Big Retailers Make
Effort To Give Back

Last October, 500 Home Depot employees turned out to build a children's playground at the Bessie Branham Park in Atlanta, Georgia.

The project, which replaced an old, wooden playground originally built in the 1970s, was accomplished via The Home Depot's partnership with KaBOOM, a nationwide, nonprofit organization that builds playgrounds throughout the country.

If the new playground was a boon for local children, the volunteer effort represented just one of the huge ways retail companies give back to local communities. Not only are companies creating volunteer programs for their employees, but top management allows store managers the opportunity to decide what charitable causes to support.

"It's no longer just about writing a check," explained Kevin Martinez, director of community affairs at The Home Depot. "Communities now want to know who you are and what you believe in. They expect you to have a social responsibility."

With a philanthropic budget for 2005 of more than $25 million, The Home Depot will allocate some of those funds to Team Depot, its employee volunteer program.

Via the program, individual store managers choose which local nonprofit groups to work with. The Boys and Girls Club, Habitat for Humanity and YouthBuild are popular charities. The result: Employees build playgrounds, repair homes for the elderly and help inner-city teens learn job skills.

Similarly, every Wal-Mart and Sam's Club store has a budget to donate to local charities, schools or other institutions, with branch managers deciding where and how the funds can be allocated.

"Wal-Mart encourages its local leaders to become engaged in the communities where they live and work," said Betsy Reithemeyer, vice president of corporate affairs for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., who notes that $170 million was donated last year, with 90 percent of that money going directly to the local communities in which Wal-Mart has stores.

In addition, every spring each Wal-Mart and Sam's Club store across the country donates $1,000 to the Teacher of the Year Program; often the funds are used to buy school supplies.

This kind of community-oriented philanthropy has been around for some time, but has just become more highprofile as of late, according to Peter Dixon, senior partner at branding company Lippincott Mercer. "It's not new," said Dixon. "We're just hearing more about it."

According to Dixon, whose clients include McDonald's, another corporation that makes huge philanthropic efforts, retail companies are making a push to let consumers know they are socially responsible.

"Companies want consumers to know about it from a corporate communications point of view," said Dixon. "And in this hypercompetitive environment, companies are always looking to strengthen their brands."

Additionally, companies are aligning themselves more visibly with certain causes. For The Home Depot, it's rebuilding and environmental issues; for Wal-Mart, it's education.

Grants given out by Target, meanwhile, focus on education, arts and social service programs. According to a Target spokeswoman, the company looks to support causes that are important to its customers.

"Many of our guests are women with family and children, so we know that education is important, as are arts and social services," she said.

In addition to its nationwide charitable programs, each Target store across the country provides $1,000 to $3,000 in yearly grants. Money is used to fund family violence prevention programs, music classes and literacy programs, for example.

Overall, Target contributes five percent of its federally taxable income to the communities in which it has stores -- about $100 million a year -- according to the spokeswoman.

But can volunteering in a community help a company's bottom line? The Home Depot's Martinez notes that if employees feel good about the work their company does, attrition rates will be lower.

Additionally, when a consumer recognizes an employee from a local fund-raising event, there is a connection not only to the individual, but to the brand, he believes.

"There's a theory that if two products are of equal price and quality, the consumer will go with the brand that is socially responsible," said Martinez.

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