Your Business Resource for Columbia and The Midlands

Executives and employees who make the Midlands’ largest companies and organizations profitable share the wealth with those less fortunate. What better time of year than December to share these snippets about real people in Columbia raising money and investing in those who need it the most in the Midlands?

The time-honored season of giving and fellowship is shared by many companies in our area. Here is the story of 10 of those companies and their philanthropic leaders. Together with the United Way of the Midlands, they are addressing the four main issues of the needy: meeting basic needs, gaining education and workforce skills, accessing affordable healthcare, and securing transportation to work and school. “It’s no question the economy has had a depressing effect on some areas, and employee portions of healthcare costs have increased at many businesses. In spite of the economy, we have seen multiplied giving this year from companies,” says Mike Gray, vice president of resource development at the United Way of the Midlands.

KARA ADDY
Kara Addy, assistant vice president of corporate and external communications for Colonial Life, says giving is part of her company’s culture. “Our employees have been giving back for 70 years,” Addy says. “The company was founded on the philosophy of giving back and making the places where our customers live and work better places.” Colonial Life runs a Corporate Social Responsibility program to match employees’ charitable gifts, log volunteer hours, and make investments, mostly in education and wellness. “I sit down with two or three organizations per week to determine if Colonial Life is a good investment match,” she says. In 2010, the company’s overall charitable giving was valued at $705,000. Addy is not afraid to get her hands dirty. Her most recent pro bono project? Working several days with other company executives to install picnic tables and landscaping by the Saluda River near Riverbanks Zoo to help The River Alliance set the stage for a future expansion of the Three Rivers Greenway.

CHUCK BEAMAN
As CEO of Palmetto Health, it is Chuck Beaman’s responsibility to oversee a non-profit organization that is an integral part of the community’s infrastructure. “A strong health center equals a strong quality of life,” says Beaman. “We’re a service industry; others seek us out so we need to be a giving organization in ways we feel are important.” Between t h e internal Palmetto H e a l t h Foundation and g i v i n g through the United Way, Palmetto Health’s employees gave $1 million last year. “We allow our employees with special interests to pull together teams and participate in charitable events,” Beaman continues. Palmetto Health’s philanthropic tone is set by the management team and embraced by employees. All feel strongly about setting an example in giving before asking community neighbors to pitch in and give back, too. The organization gives an annual 10 percent “tithe” of its bottom line in dollars and volunteer participation hours to prove its seriousness about charitable stewardship.

MIKE BRENAN
Mike Brenan, state president of BB&T, and his wife, Julie, personally believe they should give to their church. And they do. Brenan brings that charitable conviction to the office when he sits behind his desk at BB&T where he says he and his employees invest in the community, not give out of a sense of obligation. Local giving is what it’s all about at BB&T. The bank funds the Lighthouse Project, an internal program that enables employees to choose the organizations in their local communities that need help. In the last few years, the Lighthouse Project has funded projects as diverse as a homeless shelter to the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club. At the corporate level, BB&T invests in education at all levels in its footprint covering the Southeast and the Mid-Atlantic U.S. Employees teach high school financial literacy courses and in the Pee Dee have provided support to launch Teach for America.

SHARON BRYANT
“I am a huge supporter of the United Way because of its holistic approach to identifying the needs in specific communities,” says First Citizens Bank Regional Executive Vice President Sharon Bryant, whose company’s foundation has raised $6.5 million for charitable causes since its inception in 2000. “I like the United Way because it holds agencies accountable. We are blessed and privileged to be a business in this community, but our company is only as good as the customer base in the community. We serve because it’s the right thing to do.” First Citizens is closely tied to Home Works, a non-profit group that repairs homes for people in need. The company’s employees have been pairing up with church groups for the last five years, taking a full day each year to spruce up needy neighbors’ homes. “We encourage everyone to volunteer with a cause about which they’re passionate. Volunteers are more engaged if they are truly interested in the cause, have been touched by it, or are passionate about it,” Bryant says.

SARENA BURCH
“We have always been a strong corporate giver; serving our community is our chief value,” says Sarena Burch, senior vice president at SCANA Corporation. “Our employees traditionally give both time and money to charity, and we encourage it,” she continues. Burch is certain corporate giving raises employee morale, and SCANA’s corporate environment promotes the seriousness of philanthropic involvement in four key areas: the arts, education, healthcare and the environment. The company’s employees give to the United Way and to many other organizations such as this year’s free medical clinic initiative downtown. “We give the most money to United Way because we have seen what the United Way can do and how much money the organization can raise,” she says. SCANA also has an official annual application process in place through which community service organizations can apply for funding to meet their individual needs. And then there’s the Good Neighbor Fund, to which employees contribute 100 percent of the funding and identify community needs that receive the funds.

JUDY DAVIS
BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina is homegrown and so proud of that fact, Judy Davis says, that every employee is eager to give back to those who need help in the state. Davis is an executive vice president and chief legal officer for BlueCross BlueShield, a workplace in which it’s not unusual for an employee to be out on a workday building a Habitat for Humanity home. Not surprisingly, Davis and her company are proponents of funding health-related causes, such as sponsoring free medical clinics, placing nurses in schools, and contributing to children’s charity Healthy Learners. “A child can’t learn [in school] if he has a toothache,” Davis says about her support of Healthy Learners, which removes health barriers from young students’ lives. “We give even more when the economy is weak,” she says. Employees performed 40,000 volunteer hours last year, gave $2.25 million along with the company, and contributed 40,000 pounds of food to those in need. Davis expects the charitable contributions to be even higher by the end of this year.

JOHN FOLSOM
As president and CEO of Colliers International, John Folsom believes he can’t mandate employees’ support of charitable endeavors. “It is hard for a company to say ‘We are going to be involved in the community.’ It has to begin with employees. We encourage it [corporate giving], but it is ingrained in the character of individuals,” he says. Colliers has a long history – 105 years to be exact – of being in business and giving back what it feels it owes to the community. Folsom says it doesn’t matter who needs the help, Colliers gives to any organization that plays a meaningful role in impacting South Carolinians for good. He relates his annual charitable giving budget to profitability on the bottom line. The more he makes, the more he gives. Colliers International is in the process of creating a formalized “giving platform” where employees can designate recipient charities. The program will be rolled out early next year.

TERRENCE GREEN
Chief Terrence Green has just accepted a position on the United Way of the Midlands’ board of directors. He is excited about this addition to his responsibilities as the chief of police for the Town of Lexington, where his small force of officers have already given more than $12,000 to the United Way. Chief Green says his police officers also regularly sponsor and participate in fundraising events to support local causes and other foundations. An annual fall festival enables Green to donate funds to Lexington Interfaith Community Services (LICS), an organization that provides emergency food, clothing, financial assistance and counseling referrals. “Many are hard pressed in these times; I know it is hard on families. That’s why we chose LICS as one of our charitable recipients,” Green says. Green’s police force also is a big supporter of the Special Olympics, in conjunction with the local sheriff ’s department. Officers raise funds for this organization through special events at FATZ and Krispy Kreme restaurants. Have you heard of Adopt-a-Cop? That’s a Lexington Police Department foundation that supports community events such as the Ident-a-Kid program held at local Wal-Marts.

JIM LEHMAN
Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough law firm focuses its charitable giving in four key areas: education, the arts, humanitarian needs, and religion. Partner Jim Lehman says the firm has a deep tradition of support for the arts but also diversifies giving based on employees’ interests. The firm has an ongoing commitment to support the Nelson Mullins Center for Professionalism at the USC Law School, for which it has provided $1 million in funding so far. Other favored charities include the Midlands Housing Alliance (homeless) Transition Center and providing pro bono legal services to sometimes unpopular causes. “We don’t do this for the recognition,” Lehman says. “It’s about leadership. Our firm has been put in a position and given great opportunities. We are required to be good stewards of what we’ve been given.”

DARRELL SCOTT
“We are trying to make a difference each day,” says Darrell Scott, vice president of public policy and communications for the SC Chamber of Commerce. “Giving is our calling, a sense of pride,” he continues. One hundred percent of SC Chamber employees gave money as a part of last year’s United Way campaign. Scott is proud of that fact and that employees are striving to hit the same goal again in this year’s campaign. “We like to support the United Way because we see the dollars at work in the local community,” Scott says. In addition, he’s likely to run into a Chamber employee on one of the many organizational board meetings and committees taking place during each work week. “We are a non-profit, too, and understand improving the community improves the business climate in our state. We attract employees who want South Carolina to be a better place tomorrow.”