Wal-Mart's thrifty charity work vs. genuine community outreach

Here's something interesting I learned in the book Deep Economy: The three heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune are among the ten richest people on the earth, worth $90 billion. According to Fortune magazine, the city of Bentonville, Arkansas, where their family began to make their fortunes, home of Wal-Mart, runs a budget deficit and can't afford a new sewage treatment plant.

I guess it should be no surprise, then, to read (via Fred Keller's BULLSEYE blog) that Franklin's Wal-Mart and Sam's Club combined to donate a whopping $8,000 $5,000 to various Franklin institutions and charities. {Sharp-eyed reader Scott Thinnes called my attention to some awkward language in the NOW story below; I actually erroniously added the TOTAL of two grants to the two amounts that comprised it.)

From FranklinNOW.com:

On Friday, December 5th, 2008, the City of Franklin received a donation of $3,000 from Sam's Club/Walmart. A grant of $2,000 to the Franklin Public Library towards replacement of the children's computers in the children's library area was received by Barbara Roark, Franklin Public Library Director.

A second grant of $1,000 was received by City of Franklin Police Chief, Rick Oliva, who stated that the grant would be used for public programs such as National Night Out and Bicycle Safety programs.

Sam's Club/Walmart finished the grants presentation at the Franklin Sam's Club location with a $2,000 grant to the Salvation Army to be used for holiday donations to over 400 families.

As I noted in the BULLSEYE comment section: Color me unimpressed. $5,000? Not great, I'm afraid. Wal-Mart can find 8k under their fingernails at the end of a day. You do better if you're a politician with a blog: Wal-Mart gave Mary Lazich $1,000, and got for their money, among other favors, an ostensibly Lazich-authored blog entitled "Wal-Mart to the Rescue"(!)

Bottom line: 5k is certainly not compensation for the corporate socialism Wal-Mart extracts from the local and federal government.

And, to my friend Bryan Maersch (now blogging here) who commented: ""Right or Wrong, Walmart is a big part of our economy," I have to say just this:

Right or wrong? I don't care how "big" you are; I believe we should expect RIGHT in all cases.

Let's contrast Wal-Mart's, er, thriftyness with the generosity of Dave Hahn of the Greenfield Outback Steak House. He was honored last night by the Greenfield Chamber of Commerce as Business of the Year.

This is what Mr. Hahn does: Each year, he chooses ten charities and community groups to host a fundraiser. The fundraiser costs are set by the charity or organization, and what they collect they get to keep, free and clear. This year's beneficiaries were Greenfield Friends of Music, Greenfield Education Association, Wisconsin String Teachers, Downs Syndrome Association, National Campaign for Muscular Dystrophy/Friedrich Ataxia, and local churches.

Outback Steak House is a chain, but Dave Hahn is a local franchisee who recognizes his community's needs and takes positive, ongoing, focused action. His kind of giving takes an appreciable bite from his personal bottom line, but creates the kind of goodwill that gets people like me (and everyone I talk to for the next month or so) over to his restaurant for a dinner or two, or three.

As for Wal-Mart; they'll do fine without me.

Comments

[Fred Keller]

John, without a doubt, Dave Hahn is a Saint. Franklin could sure use a few businessmen like Mr. Hahn. Sadly, I believe some of the more high profile businessmen in our community are more interested in making "donations" to the "usual suspects."

[Jeff]

You've been on fire the last week or so. Great posts! What're you putting in your coffee?

[John Michlig]

Thanks - finally have a desk and an office again!