Charities: When big business plays its part Giving money isn't the only way to help
By ELLEN DAVIES
CHARITY in Britain has the familiar image of the lord of the manor distributing largesse and his lady espousing good causes. But now that the nation's wealth has passed into the hands of industry and commerce, does big business accept an inheritance of charitable duties?
Or are donations simply made for selfish reasons, to buy reputation? Some companies deny that their motives are anything but altruistic - but, says Peter Hunt, community programme manager for Shell U.K., giving money to good causes for purely philanthropic reasons is unethical. "The money belongs to our shareholders and we have to make it grow. I have a moral problem with giving money away without any benefit to the business." Shell's total contribution to charity in the U.K. last year was about £5.5 million, and only £1.8 million of that was cash.
"Giving money is often the least-effective way of helping," Hunt argues."It's like pouring water into the desert."
Shell prefers to work with charities to build long-term programmes, looking at areas where there are business links - education, enterprise and the environment. "We look for the people who are doing good work and pushing things forward, where we can contribute something significant." He concedes that recession has prompted the company to drop some of its lesser causes and concentrate on high-profile issues.
Working with charities - either as part of a business programme or on a purely voluntary basis - gives employees in many companies theopportunity to try their skills in handling budgets, solving problems and dealing with people. These skills can then be transferred to their work. Tesco, for example, has been running a pilot project to encourage staff to work in voluntary secondments with charities. A spokesman ("don't name me - I already get 60,000 charity requests a year") saysit was introduced as a management development tool, and the results are promising. Tesco encourages its store staff to support local causes, giving them time off to help and matching the amounts they raise with a 20 per cent donation.
The group tends to focus on children's charities. "It's a question of identifying with our customers, who are mainly young families. The NSPCC received £1.2 million last year, and we hope to do the same for Save the Children," the spokesman says.
