By Kim Ross

In February 2000, the United States marked the longest economic expansion in its history. It’s clear American businesses are doing well, but are they doing good?

The answer is yes and no. Businesses account for only 5 percent of all charitable contributions in the U.S. A 1997 Conference Board survey showed big companies increased their charitable contributions 20 percent over the previous year. But in 1999, as the economy continued to roar, The Chronicle of Philanthropy found contributions by the nation’s largest companies rose a mere 6.1 percent.

According to Alan Andreasen, a professor of marketing at Georgetown University, businesses that are not involved in philanthropy are missing a valuable opportunity. Philanthropic partnerships, he said, “make good strategic sense.”

Some companies in the travel industry have been quick to understand the strategic value of corporate giving. In fact, a Harvard Business Review article by Andreasen noted, “The tremendous potential of affiliations between nonprofit and for-profit organizations was first recognized by American Express in 1982 . . . .”

Amex donated 5 cents to San Francisco arts organizations for every local transaction and $2 for each new local cardholder. Andreasen wrote. “In just three months, American Express contributed $108,000 to the arts organizations and saw a considerable increase in transactions with the card. The company also found that its relationships with participating merchants improved and that more local merchants decided to accept the card.”

The campaign was so successful, American Express then tried a nationwide program: raising $1.7 million for renovation of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. As a result, Andreasen wrote, “use of the card increased 28% compared with the same period the previous year.”

Besides increased sales, companies in the travel industry and elsewhere realize other benefits from strategic philanthropy. One is the opportunity to reach new markets. In addition, a nonprofit’s image can burnish or change a corporation’s image. “From a corporate marketer’s point of view, a nonprofit organization’ s most valuable asset is its image,” Andreasen said.

In today’s tight labor market, philanthropy also has pays off in employee recruiting, morale building and retention. Andreasen noted wryly, “It let’s a company say to employees, ‘We’re holier and more community-involved than that money-grubbing guy down the street.’”

Lastly, he pointed out, corporations can gain valuable knowledge. When executives serve on boards or volunteer, they stretch themselves and learn to think in new ways, said Andreasen. “It’s like tuning up your strategic thinking.”

If your organization is not currently using philanthropy to meet its strategic goals, consider the following examples of travel companies that are doing well by doing good.

Noel Group Follows Its Values

“Where our direction is led by our values,” is the motto of the Noel Group, a family of travel companies that includes Travel Guard International. One of the group’s most closely held values is community service.

“We have the added responsibility to take the financial strength we have attained and . . . strengthen our commitment to humanitarian activities in our local and global community,” said company founder John Noel.

In 1992 Noel put this philosophy into action with the Make a Mark program, which funds charitable projects in locations around the world. “We look for countries that have given us travel opportunities, where our businesses have benefited from taking our tourists to their countries,” he said. “It is our attempt to go back to those countries and show them our gratitude for sharing their culture, their people, with us.”

Among other things, Make a Mark has built a kindergarten near Dubrovnik, Croatia; and constructed a medical facility in Rostov-Veliky, Russia. The contributions came from the Noel Group and from solicitations to its travel industry partners, vendors and clients. In 1997, for example, John and Patty Noel led a tour of paying and contributing passengers to Kenya. There they helped build staff quarters at the Nyumbani Orphanage and visited such popular tourist sights as Mount Kenya and the Masai Mara Game Reserve. A total of $77,000 was donated.

Since charity begins at home, Noel created the Compass Foundation to provide scholarships for Wisconsin’s minority students. Since the four-year awards are for the University of Wisconsin in Stevens Point, the company’s hometown, scholarship winners intern at Noel subsidiaries.
Employees also play a big role in Noel Group philanthropy. In 1999 they held a lunchtime “Cookout for Kosovo” in the company’s parking lot each Friday for a month. In addition, they had bake sales and raffles. The fundraising “just snowballed” into a community-wide effort, said Dan McGinnity, head of public affairs. Of the $73,000 collected in Stevens Point to help Red Cross relief efforts in Kosovo, $40,000 came from the Noel Group and its employees.

Employees also created and distributed Easter baskets of food to the needy. As an incentive to reach the goal of 60 baskets, the human resources department issued a challenge. Ordinarily, the company observes “casual Fridays,” however, HR promised one extra day of casual attire for meeting the goal and one additional day for every 10 baskets over the goal. “The project was so successful,” McGinnity said, “we ended up with 28 days straight of casual after Easter.”

The company’s values-based charitable activities have paid off in more than just warm fuzzies. McGinnity said American Express chose the company to provide travel assistance to cardholders because it wanted a partner that shares its “blue box” values. Since one of those values is giving back to the community, the Noel Group got the nod.

Recruiting also benefited. With local unemployment at 3 percent, the hiring competition in Stevens Point is fierce. “We are competitive in terms of salary and benefits,” he noted, “but employees are looking for what else they can get from an employer.” Because of its community service, McGinnity said applicants come in saying, “I know about the Noel Group and it’s the kind of company I want to work for.”

Ramada Reaches Out to Needy Children

Being a founding corporate sponsor of Childreach has “brought our company together,” said Steven J. Belmonte, president & CEO of Ramada Franchise Systems. “It’s truly part of the Ramada culture.”
Childreach, formerly the Foster Parents Plan, is an international humanitarian organization that helps improve living standards for children in 42 developing countries. During Ramada’s five-year partnership with Childreach, its hotels, employees and guest have raised $750,000 and sponsored 1,000 children. One property alone sponsors 100 children. At a San Francisco property, the housekeeping staff, people often considered America’s working poor, sponsors a child. Belmonte himself sponsors a child whom he met last year during a visit to Egypt.

Besides helping individual kids, Ramada holds fund raising events on behalf of Childreach, prints and distributes literature to guests, produces public service announcements and allows members of its loyalty program to use points to sponsor a child. Ramada contributions have built medical centers in Zaire, renovated schools and housing projects, and built a youth recreation center in a poor area of Cairo.

Belmonte said, “Hundreds of thousands of sponsors know Ramada is involved,” so franchisees recognize that this corporate-initiated charitable effort adds value to the brand and to their properties. As a result, they too have embraced Childreach. We don’t have to cram it down their throats. They ask for more.”

In fact, said Belmonte, the idea for a large and successful systemwide fundraiser came from two franchisees. On May 1, 1999, nearly 200 Ramada properties across the U.S. tried to set a Guinness world record for the largest simultaneous yard sale ever. Employee-volunteers collected donations from the company, their own homes and the community. All together, the sales — many of which were held in Ramada banquet rooms, parking lots and courtyards — raised $70,000 to build a health center in Zambia.

Royal Caribbean Helps Keep Communities Afloat

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s vision statement calls for “enhancing the well being of our communities.” That means the company focuses its charitable activities on its ports of call in Southern Florida, Caribbean, Alaska and the West Coast. According to Lynn Martenstein, vice president of corporate communications, the department that oversees corporate giving, “We’re most useful if we stay where we have a presence.” She added, working with the community is good business because it promotes positive relationships with potential employees, government regulators and local vendors.

To determine which elements of community life the company should seek to enhance, RCCL polled its officers. They identified three areas: marine conservation and education, children and families, and education. In 1998, the company and its employees gave away $2 million to help these causes.
Besides community service, Martenstein said maintaining good employee relations is a primary motivator of RCCL corporate philanthropy. G.I.V.E. meets both objectives. The acronym stands for Get Involved, Volunteer Everywhere, and the program facilitates employee involvement in the places where they live or work. It was launched in 1998 with a series of one-day service projects in Miami; St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; and Juneau. More than 500 ship-board and shoreside volunteers painted buildings, pulled weeds and planted trees. In 1999, G.I.V.E. volunteers did an assessment of the coral reef near Key West, performed beach clean-up, planted Palmettos, dusted library shelves and escorted inner city kids on a tour of the Everglades.

The company organizes G.I.V.E. events, pays for supplies, provides transportation to the work sites, feeds the volunteers and even offers child care. The program is strictly voluntary, Martenstein said, “but it became a kind of competition among the sites” to see which location or ship could get the greatest participation.

Why would busy employees spend their precious free time on these projects? Because they feel good about doing something for their community, Martenstein said. These activities also give them a sense of pride in the company and their co-workers. She added, “As a team building tool, I don’t think you can top getting sweaty with somebody.”

Giving isn’t just a once-a-year event at RCCL. For example, when Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras and Nicaragua the crews of four of its ships raised $26,000 to help the victims. The corporation reached into its own deep pockets in 1996 to create the Ocean Fund, which underwrites marine conservation and education initiatives. So far, the Fund has awarded grants to 33 projects with a total price tag of nearly $2 million, which ain’t fish food!

“It’s something the company should have done years ago,” Martenstein said. “The whole cruise industry should do it. We use the ocean, we should be involved in its conservation.”

Among the Ocean Fund’s initiatives are an interactive exhibit at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Juneau; a permanent buoy system to protect marine habitats in Exuma Cays, Bahamas; a bio-diversity assessment along the 1,000-kilometer Mesoamerican Reef; and research into sea turtle deaths on the lower Atlantic Coast.

RCCL found other creative ways to further its charitable goals. Giving new meaning to the term “pay per view,” the company trades its spectacular view of Biscayne Bay for donations from film and TV producers and fashion photographers. In 1999 HBO donated $7,500 to a Miami children’s charity in exchange for using the RCCL headquarters for a live broadcast during the Super Bowl. The Explorer of the Seas, a ship scheduled for launch in 2000, will have a working science laboratory on board as well as an environmental education classroom, computers and interactive displays to help passengers learn more about the seas they are sailing.

Tauck Tours Celebrates Mesa Verde

When Tauck Tours celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1999, it gave America an enormous gift — $250,000 for much-need restorations at Mesa Verde, the archeological crown jewel of the national park system. But Tauck didn’t stop there. It also donated the time and knowledge of its tour directors who compete to spend time working as interns at the site in the Southwest.

Robin Tauck, the tour operator’s co-president, got help finding a project worthy of its gift from Julie Goebel, executive director of the Travelers Conservation Foundation. The United States Tour Operators Association created the foundation in 1999. Its mission is to bring the tourism industry together to protect, restore and conserve the world’s natural, cultural and historic treasures. Arthur Tauck, the tour operator’s chairman, is a founding member of the foundation’s board.

The foundation works in two ways. As in the case of Tauck Tours, it consults with individual USTOA members. The foundation also identifies viable, high-priority projects and then solicits funding from USTOA members. The nine projects underwritten in 1999 included stabilization of the Art Deco ferry building at Ellis Island; a master plan for preserving historic Cuzco, Peru, capital of the ancient Incas; and conservation research on the wild elephants in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park.

In her search for the ideal project for Tauck Tours, the foundation’s Goebel worked with Save America’s Treasures, a partnership between the White House Millennium Council and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Save America’s Treasures was created to identify and rescue significant historic structures, monuments, documents, objects and collections that are symbols of what define us as a nation. First Lady Hillary Clinton is its honorary chair. Mesa Verde, an ancient Anasazi settlement, is one of its more than 100 official projects.

From the short list of worthwhile options Goebel provided, Tauk’s tour directors selected Mesa Verde, which is visited by all the company’s tours to Colorado. Although many of the magnificent cliff dwellings at this popular tourist attraction are well preserved, others are deteriorating at an alarming rate and the Park Service only has funds to maintain 40 or 50 of the site’s 600 structures.

Robin Tauck, who accompanied the First Lady on a highly publicized tour of Mesa Verde in May 1999, said, “Our donation is going toward cutting-edge, interactive uses as well as restoration.” Specifically, it will underwrite assessment and restoration of Spruce Tree House, which receives 270,000 visitors per year. It also will pay for Internet-based documentation that will be used by other endangered cultural sites around the world.

More Ideas to Prime the Creative Pump

If the foregoing examples haven’t generated any ideas about how your organization can make philanthropy work to meet its strategic goals, here’s a quick list of other tactics used in the travel industry:

• Ashton Hotels works with the Red Cross to provide rooms for victims of fires and other disasters in Hawaii.

• Billy Bob’s Texas, the world’s largest honky-tonk, held a fund-raiser for Fort Worth-area firefighters killed in the line of duty. The company contributes concert tickets to 1000 charity events each year.

• Carnival Cruise Lines donated it’s smoke-free ship Paradise to the American Cancer Society for one day during the Great American Smoke Out. Educational programs and a gala fundraiser on board raised $600,000, including $100,000 from Carnival.

• Deer Valley Resort employees donated the funds for employee parties to local charities.

• Heritage Park Inn donates three gift certificates annually to the United Cerebral Palsy Association of San Diego so parents of severely disabled children can have refreshing “mini-vacations” away from their demanding daily care routines.

• The Idaho Governor’s Conference on Tourism contributes money and bedding to homeless shelters in the communities where the annual event is held.

• Ka’anapali Beach Hotel brought together a council of native Hawaiian elders to “talk story” so Maui’s oral history could be recorded for future generations. Also, employees helped form the statewide Native Hawaiian Tourism & Hospitality Association.

• Lee Travel Group, a travel agency, and b-there.com, an on-line event reservation/registration service, sponsored an Internet raffle of travel products to benefit the local Leukemia Society chapter.

• The Newport Yachting Center holds six family-oriented festivals throughout the summer and fall. The proceeds are donated to local charities such as Literacy Volunteers and a camp for inner-city youth.

• The New York Convention & Visitors Bureau organized local restaurants to host Souper Winter 99. Special soups were featured for five days and for each bowl sold, $1 was donated to Share Our Strength and Citymeals-on-Wheels.

• Orchard Hill Country Inn donates lodging as a membership premium for San Diego Public Television/Radio. The inn also hosts station-sponsored conferences.

• The Oregon Country Fair annually donates $10,000 to the local school district, entirely funding the schools’ art curriculum.

• Park City Mountain Resort donated old ski and snowboard uniforms to the Seventh Day Adventists for distribution in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

• An employee of the Portland Convention & Visitors Bureau organized a city-wide household goods and clothing drive for Kosovo refugees. Local hotels donated linens, housekeeping supplies and toys.

• Priceline.com, along with Marriott and Starwood, offered free hotel rooms to relief workers in Wichita and Oklahoma City after tornadoes ripped through these communities.

• Shannon Resort & Club Group donates the banquet facilities and golf course of its Resort at Long Boat Key Club for the annual Florida Winefest & Auction, which raises money for local children’s charities.

Other commonly used ideas include adopt a park, highway clean-up, loaned executives, walkathons, holiday dinners for the homeless, visiting sick children or senior citizens, and donating surplus food and used computers.