Firms Learn That as They Help Charities, They Also Help Their Brands By PAUL SULLIVANNOV. 6, 2017

Firms Learn That as They Help Charities, They Also Help Their Brands

By PAUL SULLIVANNOV. 6, 2017

Sandy Capell, the philanthropy and corporate responsibility manager for Subaru of America and its foundation, uses a software system to track employees who volunteer. 

Credit

Mark Makela for The New York Times

Adopting a tiger in India, donating yoga classes to disadvantaged children in Los Angeles or building homes for residents of a struggling New Jersey city might seem unrelated.

But in corporate philanthropy, they are part of the same trend: a desire by companies to show customers and employees that they are not just interested in profits, but that they care about the state of the world. And saying so is not enough. So determined are they to show impact — the latest buzzword in philanthropy — that they are marshaling metrics to prove it.

So important are those metrics, in fact, the measuring has spawned an industry of its own.

Consider Subaru of America.

In the first nine months of this year, 512 employees have volunteered their time for 105 events for 46 different organizations.

Seventy-four employees donated 500 hours to build three Habitat for Humanity homes in Camden, N.J., a poor city a few minutes from Subaru’s headquarters in Cherry Hill.

On the West Coast, 88 employees have donated 270 hours to assemble wheelchairs that were donated to veterans. Employees have filled 2,000 backpacks for schoolchildren.

What do you do when you experience a tragedy and need help? Who did you ask? How did you get the help? For some it might be financial aid, others it might be food or lodging. At a time when philanthropic giving is focused on impact, The New York Times would like to hear from people who have received help after going through a personal loss, such as that of a friend or family member, or a natural disaster. Please share your story using the form below. Your comments may be published, but your contact information will not. We may contact you to hear more.

For a company like Subaru, with a brand image of being outdoors, dependable, inclusive and kind, those metrics help attract great employees. They also help the company’s marketing campaign.

The numbers are so important, in fact, that Sandy Capell, the philanthropy and corporate responsibility manager for the company and the Subaru of America Foundation, said she had turned to a software system to track employees who volunteered, tally their time and measure the impact of what they’re doing.

“The software puts the efforts in perspective,” Ms. Capell said. “We used to report hours and nothing else. After awhile it loses impact. Now we’re able to put a true impact on those hours.”

To do that, Subaru reached out to Blackbaud, a cloud software company that measures the effect of philanthropic efforts.

“They come to us, and to the market in general, because they want to tell their impact story to individuals,” said Kevin McDearis, executive vice president and chief products officer at Blackbaud. “They realize part of this is about building their brand and enhancing their brand.”

That marketing may also mean as much to employees as to consumers. “It’s getting to be a very competitive market out there, and people will pick a job, and maybe not the highest paid offer, if they feel like they’re part of something bigger than themselves,” he said.

In a study by CECP, which promotes corporate philanthropy, and the Conference Board this year, a third of employees, on average, participated in corporate volunteerism, and nearly two-third of companies offered paid time off for volunteering.

But there is no room to fake it. A study on corporate social responsibility found that 65 percent of consumers check to see if a company is being authentic when it takes a stand on a social or environmental issue. That number rises to 76 percent for millennials.

The study also found that 78 percent of respondents wanted companies to take a stand. That’s a double-edge sword in a polarized time. While 87 percent of the people in the study said they would buy a product because of something the company advocated, 76 percent said they would not buy a product from a company they did not agree with.

“Everyone loves to feed the hungry and house the homeless,” Mr. McDearis said. But companies taking a stand can also “drive some interesting polarization.”

In the case of Subaru, it chose well-known, noncontroversial charities, like the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Meals On Wheels.

Money for these charities comes through the company’s Share the Love campaign, in which it donates $250 from each vehicle bought or leased to various charities. (In nine years, the company said it had given $94 million to charity.