More firms seek public's help in deciding where to donate
— -- Chad Pregracke, 34, still has a love affair with the Mississippi River. He grew up on its banks, collected mussels in its waters as a teen, and now trolls its coasts collecting garbage to put on his barge.
"Yesterday, I took 42 people with me. In an hour and a half, we collected 4 tons of garbage," Pregracke says.
Pregracke founded and runs Living Lands and Waters, a non-profit group dedicated to cleaning up rivers from the Missouri to the Potomac.
In the last 12 years, the group has collected 6 million pounds of garbage. But without donations from companies and individuals, the group's clean-up operation would cease. When Pregracke found out that Tom's of Maine, a manufacturer of products such as toothpaste and soap that are naturally made, would be offering five non-profits a $20,000 scholarship fund, he jumped at the chance to win, and created a video entry.
Tom's scholarship contest, "50 States for Good" (www.50statesforgood.com) which launched Friday, is an example of a newer corporate trend that allows customers or the public — rather than company insiders — to determine where charitable contributions go. Tom's will let groups such as Living Lands from all 50 states apply for the money, but eventually will leave it to the public to vote for the five that will get it.
"Philanthropic decisions are no longer being made in the boardroom to give so and so's brother-in-law a donation," says Sam Davidson, co-founder of Cool People Care, a company that sends out a daily e-mail blast telling people how and where they can volunteer.
Other companies are turning to their customers or the public to distribute donations.
Last month, Target launched a two-week giving campaign on its Facebook page asking the public to decide how 10 national charities would receive a portion of $3 million that Target spends in weekly charitable giving. Toms Shoes, a shoe company founded in 2006 in Venice, Calif., also involves its customers. For every pair of shoes purchased, Toms Shoes donates a pair of shoes to children in need.
