Awhile ago I wrote about the South African Mugg & Bean’s Gingerbread Foundation.
Going by the example I wish to set, I had also joined this initiative and always used my card when eating at said coffee shop.
Great was my surprise when, in early October, I was told by the waitron that the card had expired.
“But I just got it the other day! It can’t have expired!”
It turns out the actual involvement of Mugg & Bean with the foundation had been withdrawn.
Initially I was a bit angry – as though I was being deprived of a chance to give (well, I was, but that’s not really the point).
I have now gone beyond that and am just disappointed. None of the parties involved state any reasons for the withdrawal – merely that it has happened.
I suppose any kind of corporate social responsibility is better than none, but part of me wants to stamp my foot and demand than when something is started, it is carried through with commitment.
I could think of three possible reasons for the cessation of this involvement:
- Lack of participation by M&B patrons
- Loss of income to M&B
- Internal politics
If there are other possible reasons, feel free to help me out here.
If the reason is one of the first two, then it really boils down to commitment. They are problems that can be solved with proper marketing and planning. An example is that M&B waiters are supposed to ask patrons if they have a Gingerbread Foundation card – if yes, they remind the client to swipe it; if no, they offer them one. I ate at the coffee shop several times where a waiter did not ask me for my card.
If it were the third reason, then that saddens me even more. I do suppose that some form of politics is the biggest reason many charity initiatives fail colossally, but it shouldn’t. Groups of people who are passionate about a cause should not allow politics to ruin what they do.
Of course, this is the ideal. Furthermore, if a business is merely participating with a cause to gain social brownie points, it doesn’t help much for the cause’s success either.
At this point, the jury is still out on whether this post has a point to make or not. That doesn’t really matter though – more people should be passionate about worthy, charitable causes. That is a concept I won’t debate.
[Photo courtesy of FotoDawg's Flickr photostream]
We are quick to condemn businesses when they are socially irresponsible. Think of the rap McDonald’s got for destroying Brazilian forests and communities, or clothing brands that employ Chinese “sweat shop” employees, or the inhumane treatment of KFC’s chickens. And rightly so: those who make a profit at the expense of the poor or vulnerable by exploiting their needs must be brought to account.
But let us not ignore the efforts of businesses who attempt to be socially responsible. Many will say that they are trying to take attention away from their profit-making making nature, but to this there are two things to keep in mind:
1. Businesses have a mandate to make a profit and this is what drives a country’s economy; so do not judge that without which we cannot live.
2. By taking on social responsibility programmes, companies acknowledge that the nature of their business may have negative effects (like carbon footprints) and attempt to make right somewhere in exchange for it.
The Ginger Bread Foundation is a foundation funding the Nkomazi Community Trust in Mpumalanga, South Africa, which sees to the needs of orphaned or vulnerable children. This foundation was started by Mugg & Bean, a coffee house which could be described as the South African equivalent of Starbucks. Starbucks is a partner of (Product)RED™, so they too are attempting the social responsibility idea.
Mugg & Bean customers can get a Ginger Bread card, which they swipe every time they pay for something at said shop – at no extra costs to them. One percent of their bill is then donated to the foundation and 4% is loaded onto their card as redeemable “MuggBucks”. One percent may seem little, but there are millions of South Africans who eat and drink at Mugg & Bean daily, AND their prices are not the cheapest.
What I like about this is that ordinary South Africans, who look the other way when a street child asks them for money or might just never think of donating to charity, in this way do donate.
The only thing I don’t like is the fact that one earns more MuggBucks than what the foundation gets, which is silly since swiping the card doesn’t cost you anything. For all I know it’s got something to do with the psyche of the human mind, but... perhaps I’ll write them anyway.
