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An increasing number of businesses interested in corporate giving are using an approach becoming known as “integrated philanthropy,” in which businesses incorporate their skills, expertise, and resources into their philanthropy strategy. This approach benefits both the community and the business. IBM, for example, donates its voice recognition technology and other resources to schools and nonprofit literacy organizations across the U.S. and around the world, and in return receives feedback from the programs on the operation and effectiveness of the software. By providing grants to schools and nonprofit organizations for their use of two IBM products designed to support adults’ and children’s reading development and education, Reading Companion and ¡TradúceloAhora!, the company gets a “reality check” from user feedback that enables it to improve their products. WPTV-TV Television Station in Palm Beach County, Fla. also uses an integrated philanthropy approach. The station has donated expertise, free advertising, volunteer time, and other resources to the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County. Besides supporting a good cause, the partnership with the Coalition makes sense from a business standpoint: WPTV’s parent company, The E.W. Scripps Company, is also a newspaper company, and literacy is essential to increasing circulation. Businesses that have found ways to match their business functions and expertise to community involvement have learned the following: Use community organizations to pilot new products and tools. Several years ago, IBM wanted to understand how diversity influenced use of the Web and how the company could ensure that various population groups benefit from resources available on the Internet. IBM staff examined data on who was using the Web and found that Hispanics were not using it to the same degree as other populations. A report commissioned by IBM also indicated that the lack of Spanish content was a major barrier to Hispanics, especially new immigrants. In response, IBM developed ¡Traducelo Ahora! (TranslateNow!), which makes information on the Internet accessible to Spanish speakers through automatic English-to-Spanish translation software. In 2003, IBM collaborated with 30 nonprofit organizations serving Hispanics across the United States on the ¡Traducelo Ahora! grant program. Spanish-speaking adults served by these organizations used the software and Internet to develop technology skills and find information on employment, education, health care, immigration, and citizenship. The organizations partnered with IBM to evaluate and provide feedback for further development and refinement of the software. Work with competitors towards a common goal. “The Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County is one of the few areas where we don’t ask for exclusivity,” notes Bernadette O’Grady, the director of Programming and Media Convergence for WPTV, referring to the collaboration of several media partners on the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County’s communications committee. “We all understand that literacy benefits everyone, and every station does what they can.” The communications committee has met on a monthly basis since 1991 and is as strong now, if not stronger, than when it began, according to Darlene Kostrub, executive cirector of the Coalition. The committee works collaboratively to determine how best to promote the work of the Coalition and to design publicity campaigns around literacy. Currently, the partners are developing a plan to involve Hispanic media outlets, since the region has a large Spanish-speaking population. For example, one station promoted the Coalition on its Spanish Web site and another publicizes literacy events on its Spanish language radio station. Identify partners with complementary expertise. As IBM’s partner in Reading Companion, Workforce Development Inc. (WDI), a nonprofit literacy service provider, develops training materials, creates e-books, and provides technical and online support to fellow grantees. The partnership formed after an earlier pilot project with WDI, where they created more than 200 e-books using the Reading Companion software. When IBM saw an opportunity to expand the program to the Web, the company approached WDI to become a partner, because of the quality of their work and IBM’s positive experiences working with WDI during the pilot. Both partners describe their collaboration as a “perfect fit.” Look for opportunities to have a big impact. When determining which community organizations or events to support, the director of programming for WPTV looks for opportunities to “get the most bang for the buck.” She looks for events that benefit the most people and often chooses to support a communitywide organization, like the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County or the Komen Race for the Cure, rather than individual organizations with a smaller community base. The time commitment, about five hours per month for WPTV employees, and the pleasure of working with people dedicated to improving literacy in the community make supporting the Coalition easy. The natural match between the interests of WPTV and its parent company and the needs of the Coalition enable the company to have a big impact in Palm Beach County. Benefits to Business Some benefits to businesses in matching their skills and experience to their community involvement include:
Benefits to Adult Education Some benefits to adult education in collaborating with businesses that have relevant skills and experience include:
The following resources have been compiled for further reading on topics related to business-adult education partnerships. Pop-up windows with links to and descriptions of the resources will appear as you click on the resource titles. Resources are categorized below as: Business Partnerships (descriptions of the business-adult education partnerships referenced above); Partnership Profiles (related examples of other community partnerships); How-Tos (guides and tools for establishing partnerships); Research; the Case for Business Involvement; and Web Sites. A complete list of resources related to business-adult education partnerships is found in the Workforce Issues section on the C-PAL Web site. Business Partnerships IBM: Promoting Literacy and Getting Valuable Advice WPTV-TV Television Station: Spreading the Word about Literacy Partnership Profiles Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County How-Tos Integrated Corporate Philanthropy: Leveraging All Your Company’s Assets. A Guide for Practitioners Web Sites |
