Just before reggae star Ziggy Marley took to the Carnegie Hall stage for the recent Tibet House benefit concert here, a gathering of Salesforce.com Inc. officials, their customers, and assorted media hangers-on got a talking-to on the nature of capitalism.
The Salesforce.com/foundation, spurred by company CEO Marc Benioff's friendship with Tibet House President Robert Thurman, holds its "freedom from software" celebration in conjunction with the annual benefit.
Sipping wine and picking at sushi in a concert hall reception room, the Salesforce.com invitees stared as a trio of Buddhist monks intoned an otherworldy deep-throated chant, after which Thurman (father of Uma -- now you know how she got the name) said a few words.
"The true secret of prosperity is not greed but generosity," Thurman said, adding that capitalists produce more useful things for other people than they can consume for themselves.
But the production itself does not assure success. "Buddhists believe it is your motivation that determines outcome," Thurman argued. "Marc's foundation is the secret to his success."
On the third anniversary of the high-tech-fueled Nasdaq index's highest point (5048 on March 10, 2000, versus 807 today), entrepreneurs might do well to take note.
Salesforce.com offers hosted CRM software -- hence its "end of software" motto and the "no software" logo (the word "software" in a circle with a line through it). Founded in 1999, it generated about US$50 million in revenue last year, is on track to hit $100 million this year, and this quarter expects to turn a profit. It is expanding to include a wider array of enterprise resource planning software.
But Benioff speaks about the "end of philanthropy" with the same enthusiasm as he talks about "freedom from software." (In marketing material for the Carnegie Hall event, the company put out posters showing Tibet's Potala Palace, with the "no software" logo peeking over the horizon; an image that, Thurman conceded, had the monks puzzled.)
Benioff does not see social change being created though a series of one-off philanthropic events, but as an ongoing effort to interact with the communities, local and global, in which it exists.
"The economy can't affect our model," said the glad-handing Benioff, as he greeted invitees to the Tibet House soiree. "We put aside one percent equity and one percent time from the beginning of the company, and the economy does not affect that."
Benioff's model is essentially based on giving 1 percent of its employees' time, 1 percent of its equity and 1 percent of company profits to "create social change," as the Salesforce/foundation literature says.
In lieu of profits thus far it has given away software to charitable organizations. The foundation sponsors global technology programs in locations including Israel, Nepal and India. Employees can spend work time on community projects, typically training local Bay Area underprivileged youths.
The idea attracted Chief Financial Officer Steve Cakebread to the company. "It says something about the people who work at the company and the type of people who would be attracted by a company that does that."
The concept of continuous community engagement has struck a chord with diverse companies, according to Patricia Nash, director of communications for Independent Sector, which represents diverse social welfare organizations. "This type of strategic philanthropy is an example of a new philosophy of corporate social investing, to improve the environment in which businesses can flourish."
The idea is not limited to any one type of company and Benioff himself cites companies as diverse as shoemaker Timberland Co. and ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc. as integrating social goals into everyday business.
But the high-tech boom and bust has sparked some innovative thinking.
As an example, Nash cites Cisco Systems Inc. When it announced layoffs in April 2001, about 80 employees took advantage of a fellowship program, which entailed work at nonprofit organizations for a reduced salary and benefits package, in lieu of taking a layoff package.
Bill Gates is likely to go down in history with the likes of Andrew Carnegie as a leading entrepreneur/philanthropist, since the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation dwarfs many others, with some $20 billion in assets. But not all capitalists are billionaires, and the economy can shrink assets.
Steve Kirsch, founder and CEO of Propel Software Corp., set up a foundation with his wife Michelle that had about $70 million in assets in 2001, and is now down to about $15 million.
The spirit of social investment, founded on a model that integrates principles of social development into the structure of the corporation, can, however, weather market vagaries and embrace everyday people.
As Thurman said: "Don't wait until you're big and successful and then write a check."
