Change the World Charities

We live in an age where most people believe that the most effective  organizations at getting things done are businesses. Due to their  nature and size, businesses try to recruit the most creative, effective  leaders and managers available. Businesses focus on results. We often  hear complaints from business leaders that both government and non-profit  organizations tend to focus on process rather than results. It is  time for business to quit complaining and do something. Something  more than just giving some excess money away to a laundry list of  local and national charities.

Businesses that contribute any sum of money across a large number  of charities is like giving $50,000 to 50,000 pan handlers. At $1  a piece, it solves nothing. What's needed is focus and responsibility.  Perhaps one answer are Brand Charities.

A Brand Charity focuses on solving societal problems that are directly  related to the knowledge and skill necessary for your business to  be successful. An added bonus is that when you are successful or  actually accomplishing good through your Brand Charity, your business  brand reputation will also grow among your customers as well as the  community. Here's two quick examples.

Recently Universal Technical Institute, the largest educator of  automobile technicians in the world with 10 campuses in the U.S.  and 17,000 students, recently launched a Brand Charity called Redline  Resistance. This charity focuses on reducing teenage driving fatalities  which number nearly 8,000 per year. Although many other organizations  such as MADD, Chrysler, Ford and others have made some effort to  reduce teen driving, there has been no decline in the number of deaths  in the last 10 years. UTI is uniquely positioned to become a leader  in this worthy cause. It recruits and trains teenagers on how to  service and repair motorcycles. Their marketing department knows  what motivates teens, their education department knows how to educate  them and professionalize them. They also have a stake in success.  Every year, they lose one or more students to a fatal accident. With  this expertise, they have taken a unique approach of teens talking  to teens, focusing on becoming expert drivers which include becoming  a safe driver. Their goal is to become the leading advocate of teen  (safe) driving. Their CEO is completely sincere that if they got  no brand visibility for this effort, they would do it because it  is the right thing to do. But often doing good and doing well pay  off together. If UTI becomes a household word, it will be because  of Redline Resistance rather than their schools. (RedlineResistance.com)

The point is UTI is not donating money to other organizations to  take this on. They are using their own internal expertise, their  relationships with educators and major auto and motorcycle manufacturers  and their know-how and trade secrets to try to bring about a change  in a problem that has killed 88,000 Americans in the last ten years.

That's a Brand Charity.

Another New York Stock Exchange company, NuSkin, adopted Seacology,  an environmental organization focused on preserving both the environment  and culture of primarily South Pacific Islanders. (Although now they  reach out to people who live on islands throughout the world.) NuSkin  created a line of botanical based skin care products that contains  ingredients from many of the islands they are seeking to preserve.  There is obviously a virtuous cycle of preserving the ecology, plants  and people of a region that is helping your company create unique  products. It is also a great source of pride for NuSkin distributors.  With NuSkin's support, Seacology (Seacology.org) has launched  scores of projects that preserve coral reefs, indigenous rain forests as well as having built medical clinics, schools and community centers.  I hope you get the idea...brand charities rock!

Procter & Gamble is currently working on a way to help clean  up the world's water supplies. Every year 5 million people,  mostly children, die from diarrhea caused by impure water. Procter & Gamble  is the originator of Ivory soap and scores of other soap products.  With distribution worldwide, what better company is there to take  on a charity of ending death from impure water.

So, here's the challenge.

What if WalMart was going to get serious about improving K-8 education  by recruiting, training and funding 100,000 licensed elementary school  teachers, offered free to school districts whose primary student  body is below the poverty line. We know that increasing student teacher  ratio is one intervention that nearly always causes a better outcome.  The three WalMart heirs have a current net worth of nearly 90 billion  dollars and annual income of over 1 billion. With those kind of resources,  they could help improve literacy and education directly among their  targeted customers and future employees. Education is already their  number one charity, but so far, they have only stuck their toe in  the water. If they really want to improve their reputation, let's  see them do something. Something as big as they are.

The big idea of a corporate Brand Charity is to have corporations  themselves be responsible for the outcome. This isn't about  giving money away, it is about solving the problem.

The American Dream Challenge wants to expand this idea of business  Brand Charities throughout the country. Whether your business is  large or small, whether you are an independent contractor, what is  it that you do as a business that if applied to a social problem  in your neighborhood, community, state, nation or the world could  make a difference?

There are consultants who donate 10-20% of their available time  to their consulting expertise to school districts, non-profits and  others who could not afford experts. If you have something to offer,  be your own Brand Charity.

So what is it that you or your business does that could make a difference?  Imagine if we could get 1000 businesses all using their leadership  resources and expertise to solve problems that plague their communities  or the biggest problems of our age. There is simply no reason why  we don't.

Here's what you can do:

1. Consider what you or your company is an expert at. What are  you famous for? Why does your brand matter. And, what about your  expertise  could make a difference? Talk to your colleagues and co-workers about  it.

 2. Set up an internal task force. If you work for an organization,  you will need an Executive sponsor, somebody who is likely to give  their time and influence to supporting this project. Remember, this  doesn't mean that your organization will have to give more  money or more time for a good cause. Rather, it means focusing the  giving that you do, adding your expertise to it and make something  significant happen. This is the purpose of the task force. To determine  what existing assets can be refocused and what new expertise can  be added to create worthwhile outcomes.

 3. On March 1st, the American Dream Project will launch a Brand Charity  kit that you can download free of charge from our web site. If you  would like to participate in the design process, have ideas or anything  to offer, please send us a note. But don't wait, you can start  now. Just use common sense and your moral imagination.