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How Owners, Coaches Can Set the Tone for Charitable Giving

 

By MARC POLLICK

Published: July 23, 2007 : Page 14

For comedian Chris Rock, being wealthy means having financial holdings so immense that they can be passed down through generations.

“Shaq is rich,” Rock said, referring to Miami Heat center Shaquille O’Neal, “but the man who signs his check is wealthy.”

 

Athlete philanthropy is a hot topic. The media is writing about it. The public expects it. The experts are evaluating it. Organizations are springing up to facilitate, encourage and increase it. 

 

But athletes, especially young ones, most often look to their coaches and managers for guidance and advice on community involvement. And coaches and managers often follow the lead of their team owners. 

 

It is no different in most industries. Senior executives and managers set the tone for employee behavior and standards from the top down.

For the past several years, Timberland CEO Jeffrey Swartz has worn the mantle of one of this country’s most philanthropic business leaders. It is no wonder that his company has developed programs and opportunities for virtually every employee to contribute meaningfully to society.

 

Workers are encouraged to give back at Timberland. The company offers all eligible employees a choice of three sabbatical opportunities to serve while receiving full salary and benefits.

 

It is indigenous to Timberland’s corporate culture to be philanthropic. Arnold Hiatt, longtime CEO at Stride Rite, did much the same thing a generation before Swartz, requiring that the company donate 5 percent of gross profits to charity each year. That was a novel and groundbreaking concept at the time.  

Marvin Lewis

Top-down influence also permeates the world of sports. When Marvin Lewis became coach of the Cincinnati Bengals four years ago, he found that the Bengals were the only team among the four major pro sports leagues without a team foundation. Lewis immediately set out to change that. 

By establishing the Marvin Lewis Community Fund he not only set an example for every one of his players, showing them the importance he places on giving back, but he also galvanized a good portion of the Cincinnati corporate community in the process. 
Four years and more than $2 million raised later, most of his players participate meaningfully in the foundation’s programs. Many of the team’s corporate sponsors have signed on to support it.

With a focus on children, the Lewis foundation funds several local charitable organizations and its programs,  including three Boys Hope Girls Hope group homes.

In fact, just recently, wide receiver Chad Johnson and safety Madieu Williams announced charitable fundraisers that are tied to the Marvin Lewis Community Fund.

Arthur Blank

Arthur Blank was a philanthropist long before he was a team owner. So when he bought the Atlanta Falcons, he swiftly and deftly incorporated his passion and commitment to philanthropy in every facet of the team’s public persona and community interface. 
Today, the Falcons have one of the country’s premier community foundations. It has become a national model for others to emulate. 

A few weeks ago, Blank took his commitment one step further. He gathered more than 75 leaders and practitioners in sports philanthropy for a roundtable discussion on the state of the field.

The discussion, while all too brief, highlighted the great need for someone  to help provide resources, tools and, perhaps most importantly, role models for those working in the field.

In no other industry would we expect the least experienced members to become leaders without guidance and assistance from their more experienced colleagues. As is often the case in sports, philanthropy is also about leadership.

For years, sports philanthropy was like a Wild, Wild West of anything goes and anything passes for philanthropy. Some athletes never even registered their foundations with the IRS. There was (and still is) very little government or public oversight. 

It needn’t continue to be that way, and it shouldn’t. Not when there are people like Arthur Blank and Marvin Lewis to show the way.  

For sports philanthropy to be authentic and effective, it must achieve transparency (who is really giving what), submit to accountability (how much is going where) and adhere to best practices (all decisions and activities guided by rigorous professional and philanthropic standards).

An owner like Blank, who signs the checks but knows the rules, can use his position to leave a powerful legacy much more enduring than wins or losses on the field. If he does, all of us will be in his debt.

Sports philanthropy can have the greatest positive impact possible if those in leadership positions set the bar and the standards.       

      
Marc Pollick is president and founder of The Giving Back Fund a national nonprofit organization that helps athletes and entertainers create and manage high-impact philanthropy.

A personal incentive

The Home Depot co-founder and Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank not only leads by example. He also provides incentives for his players and all his employees to give back.
Only he doesn’t call them employees. He calls them “associates.” 

All associates, including all of his players, are eligible to participate in a matching-gift program wherein Blank personally matches every dollar donated to charity on a two-for-one basis up to a $10,000 match. 

His players know that if they become meaningfully involved with the community, it will not only please the boss (or, rather, their “associate”), but he will partner with them to multiply the impact of their good works.

It was reported that after Hurricane Katrina hit, there was almost 100 percent participation on the part of his players.