The cookbook also shows the lighter side of FelCor's corporate personality. Some of the recipes in the book are clearly intended to induce laughs, rather than hunger pangs. Among these are recipes for Elephant Stew (serves 3,800), Puppy Chow (it only looks like dog food) and Kitty Litter Surprise (it's actually a tasty dessert—serve with pooper scooper!).
Over the course of the year, FelCor's programs encourage employees from Dallas and across the country to sign up for JDF walks in their region.
In each of the last three years, FelCor raised more than $100,000 and attracted the participation of 250 corporate and hotel employees. JDF ranks the company as number 37 on its list of Top 100 National Walk Teams and as the largest corporate team fund-raiser for the Dallas Chapter.
FelCor also makes room nights available to employees who would like to make contributions to their own charities. "This enables employees to contribute to their school fund-raising activities or other charities," Corcoran says. "We probably donate between 300 and 400 room nights per year for these kinds of activities."
Overall, Corcoran estimates that the cash value of FelCor's giving programs totals between $125,000 and $150,000 per year.
These contributions clearly benefit JDF and the other charities, but FelCor also benefits, as it's become well-known in its community for its work with JDF, enhancing the human side of what might otherwise be seen as just another big real estate company.
Strong Communities Make Strong Economics
The Rouse Company of Columbia, MD, has set its goals for community service remarkably high. Every year, the company's corporate contributions fund programs through The Rouse Company Foundation to the tune of nearly $2 million.
"We believe that strong communities are essential to a healthy economic environment," says Margaret Mauro, executive director of The Rouse Company Foundation. "We also believe that a company is more than an economic entity. So we look at the foundation's activities as a way to make social investments in the community."
The foundation's social investments aim at a variety of community needs, from education and human services to housing and the arts. Much of this giving goes to groups within the company's home state of Maryland.
The Rouse Company's web site lists dozens of programs receiving foundation funds every year. These programs include:
- Sandtown Habitat for Humanity: Since 1991, the company has contributed $75,000, along with the services of numerous employees, to help build and renovate homes in the poverty-stricken Sandtown Winchester neighborhood of Baltimore City.
- New Song Academy: The company provides financial support for this school, also located in Sandtown. The funds contribute to New Song's efforts to provide daycare, full-time classes, a summer camp and parent education. Recently, the company pledged $100,000 to a capital campaign for a new building that will serve the entire neighborhood as both a school and community center.
- The College Bound Foundation: The Rouse Company has contributed $350,000 to this foundation over the years. The money helps fund a scholarship program for Baltimore area youth who could not otherwise attend college because of a lack of financial resources.
The company also encourages volunteer efforts of employees through foundation gifts. Each year, grants of up to $1,000
are made to nonprofit groups throughout the country under a Volunteer Contributions Program. Grants go to groups or
programs to which an employee has made a sustained and active volunteer commitment.
This grant program allows Rouse's employees to help the
company identify small but worthy organizations that otherwise might not have received contributions from a large company. This helps the charities and enhances local efforts to improve the communities where Rouse operates.
Everyone Benefits
Our informal examination of REIT philanthropy found that the REITs contacted have organized giving programs designed to support the communities in which they operate. The programs profiled here do not provide a comprehensive summation of industry giving. Instead, they illustrate that the inclination to give spans the various sectors of the REIT industry. And the well-planned giving programs that these companies employ are a great benefit to their communities while also providing the companies themselves with direct and indirect benefits that their stockholders can appreciate.
Michael Fikes is a freelance writer from Cockeysville, MD.
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