Bruce Blakley, board chair at The San Diego Foundation, a resource for information about charitable giving and community needs, says companies need to consider giving as a long-term mission, not a one-time deal.

San Diego businesses are generous to the community. From dyeing their hair for charity to establishing a corporate foundation to volunteering time to serve meals, employees and employers at companies big and small make a difference.

The holidays typically are a time to think of giving and receiving, but for many businesses, this is a year-round effort. Bruce Blakley, board chair at The San Diego Foundation, a resource for information about charitable giving and community needs, says companies need to consider giving as a long-term mission, not a one-time deal.

“If they are going to be successful, and consider (philanthropy) as part of their mantra, they need to consider it a regular event,” Blakley says. In selecting a cause to support, he suggests businesses consider the needs and issues that affect employees. “Is there something out there that rubs up against a good number of their employees?” he asks. “Make a gift employees can be involved in. Something like a fund opened at The San Diego Foundation, which a committee of employees can advise on what happens twice a year. It gets employees involved in an ongoing process.”

Give In Mutually Beneficial Ways

A large business may get involved in multiple causes and establish charitable giving foundations. But Blakley advises small businesses to keep it simple and follow a cause people already are involved in. Try matching employee gifts with top-side limits or allow employees to volunteer time. Donate company services or products. Get involved in neighborhood outreach, Habitat for Humanity Day or adopting the elderly.

“The psychic value of being socially responsible should be its own reward,” Blakley says. When it comes to giving, businesses are deciding to give in areas that run parallel to their business, says Stephen M. Adler, CEO of Charity Brands Marketing in New York and author of the new book, “Cause for Concern.” “If they are a company focusing on the environment, they are focusing more of their giving to educational and environmental causes and issues,” says Adler. Overall, he says, national disaster has taken attention away from smaller, local charities. Today’s donor is seeking charities with low overhead that show more results with the dollars they receive. Companies are giving larger donations to fewer groups.

In 2005, donations to the American Red Cross and Salvation Army were up while local food banks and similar organizations didn’t get their previous share. Also seeing an increase are environmental organizations, including animal welfare, education, religion and “public society benefit” causes. The United Way is the No. 1 charity, reporting $4 billion in contributions in 2005. Charities suffering include arts, cultural groups and health organizations.

“Volunteerism is at an all-time high,” Adler says. “Employees are being given more time to participate in events. People really want to get out there and support their cause and issue. They also need time at work to communicate with their peers about the issues they’re supporting. And, companies are more than ever matching gifts.”

Making A Future Investment

Gen-Probe has donated $100,000 over three years to the Preuss School, a public school for low-income students. ‘I used to make all these decisions on my own,’ says Henry L. Nordhoff, chairman, president and CEO. ‘But then I thought that’s not the way it should be because we are investing the company and the employees should be aware of it and approve it.’

It seems obvious SAIC would be charitable to agencies that work with families in defense and intelligence communities, and Gen-Probe Inc. would give to medical research. However, both companies support an interest in education. SAIC funds elementary school programs. “We want to encourage more kids to study science, math and engineering,” says Ben Haddad, SAIC director of community and government relations. “Our future will be bright as long as we can hire a qualified workforce that can work on our kinds of programs.”

At SAIC, the emphasis is on areas where employees spend most of their effort. “We work with the Defense Department and the intelligence communities and a fair amount of our philanthropic dollars go to those agencies that are also working with the services,” Haddad says. This includes the USO and Armed Services YMCA. SAIC has an interest in education and business schools. It funds elementary school math, science and engineering programs.

SAIC is a large corporation that can participate philanthropically and sees itself capable of making a difference. Rewards are usually not tangible. “It’s more a knowing that a contribution will be made to help employees and customers,” Haddad says. “We are improving quality of life.” This is a major factor in recruitment and employee retention. Morale is key. It makes a big difference to employees knowing that the company is involved in causes. “They feel they work for a company that cares,” Haddad says. Employees also are encouraged to participate in events and to volunteer in the classroom.

Gen-Probe, a San Diego-based molecular diagnosis company, has donated $100,000 over three years to the Preuss School, an innovative public school for low-income students on the UCSD campus. “I used to make all these decisions on my own,” says Henry L. Nordhoff, chairman, president and CEO of Gen-Probe. “But then I thought that’s not the way it should be because we are investing the company and the employees should be aware of it and approve it.”

So a committee was established to consider requests. It chose to invest based on education and health care. “Preuss hits a weak spot for us because we like the concept and we like the results,” Nordhoff says. In addition to Preuss, Gen-Probe does charity work like participating in walks and dishing out food at Father Joe’s.

Stone Brewing Co. in San Marcos encouraged employees to dye their hair to raise funds for Looks Like Me, the Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos, Palomar Family YMCA and Children’s Hospital.

At Stone Brewing Co. in San Marcos, normal goes out the window and crazy is encouraged. Asking patrons, “What have you done for charity lately?” the brewery in September encouraged people to dye their hair red, green or blue for a week to raise funds. Dye-hards collected about $35,000 for Looks Like Me, the Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos, Palomar Family YMCA and Children’s Hospital. A few days later, the Stone 10th Anniversary celebration raised more than $95,000 for some of the same charities and for Surfrider Foundation and Fight ALD. “We do it for fun,” says CEO Greg Koch. “I got to dye my hair green and be a community contributor. Part of the fun is helping to show people the benefit of breaking out of their norm. We give executive types an opportunity to get away with something different like dyeing their hair. It helps us all not to take ourselves too seriously while benefiting the community.”

Koch explains the charities that benefit are local and Stone is in some way tied to them through the community or employee connections. “They are near and dear to our hearts,” Koch says. “We’ve developed a lot of relationships and we see how the funds are being used.”

Set It Up To Keep On Giving

For long-term monetary giving, The San Diego Foundation simplifies the process. Establishing a Corporate Advised Foundation helps maximize charitable giving while minimizing administrative burden. Companies may donate cash, stock or real estate and the foundation places it into a special fund. The company or its team of employees recommends grants from the fund to support causes and organizations it cares about.

From payroll deductions to volunteering, there are many ways to contribute. For professionals interested in sharing their time, talent and money, there is San Diego Social Venture Partners. Organized through The San Diego Foundation, SDSVP is made up of business, technology and professional individuals who pledge $5,000 a year to their choice organization and give their expertise and time in the San Diego community. SDSVP matches partners’ talents with specific needs. Visit www.sdfoundation.org for ideas and assistance.

To Give As Well As Receive

There are companies on the giving and receiving end of philanthropy. Scripps Health is one such tax-exempt organization, recipient of charity and benefactor to other nonprofits aligned to its mission to provide superior health services in a caring environment. “We are grateful to our community for supporting us,” says CEO Chris Van Gorder. “There are many individuals and companies that have given us their financial gifts. Scripps would not be the organization it is today without the gifts, gifts of time and financial gifts. It is our community that has stepped up and helped us. So, in our own modest way, we believe we should be giving back to the degree that we can.”

A community benefit committee of the board of trustees selects recipients via the Request for Proposal process. In 2006, Scripps Health gave $288,800 in community grants to programs throughout San Diego County. Family Health Centers of San Diego, The Whittier Institute for Diabetes and Norman Park Center, for example, received grants ranging from $15,000 to $50,000 each.

“It’s not lost on us that we are one of the largest employers and one of the largest corporations in San Diego,” says Van Gorder. “We believe it’s an obligation for us to contribute both financial resources, when we can, and certainly our time and energy to a variety of different programs. We do $18 million of direct charity care a year. I’m really proud of the organization. I’m proud of the volunteerism.”

Many Happy Returns

The Corky McMillin Cos. was the presenting sponsor of the annual San Diego Heart Walk. Its founder died from congestive heart failure. Employees raised more than $600,000 in the event.

What do they get in return? Companies certainly get their name out in the community, but more importantly they make a difference and an impression on their employees. One example of extreme company and employee effort is that put forth by The Corky McMillin Cos. For the second consecutive year, and a buy-in of $70,000, the firm was the presenting sponsor of the annual San Diego Heart Walk. As McMillin died less than a year ago from congestive heart failure, employees took raising funds to heart and surpassed their goal of $250,000 to accumulate more than $600,000.

The late developer held high among his company principles the belief in giving back to the community where he lived and worked. For nearly 46 years the firm remained in the South County.

“Corky believed in hiring people that lived in the area and giving a strong economic base to the community that helped give him a start,” says Sandy Perlatti, senior vice president of marketing for The Corky McMillin Cos. That belief has grown today into an established corporate giving program with five divisions. Each division comes up with its own budget for sponsorship. In addition, employees are encouraged to give time and resources and the company matches their efforts up to a value of $250. The company does about $400,000 annually in business sponsorships companywide.

Throwing money out there and hoping it will do something is not the way to establish philanthropic strategies. The key to successful giving is to make it meaningful. Blakley says nonprofits definitely need funds so they can fulfill their missions, but that giving can be done in many ways that will help make a difference. He advises taking that first step to establish something today that will last for many years. There are the tax benefits, but the community benefits outweigh the dollar much more.