The Giving Threshold
(Scott) Out of sheer coincidence today, I had my hands on a bottle of Athena water and a bottle of Ethos water. Both are closely tied to critical causes...
Ethos donates $0.05 from the sale of every bottle to investing in clean water sources in developing nations.
Athena donates 100% of its profits to women's cancer research.
Which leads me to wonder, what is the "giving" threshold amidst the corporatocracy? Should we demand more?
You can find Ethos at Starbucks, and the company aggressively touts the product's socio-economic ties. It uses the cause as the core marketing message. However, I would bet that the $0.05 a bottle is a fraction of the profit generated by a sale. Compare directly to Athena, whose sole purpose is funneling money to cancer research.
Or, bring Target into the equation. I constantly hear promos on National Public Radio where Target boasts about its giving - it is indeed America's "Most Generous Corporation", however donations amount to only 2.1% of profits (2004 numbers). Is this sufficient?
Wrangling this back to our idea theme... could businesses like Ethos and Target find more innovative uses for their profit? Could they donate more and still strike an appropriate balance with shareholder interests? As innovation drivers, should we be encouraging our clientele to explore giving to grow equity and strengthen ties with key customer segments? Where do innovation and charity collide?
Ethos donates $0.05 from the sale of every bottle to investing in clean water sources in developing nations.
Athena donates 100% of its profits to women's cancer research.
Which leads me to wonder, what is the "giving" threshold amidst the corporatocracy? Should we demand more?
You can find Ethos at Starbucks, and the company aggressively touts the product's socio-economic ties. It uses the cause as the core marketing message. However, I would bet that the $0.05 a bottle is a fraction of the profit generated by a sale. Compare directly to Athena, whose sole purpose is funneling money to cancer research.
Or, bring Target into the equation. I constantly hear promos on National Public Radio where Target boasts about its giving - it is indeed America's "Most Generous Corporation", however donations amount to only 2.1% of profits (2004 numbers). Is this sufficient?
Wrangling this back to our idea theme... could businesses like Ethos and Target find more innovative uses for their profit? Could they donate more and still strike an appropriate balance with shareholder interests? As innovation drivers, should we be encouraging our clientele to explore giving to grow equity and strengthen ties with key customer segments? Where do innovation and charity collide?
posted by ROInnovation at 7:48 PM
1 Comments:
Scott, what a thought provoking entry. Thanks.
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