle for doing good.  But the question from Forbes Joseph Deacetis is a good one:  How can TOMS survive as business by giving away one pair of shoes for every pair it sells?

Mycoskie gives us a good clue:  In part, TOMS makes it work by managing its costs (shunning splashy marketing campaigns) and gaining cost efficiencies (relying on customers to spread the word about the good they do by buying TOMS).  I am sure there are other efforts along these lines.  Also it may be that TOMS rely on a host of its other products, such as totes, sunglasses, and necklaces to help fund its shoes giveaways.  Shoes, in other words, maybe a strategic loss leader for the company.  On the whole, though, I imagine that TOMS have formulated algorithms for the best price points that permit them to do good and earn money.

To my argument at the outset, profit and philanthropy can meaningfully, viably walk hand in hand.
 

Marc Benioff: Weaving Philanthropy into Business

Salesforce founder and CEO, Marc Benioff, shares how his company sets an example of compassionate capitalism, by making service a part of their culture.

Indeed company information begins with the very thing Benioff talks about:

Sixteen years ago, we launched Salesforce with a vision to reinvent CRM in the cloud.

And a new technology model was born.

We also put aside 1% of our equity, 1% of our employee time, and 1% of our product to form the Salesforce Foundation. These two key decisions have fueled our incredible growth, made us the global leader in CRM, defined the era of cloud computing, and inspired a new philanthropic model for all to follow.

Reference: Salesforce.

I think it's easier, and more sustainable, if that philanthropic model is part of the design and construction of a company, that is, from the get go.  Then, how its CEO et al. run the company, how it markets and sells products, and whom it brings on board are all part of earning money and doing good.  It's certainly not impossible or impractical to embed a philanthropic initiative into an existing business model, culture or process, but this takes more thinking through, more seeking support, and I imagine more trials and tribulations.

It's amazing how some schools take play away from children.  Thank goodness for Playworks and for Salesforce Foundation, these children have things to keep them active physically - to balance the mental activity of their school day.
 

Chuck Feeney: Keeping Philanthropy Anonymous

Atlantic Philanthropies will have contributed more than $7.5 billion in areas from education and aging, to human rights and healthcare, benefiting people in seven regions of the world, by the time it concludes its grant making in 2016.  So it's a staggering figure by any standard, and it reaches countless people.

It was wonderful to see Warren Buffet, billionaire philanthropist extraordinaire himself, introduce the Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award, then to hear Steven Denning, Chairman of General Atlantic, speak about the foregoing philanthropy.   

But where was Chuck Feeney himself? 

(image credit)

Apparently Feeney shuns publicity, and seeks little prestige for his philanthropic efforts.  What is more, were it not for a dispute with a former business partner, Conor O'Clery may never have even conceived of the book he came to publish in 2008 - The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune.  There is something deeply admirable about a philanthropist who wishes to remain anonymous.  Of course anonymity is difficult in a highly plugged in world that we live in, but his absence at this Award ceremony a perfect thing.  

Kudos to him!
 

Wilbur Sargunaraj (3) on responses to poverty

Don't live for money. It's not worth the fight. Share what you have, and let's distribute it right.

I discovered Wilbur Sargunaraj just this week, and I love the social conscientiousness that is embedded in his catchy songs.  Responses to poverty includes (a) ignoring the people and their problem; (b) giving to the poor, but avoiding contact with them as if they suffered from leprosy; and (c) true to Sargunaraj's persona and gambit, giving to the poor, but engaging them and making them laugh.  Of course he advocates for the last one, but he does so with a sense humor.

We’re not campaigners. We don’t want money. We’re not pushing for a single, specific solution to global poverty.

Eight documentaries from award-winning filmmakers and 34 shorts from new and emerging talents. The films are moving, subtle and thought-provoking stories, but they also tackle big issues and pose difficult questions.

Reference:  Why Poverty?
 

Wilbur Sargunaraj (2) on what causes poverty

INDIA: Caste - a cause of poverty and discrimination?  For more on this and teaching resources linked to the film, go to Why Poverty?

Wilbur Sargunaraj, India's first You tube star, takes us on an enlightening and often irreverent journey into poverty and the lives of India's poor.  Along the way, in Episode 2, Wilbur asks what causes poverty? He shows how the caste system is not very First Class. [It is incorrect!] There is inequality, but to make it a better place, you have to start right now. "In life you should be content as these two goats. See how content they are."

It isn't just a matter of inequality, but also an issue of discrimination and prejudice.  It is in such culture and it is with such mindset that we see the underpinning of poverty, that is, the haves versus the have nots.  Then, when Sargunaraj encourages us to be as content as goats, there is a sense of irony and pathos in that.
 

Wilbur Sargunaraj (1) on what is poverty

INDIA: Wilbur Sargunaraj, India's first You tube star, takes us on an enlightening and often irreverent journey into poverty and the lives of India's poor. For more on this and teaching resources linked to the film, go to Why Poverty?

Along the way, Wilbur asks his fellow countrymen what they think poverty is: what do people need to be without for them to be deemed impoverished? And he speaks to some of India's poor so we can see what they have and what they can show us. Episode 1 of "Wilbur Goes Poor" focuses on what poverty is.

I love Sargunaraj's sense of humor cum pathos about the poor of India.  His point about how we, perhaps media outlets, want to sweep abject poverty out of view, is quite well taken.

But this is what it is.

In keeping with The Core Algorithm, Sargunaraj does well in asking village people directly how they define poor: no food, no house, no water, and no sleeping.  Their definition is far from scientific or scholarly, but it speaks to an authentic experience that we can appreciate and understand.
 

Heartbreak of Poverty (3) in South Africa

What's your walk to school like when, everyday, you have to cross one of the poorest parts of South Africa to get to class? Kelina, aged [11], is getting an education in a township in Cape Town, riddled with guns, drugs and violence. How does she see the world on her daily trip to school?

How ever do these children, who manage to walk these corridors of guns, drugs and violence - where apparently 50,000 crimes against them are reported each year - actually learn?  How does Kelina do in school in the midst of terror?

What goes through my mind is I'm scared to walk alone, because they raped a woman in the street. We saw the blood she left afterwards. You have no choice but to see these things.