Evil doers?
by Michael HoffmanMonday, January 8th, 2007
I have been very interested for some time in the definition of a socially responsible corporation as well as the blurring line between business and philanthropy. I will write more about this soon, but now I want to say a few words about Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart has become the focus of a lot of negative publicity, mostly for good reason. If we have to use tax dollars to pay for health care of full-time Wal-Mart workers, that’s a problem. (My mom, I am proud to say, helped write the Maryland law that would require employers with over 10,000 employees in the state to pay at least 8% of payroll for health care or pay the different into a state fund to subsidize Medicaid.)
One thing I have wondered about the Wal-Mart situation is what about Target? Are they so different? And, what happens when the pressure put on Wal-Mart begins to work? How should we react?
Wal-Mart found religion on global warming. Regardless of their motivations — or because of their motivations — that’s a good thing. Their plan to sell 100 million compact florescent light bulbs will actually make a different in how much energy is used in the US. I think we should be supporting that. (You can buy your compact florescent bulbs here.)
This whole initiative is connected to the movement of many to create for-profit business models to do good. Grameen Bank is a good example. The work of Omidyar and Skoll are also good examples of where for-profit and nonprofit are meeting.
For traditional nonprofits, I think this new way of thinking can — should — mean that they are thinking more about corporate partnerships. The door is opening to create more cooperative efforts that align the profit motive with the motive of us do-gooders. We are exploring that here at See3 as we try to create a sustainable model to assist nonprofits in getting their messages out.
