I went to an event this morning sponsored by the Social Responsibility Task Force of the Contra Costa Council. It was the first of what they hope will be an annual acknowledgement of local largesse. God help us.
In the spring of 2003, I co-facilitated a meeting of about 40+ executive directors and a handful of funders who had come together to talk about the capacity building needs of Contra Costa nonprofits. As happens at those kinds of gatherings, there were several small group conversations going on including one that was focused on how to engage area businesses with the nonprofit sector in ways that would be meaningful to both. Jim Bouquin, then executive director of New Connections, eloquently described a partnership that was grounded not in philanthropy, but in areas of mutual interest to for-profit and nonprofit companies. "We need to move from being the sector who always shows up with our palms up," he said, demonstrating the universal sign for charity, "and become the sector who comes into the room with our hands extended. We need to start showing up as equals - because we are." He went on to paint a picture of what was possible: companies have employees whose productivity is affected by the challenges they're facing having to cope with both aging parents and young children at home, or with their alcoholic spouse or with their own addictions. Those companies need help supporting their employees and we know how to help them. They also have employees who are accessing our programs or who are living just above the poverty line. They may need services beyond what they are already utilizing, but they don't have time to research them and they are embarrassed to ask for assistance. We can raise awareness, address the stigma, normalize the reality of living in the Bay area with insufficient resources. In short, we can provide services and information that will improve productivity and support local businesses by bringing our expertise to their workers. It was an exciting vision, a new framework for a relationship that was deeply in need of a different paradigm.
And there's nothing I like better than shifting a paradigm. So we tried. Unfortunately, we failed. And I know that because this morning's event was definitive proof of that failure.
Gathered together at the First Annual East Bay Philanthropy Awards were 400 for-profit and nonprofit business people. The former group crowed immodestly and unceasingly about their companies' extraordinary commitment to the community - the dollars they give, the volunteer hours their employees give, the number of organizations they help, the social capital they expend; the latter group smiled, applauded, bowed their heads in gratitude, and tearily hugged their benefactors. I was okay with the small business owner whose construction company routinely installs electrical and mechanical systems for several local nonprofits at no cost. That is generous and noteworthy. He never expected his work to be acknowledged nor was he motivated by anything other than the values that guide his life decisions. But Chevron and Wells Fargo - well, that's a different kettle of week-old fish entirely.
Even as the Occupy movement gains momentum, and, one hopes, focus, on the streets of Oakland and New York, and LA, and Chicago, several hundred of us who fall squarely in the 99% camp sat in our seats this morning and listened to the Executive Vice President of Wells Fargo boast about the fact that they help 7 out of 10 families whose mortgages are currently under water avoid foreclosure. She was so proud of that fact that she repeated it. "Seven out of 10," she said breathlessly. And we applauded. We clapped our hands in appreciation that Wells Fargo, a bank that helped create the biggest economic debacle since the Great Depression, was keeping 7 out of 10 families from losing their homes. Never mind that their policies put those families in jeopardy in the first place. Never mind that the numbers of families at risk of losing their homes is high enough that they are being tracked and reported on. Never mind the 30% who can't be saved. What kills me and makes me want to stand up and adopt the famous "Scream" face is that we are sitting in the same room as those lying, thieving, amoral hypocrites, and we are allowing them - enabling them really - to bask in their self-satisfied smugness as they buy their way out of what they've done with a pittance. The money they give is nothing, nothing at all. It's a rounding error at the end of a day. Wells Fargo reported profits of $7 Billion in the last quarter, up 21%. In the meantime, people have lost their homes, their life savings, their legacies for their children. And not just a few people. Millions of people.
The Wells Fargo executive vice president finished her soporific speech with a few minutes to spare. "Does anyone have any questions?" she asked. I wish I had the courage to ask the one question I wanted to ask: May I have my home back?
But I didn't ask the question. I don't think I clapped, but that doesn't matter. I showed up, I sat in that room, and I colluded with all my colleagues, people I like and respect, who unknowingly reinforced the old paradigm this morning and, once again, held their hands out, palm up.
