December 2008
Give, and ye shall recieve
What are you doing to make Halifax a better place?
By Trevor J. Adams
![]()
Metro Guide Publishing, which produces Halifax Magazine, is a small company. Normally, the whole team enjoys close working relationships with senior management. But for the last few months, we’ve had only nodding acquaintances with publisher Sheila Blair-Reid and associate publisher Patty Baxter. Our encounters mostly consist of friendly waves as they hustle through the office on some urgent mission, 1 a.m. e-mails and Post-it Notes left on desks.
They’re harried because lately they each have had two full-time jobs. They’ve been organizing the Designer Showcase fundraiser for Kids Help Phone—a massive show-home renovation requiring them to ride herd on dozens of designers, suppliers and volunteers.
It’s been a lot of work for them but really, it’s been a job for our whole team. When the two most senior people in a company are organizing an event with logistics almost as complicated as the Apollo missions, you’d better believe that everyone back at the office picks up the slack.
But at Metro Guide, we think the payoff is worth it. Giving back to the community is central to our corporate philosophy. The company supports numerous other causes. Sheila encourages us (in her gently persuasive way) to volunteer outside the workplace too, often supporting our projects with company resources. Many of us lend our time to Feed Nova Scotia, literacy programs, service clubs and myriad other causes.
We’re all taxed for time but we’re proud to give back to the community. I worked in a job where the owner had a different philosophy: “I pay you to work for me. If you want to do the charity thing, do it on the weekend.”
Comparing the experiences, I can tell you that it’s a lot easier to feel good about your job if your company really cares about making your city a better place. There are lots of other well documented benefits, too—good PR, recruiting, a chance to build relationships with other donor companies.
You can find more about the business case for corporate philanthropy in the story “A common cause” on page 38. The most important thing to remember is simply that whatever you do, there are ways you can help.
There are countless charities in Halifax that need your support—one tells its story in The Pitch on page 15. Your aid could be financial, a donation of products and services or sharing your expertise, experience and time. To get started, check out the Nova Scotia Volunteer Forum (www.nsvolunteerforum.ca).
|
|
