NFIB

Giving Back
03/ 28/ 2002

This Web extra is a supplement to the MyBUSINESS story, "Doing Good by Doing Well," which appears in the November/December 2001 issue.

Here are the stories of even more small business owners and the way they give back to their communities and the world.

Craig Muller is an example of what can happen when you volunteer work becomes more of a driving passion than running your company. He started CultureWorx in Mount Prospect, Ill., three years ago, developing software that tracks and rewards employee performance. At the same time, he took a trip to Cambodia and was dismayed at the plight of orphans in the war-torn country. It moved him to start the nonprofit Warm Blankets, www.warmblankets.org, which has since built 40 faith-based orphanages in Cambodia.

For Muller, a serial entrepreneur who's started several companies, CultureWorx was started not to get rich, but to get the money to give back to the world. He now spends half his time working for Warm Blankets, which is housed in CultureWorx's office space.

"That will probably soon climb to 90 percent of my time," Muller says. "We've hired another CEO, and I'll stay on as chairman of the board, but Warm Blankets is where I need to spend my time."

With 40 employees, CultureWorx is in the unique position of having a truly larger purpose to being. Many employees have taken vacation or sabbatical time to volunteer with Warm Blankets.

'It really builds the culture of CultureWorx," Muller says. "Everyone knows the objective is not to make me rich, but to care for these human beings in need."

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Paul Rux saw a problem and decided working within the existing charity system wasn't going to help. So the owner of Quality Plus Systems Inc. in Middletown, Wis., set up his own nonprofit to help low-income mothers re-enter the job market.

"The biggest barrier for these women is doing the paperwork for the welfare-to-work program," Rux says. "If you don't have a car or childcare, you can't get to the office to fill out the forms. I deal with information technology, so I figured, why not bring the paperwork to them."

Rux researched a way to get rehabbed computers for around $75 each, then looked into putting the necessary forms online. He's been stalled at getting a grant to cover the cost of buying the computers.

"We're on hold right now," he says. "But I see this as a model, a way for business and education to work with nonprofits to lessen the burden of government."

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Parker LePla, a 25-person brand development company in Seattle, that gives 5 percent of its time each year to non-profits. They've given free marketing consulting to the Seattle Children's Home, Emotional Literacy Foundation, The Crisis Clinic and Earth Ministry, among others.

"It helps morale, provides training opportunities and, most importantly, helps the organizations we care about to thrive," says Kathryn Harper, a strategist at Parker LePla.

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Some companies are so passionate about giving back, their business becomes linked in people's minds with community service. The Great Harvest Bread Co. is one of those, started in 1976 with the mission to "give generously to others."

Today, in keeping with Great Harvest's approach of "freedom-based franchising," each of the 137 franchised bread stores fulfills its community service its own way. Some stores donate bread to fundraisers and charity dinners. In Virginia, three metro area Great Harvest stores help a nonprofit group run the store for one day a year and give all the profits that day to the group. Last year, that was $12,000 given to three neighborhood schools, which were chosen through an in-store vote by customers.

Stonyfield Farm is another company with a national reputation for giving back. The 150-employee yogurt maker donates 10 percent of after-tax profits each year to initiatives that help protect or restore the earth. In addition, the Londonberry, N.H., company trumpets its community initiates on its yogurt cartons and Web site, at www.stonyfield.com.

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Gillenwater, president and CEO of a 13-year-old recruiting firm in Raleigh, N.C., takes an informal approach to volunteerism. The 12 employees at Elinvar (www.elinvar.com) are encouraged donate as much time as needed to any organization that interests them. Using time through the workday is allowed, as long as it doesn't become an interference.

"Allowing time for volunteer work keeps employees loyal," says Gillenwater. "We all search for the satisfaction that comes in making a difference in someone else's life. When employees don't find that feeling in their work, they might look for it at another job."

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