Page 256 - The New Gold Standard

PRINCIPLE 5: LEA VE A LASTING FOOTPRINT
market for a business. Since these programs do not have an obvi-
ous link to the current bottom line and are unlikely to fuel future
growth, a 2007 survey conducted by the professional staffing
company Hudson shows that “less than half of companies have
a formal corporate [social] responsibility program.” Of those
businesses that have developed CSR initiatives, Hudson finds
that 70 percent organize group volunteer activities, while only
20 percent compensate their employees for volunteering (through
salary or paid time off).
Given that companies with CSR programs are still in the
minority, Bill Bolling, founder and executive director of Atlanta
Food Bank, offers a perspective on the misguided nature of fail-
ing to organize and support corporate social giving: “I think
companies oftentimes are just thinking about the quarter that
they’re in. This is true for leaders trying to deliver returns for
stockholders and for the small tire recapping place down the
street. I have seen repeated examples where companies take a
short-term view when it comes to caring for employees, deliver-
ing health care benefits, or making sure the community is fed.
Ultimately, these nearsighted approaches undermine local
economies and are very detrimental to those communities.”
Bill adds, “I find when some companies aren’t doing well,
they’ll say they don’t have time to volunteer. Often leaders at
those same companies say the same thing when they are doing
well. Fortunately, great leaders look to the long term for their
people and the sustainable relationships their companies forge.”
The Atlanta Food Bank is an example of how employee in-
volvement in volunteerism serves not only long-term commu-
nity needs but also the needs of the volunteering business. The
Atlanta Food Bank, founded in 1979, is part of a national net-
work of over 200 food banks throughout the United States
called “America’s Second Harvest.” The primary mission of the
food bank is to collect surplus and unmarketable food and dis-
tribute it to community-based organizations. To achieve this end,
the Atlanta Food Bank has taken an entrepreneurial approach to

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