Wild About Manly Sponsor on Philanthropy in Business
John Cunningham judged the winners of both Our Manly Photo Competitions and performed successfully as auctioneer as well. In 2008 Cunninghams Property sponsored the First Place prize of a Canon D-40 Digital Camera to retired Army veteran Warren Wilson. Wilson said by cell phone, “I’ve never won anything in my life.” He was ecstatic. And completely humbled by the honor. I could hear it in his voice. The scope of the event, and its impact directly on the community was made possible through the generosity of Mr. Cunningham’s business.
I asked John recently about the role of philanthropy in business. Why is philanthropy an important component of Cunninghams Property ? Their list of involvements and quantity of investments, in both man hours and dollars, speaks for itself. But there are those who argue it is nothing more than cynical marketing. I asked John to answer the charges.
Our Manly: Should businesses explicitly commit to advancing the public interest?
John Cunningham: It can be a very subtle thing. We’ve got a corporate responsibility statement now, but before we thought to call it that it was simply our community commitment. We’re an active partner. It’s where we work, it’s where we live. It is where all our business is done.
Our philanthropy is a bit hand’s on. We’re involved in school councils, setting up and organizing events for them, charity auctions, golf days. We're actually out there raising the funds, not just handing money out.
O M: How does it benefit profitability, the bottom line?
J C: Rather than look at it from the view of profitability, because it is not something you can quantify, we look it as part of our responsibility to be active in the community that supports us. You can’t keep taking and not giving back.
O M: How do you convince businesses to commit to philanthropy?
J C: If you give first, you shall receive later. Even if it’s not quantifiable, it makes good business sense.
I believe in karma. Good karma begets good karma. A lot of people don’t see that, they don’t know how the world works. It’s very hard. I spend a lot of time trying to motivate other agents. Those that have listened have gone on to success, their businesses have grown. They’ve had a different outlook on life. You either have a view of life that is based on “Greed is Good” or you believe you’ll get out what you put into it. Convincing people that philanthropy is a smart business move is the hardest thing. Most people are basically greedy. And some are very successful in business. But, I don’t know how successful they are in life.
You’re either a giver or a taker.
O M: Have you encountered cynics that say your business philanthropy is not what it seems?
J C: Oh sure. Look at our involvement with Manly/Manado or the Wild About Manly Photo Competition. We got a bit of publicity out of it. Cynics could say that’s why we do it. But they are not considering the time we put into it. Last year I basically gave up work for 3 months to organize an event. I put everything into it, to raise money for it. When I look back on it maybe I could have just donated all that money. (Laughs) With what I lost in income in the time I spent doing it!
O M: What are the logistics of planning responsible philanthropy?
J C: It’s all mapped out on a calendar.
We have a budget, what we are giving away no matter where it goes. It’s part of our annual budget. We are formalizing the process even more this year in that we want to focus on particular events that we sponsor. Our sponsorships are quite different. We sponsor a local golf skills day. We sponsor a hole. We do that ten times a year. Then we sponsor the local youth life saving club’s beach patrol. We pay for that privilege, it’s a marketing expense. We can look at it as a tax-deductible donation or as a marketing opportunity. If you had to quantify that on a cost basis, there’s no value on it in terms of return on investment. But, the reason we do it is because that surf club is part of our youth development initiative.
O M: Businesses considering involvement in the community at this level have to realize they will need some infrastructural support within the company.
J C: Absolutely. When I took three months off for the Manly/Manado partnership, I needed the whole team behind me to allow me to do it. You need the support network around you. That makes a huge difference. You have to know how much time you are going to give to it. There are smart ways and not so smart ways to do it. You can spend a huge amount of time making very little money.
O M: Word to the wise? Pitfalls to avoid?
J C: Use your time wisely and get involved with good people who have the right intentions. Remember that you are still running a business. If there’s a benefit to doing it from a business point of view, that’s purely a good outcome, that’s not the reason you do it. If you go into it with the wrong intentions, in my view, it’ll backfire.
Make sure you have the time to commit to it. That’s the worst thing, if you don’t deliver what you promise to do.
O M: Thank you, Mr. Cunningham for an enlightening conversation.
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