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Comms. Catalyst |
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Introduction |
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The Comms. Catalyst is an attempt to build a better world by moulding the robust energy and organic growth that drives our stock markets, major corporations and thriving economies into something that better fulfils our overriding human aspirations. Communications are the keys to our future. Anyone who understands the skills, the intelligence, the dedication and the devotion of the men and women in the world’s major corporations will know that this talent pool is our greatest resource when it comes to meeting the many major challenges the world faces today. The corporations buy our best minds and most outstanding people. However, they are totally misunderstood by the broader community. The public perceives corporations as greedy, big polluters with no moral compass. Overturning this misunderstanding can only be achieved through improved communications. Edge Media Consultant Leonard McDonnell has 30 years of experience in mass communications, working for daily newspapers and major corporations. He believes that improved communications come from raising understanding of exactly how we talk to each other. The role of professional communicators is crucial — Without Spin Doctors Society Would Be in the Dark Communications failures can have catastrophic consequences — Emotion, Not Facts Currency Of The Mass Media McDonnell’s 30-minute presentation on the fundamentals of communication – medium, message and recipient – will change the way you think about your communications. For details contact us: theedge@netcon.net.au
By harnessing their energy we can build a better world with communications. |
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Amity Bonds Amity Bonds are shares that are specifically designed to build mutually beneficial partnerships between companies and developing organisations and not-for-profit institutions. The idea is that rather than donating money, companies donate a little bit of themselves. The aim is to increase understanding of our corporations and take the "rich-poor" perception out of philanthropic communications. If we are going to have any chance of achieving the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015 – little more than five years away – we are going to have to start by breaking away from the old, failed patterns of the past. Rather than trying to shame governments, corporations and individuals into given more to the "needy", Amity Bonds can offer a new way of reducing waste and channelling wealth towards a more constructive, sustainable future. By building mutually beneficial partnerships between our most successful organisations, blue-chip corporations, and those most in need we can channel some of our excessive affluence towards promoting growth where it is most needed and where there is the greatest potential for growth. The corporations bring wealth, resources and world-class management practices to the partnership. Underdeveloped organisations bring market growth potential as well as opportunities for enhancing corporate reputations and staff morale in an era when these attributes are highly sought after. How do they work? To explain how these bonds can work we will use a fictitious global company, Bland Corporation, and a fictitious orphanage/school, St Mary’s, in a poverty-stricken fictitious country, Prodia. St Mary’s is run by a dedicated school teacher, Suzanne. She cares for about 60 orphans, many of whom lost their parents to AIDS. She also provides rudimentary education for children from her local village. Suzanne is totally reliant on the help of volunteers and donations of food and supplies from the local villagers, who have very little to spare. One day a Community Affairs officer, Nina, from Bland Corporation met Suzanne. The company was building a pipeline through the area and had a budget to contribute to the local community. Nina was very impressed with Suzanne’s dedication and realised that even a small amount of money would go a long way to improving life for St Mary’s and it’s pupils. But she also knew that the money would only be a short-term measure. Bland Corporation would eventually move on to some other area and what funds they donate would eventually run out, leaving St Mary’s back to where it is today. So instead of just giving money, Nina, worked with Bland’s lawyers and accountants to develop a program that involved contributing a parcel of Bland shares, called Amity Bonds, to St Mary’s. The dividends from the shares provided a continuous source of income that St Mary’s could budget on. St Mary’s was now a Bland Corporation shareholder, with full voting rights at Bland’s Annual General Meetings. As St Mary’s area was dominated by outlaws and corruption, Bland’s lawyers devised a scheme to prevent St Mary’s from being forced to sell its shares by local warlords seeking the funds. The shares could only be sold following a vote of the Bland Board of Directors. Also Bland’s accountants had to audit St Mary’s books each year in order to comply with the share scheme’s conditions. This provided St Mary’s with world-class financial advice and planning. Bland established a trust that it’s employees could contribute to through tax-deductable salary sacrifice donations. These donations bought more Bland shares for St Mary’s. Bland provided news and pictures of St Mary’s progress in its publications. And some employees even travelled to Prodia to spend some time volunteering at St Mary’s. Before long Suzanne was able to go to the village market and buy food and supplies for St Mary’s rather than having to beg for donations. St Mary’s became an important contributor to the local economy. It was also able to provide food and facilities, including secondhand computers donated by Bland, for its pupils. This made the school very attractive to local children and resulted in greater attendance rates. The relationship was so successful from Bland’s perspective that it used the model for its Contributions Program in every country it operated. The model was also picked up and enhanced by other corporations and before long various Amity Bond products became one of the fastest growing products on Wall St. At the macro level this trend was beginning to lift income levels in Prodia to the extent that it’s economy managed to take that first step on the development ladder that Professor Jeffrey Sachs explains is so important. This also presented a new growing market for some Bland consumer goods. Bland found it’s relationship with St Mary’s and other similar organisations was a very strong drawing card when it was competing with other corporations for the best graduates coming out of our universities. Overall it found that for a very small investment in Amity Bonds it was able to achieve a great deal in many aspects of its business. Bland Human Resources Manager Tessa said the success of the program was driven by maintaining the human-to-human, personal relationship between Suzanne and her volunteers at St Mary’s and Bland’s employees and shareholders. “That personal contact is so important, and it’s often lost in the fast-moving world of commerce,” she said. What can you do? Quite simply spread the word. We need to get the worlds CEOs, Corporate Contributions Managers, Human Resources Managers, Lawyers, Treasurers, Accountants, as well as, NGOs, UN Officials, and Government Representatives stepping up and looking for opportunities to make it easier to pursue this concept of giving shares and forging personal bonds with developing organisations. If you have skills or ideas you feel will help with this program, please share them around. Start with the organisations under “Useful Links” above. Or you can send them to us at The Edge Media using the link below. If you would like someone to present this concept to your board, or to others in your organisation, or you would like some presentation material to do the same yourself, again please contact us at The Edge Media and we will be in touch. |
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Making a Whole New World |
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Amity Bonds at a Glance · Give shares instead of money · Forge personal links · Promote benefits instead of obligations · Promote sustainable growth · Focus on continuous improvement |
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Useful Links The Earth Institute’s overarching goal is to help achieve sustainable development primarily by expanding the world’s understanding of Earth as one integrated system.
Promoting the business opportunity provided by aligning core business with the Millennium Development Goals.
An international network for professionals passionate about fighting world poverty
A business case for business action, Report (PDF) by The Allen Consulting Group Working with disadvantaged communities to improve their quality of life through education and the implementation of sustainable engineering projects Ending Poverty by 2015, Make it Happen. |