Greenville Business Magazine 2009 December issue : Page 43
GREENVILLE BY EMILY PAYNE | ABOVE:C. Dan Joyner received the 2007 Distinguished Citizen Award presented by Blue Ridge Council of Boy Scouts of America. W PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF PRUDENTIAL C.DAN JOYNER hen Stacey Coulter first opened the doors of The Spa at West End, her policy in regard to philanthropy was to “never say no.” If someone asked for a donation or sponsorship, Coulter didn’t turn them down, and for good reason. “It’s a full circle the way the community works,” Coulter says. “Clients come in, they receive spa services, they support our business, we make money, and we in turn can give back to the community to the causes our clients are interested in. Our clients are appreciative, so they come back to us and tell others about us, and the circle keeps going around.” DECEMBER 2009 | GREENVILLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE 43
Giving Back to Greenville
Emily Payne
When Stacey Coulter first opened the doors of The Spa at West End, her policy in regard to philanthropy was to “never say no.” If someone asked for a donation or sponsorship, Coulter didn’t turn them down, and for good reason. “It’s a full circle the way the community works,” Coulter says. “Clients come in, they receive spa services, they support our business, we make money, and we in turn can give back to the community to the causes our clients are interested in. Our clients are appreciative, so they come back to us and tell others about us, and the circle keeps going around.”
These days, Coulter is a little more selective in the charities her company chooses to support, but her zest for giving back to Greenville hasn’t diminished.
She’s not the only one. Even though the budget may be tight, several other Greenville businesses have still managed to find a few extra dollars for a good cause. Last year, as a company Prudential C. Dan Joyner donated to more than 70 different groups. Though not all are big contributions, others are supported on a much more benevolent basis.
“There are so many wonderful causes and we can’t support them all, but we try to support as many as we possibly can,” says C. Dan Joyner, president and CEO.
His company is a big supporter of United Way, which supports about 90 different groups in the Greenville area. In the past, Joyner has served as chairman for the campaign, president, and chairman of the board. To rally his employees to donate to United Way and other causes, Joyner tries to go to each branch and stress the importance of the organization. Sometimes people from the charity itself make presentations. Prudential has also held contests to raise money. But Joyner says his involvement is a key part of successfully raising money for a campaign. “If the CEO is not committed to making it happen, it’s not going to happen,” Joyner says.
To encourage its employees to make a donation, Michelin North America puts its money where its mouth is. This year for the United Way campaign, the company matched employee donations, resulting in a contribution of $1.12 million. “It’s not that we have to push or prod very hard,” says Herb Johnson, director of community relations. “It goes into your recruiting and the quality of people you recruit.” When the company first located in the Upstate, it established three focus areas for community relations: education, safety and the environment and mobility, and community enhancement. Johnson says the company makes sure all charitable involvement falls into one of its three pre-established categories.
Coulter, Joyner and Johnson all say that anyone requesting a donation has to go through an application process. Coulter says her staff sits down once a month to go through applications and make selections. The decisions are often based on the importance of the charity to an employee or a client. “If it’s something personal that has touched us, like cancer, it causes us to be more receptive to an idea or pursue something,” Coulter says.
With Prudential, a committee makes the decision on whether the company has the funds and ability to support the endeavor. Like Coulter, Joyner says his company tries to support causes that are important to his employees. “We try to support our agents’ causes, because we ask them to support ours,” Joyner says.
Though each of these companies supports many different causes, all contribute to United Way. Another area of interest is anything to improve the lives of Greenville children. “At the end of the day, many of these kids could be working here at Michelin in 10, 15, 20 years,” says Johnson. “It’s helpful to ensure we’re maintaining a viable work force in the future.”
Stuart Spinks, president and CEO of the Spinx Co., says that in his company’s 35-plus years, community partnerships frequently address the needs of children, especially education. Spinks himself is a first-generation college graduate, and he feels strongly about opening doors to education and athletic pursuits. In the end, though, it comes back to the community circle. “Giving back to the communities that support our business is the right thing to do,” says Spinks. “There is a balance created when business and community initiatives prosper.”
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