Funder Focus: Diane Gordon and the HBC Foundation
August 3, 2004
By Nicole Zummach
This month in our Funder Focus, we feature the HBC Foundation,
which is committed to making a difference in the lives of Canadian families. CharityVillage spoke
with Diane Gordon, the Hudson Bay Company's director of community investments, about HBC's longtime commitment to Canadian communities, the recent launch of the HBC Foundation, and the company's efforts to be a leader in corporate social responsibility.
CharityVillage: As the oldest company in Canada, HBC is obviously no stranger to community investment, but it wasn't until this year that you launched the HBC Foundation. Why now?
Diane Gordon: The company has been evolving as it moves forward.
In the past, Zellers had the Zellers Family Fund and The Bay had a program
called Well into the Future. What was happening was that each of our
retail banners had different programs that really weren't coordinated
and succinct. They were good programs and they did great things in the
community but our challenge now is to create one HBC foundation to support
all of our retail banners and try to become more focused and to provide
more of an impact in the community by coordinating all of our efforts
under one umbrella.
CV: What is HBC's total community investment each year?
DG: In 2003 it was about $11.5 million. In the retail sector
this is quite high. On average the other major retailers in Canada give
back about $3 million a year. We are substantially higher than that,
in part because we are the oldest company in Canada and we have some
background that allows us to pull on those resources and give back more
money to the community. Plus we have some great community giving programs.
There's the Charity Bear program that you see at The Bay each year,
and that program is going to be expanded this year to all of our banners,
raising even more money for the community. At Zellers in the past you've
seen the Gift Box program. It's just a cardboard box, but if you need
a box to wrap gifts in we ask for a one-dollar donation. Last year that
program raised $950,000 for charity. So we've got some really good cause-marketing
programs. They are things that our customers need and they feel good
about donating to them because they know that it's going back into their
community.
CV: How will the work of the foundation differ from what you were already doing? What's new?
DG: I think what's good about it is that it is expanding. The
Charity Bear program is a great example. The Bay has had great success
with the Charity Bear for several years and to be able to take the knowledge
that The Bay had in developing that program and expand it to Zellers
and Home Outfitters as well, it's a great leveraging point. So we are
taking existing programs and further building on them.
Another program that we are getting ready to launch this month is the
new HBC Rewards community program. It's going to allow charitable organizations
and community groups across Canada to register as community members
so that our customers can donate their points to those organizations.
So schools can register, sporting associations, hospitals. Any group
can register as a community member of this program and encourage their
donors to donate their HBC Reward points to the program. This point
donation program is more sophisticated than many others are because
you can go online and donate to as many as three different organizations.
CV: Your mandate is to make a difference in the lives of Canadian families. How are you working to achieve this? What types of organizations and programs do you fund?
DG: One of the things we are trying to do is bring this back
to local communities. We've done a lot of research with our customers
and associates and they say, "it's great that you support national organizations,
but how does this affect me in Sault Ste. Marie or in other smaller
communities outside the Greater Toronto area?" So we're trying
to look at programs and local organizations that help benefit families,
whether it is the local hospital, the local women's shelter, something
that's in the community, that makes an impact in that community.
CV: Aside from donations and sponsorships, you are also introducing a new volunteer program to support the volunteer contributions of HBC's 70,000 associates. How will the volunteer program work?
DG: We're still developing it and will continue to develop it
as we go into 2005 but something that we tested this year was the HBC
Run For Canada, which was a 10k run/3k walk that took place in Ottawa
on Canada Day. As Canada's oldest company - 334 years old - we thought
we should be playing a larger role in Canada Day. We partnered with
the National Capital Commission in Ottawa to be an official partner
of Canada Day. About 2,000 people participated in the 10k run and all
the money raised, more than $100,000, went back into the Ottawa community, keeping it local.
We partnered with about 18 charitable organizations: CHEO, about eleven
women's shelters, and then a few other organizations. It gives our associates
a way to raise money for their local community, and a way for them to
volunteer in their community on something that also fits with who we
are as a Canadian corporation.
CV: Would you say that HBC is a leader in corporate social responsibility, a model for other Canadian corporations?
DG: I would say so. When we look at other retailers and what they are doing, and if you look at a percentage of our profits versus what we give, plus the focus that is put on community giving and outreach in this company, we really are a leader. We're also asked to lend our input to other corporations. I sit on different boards and organizations to help them out and exchange ideas.
CV: How do you see CSR evolving, within your own company and beyond?
DG: It's more than just cheque writing. It's all about how you
are socially responsible. Right now George Heller, our CEO, is focused
on a global compact. He's trying to encourage retailers around the world
to sign up and come up with one way of doing factory inspections in
the Orient. It's not just about the money you put back into communities.
It's about how you help to change and make everything better. It's about
the environment and electricity, reductions in waste, human resources
practices...it's about a lot of things. We're taking a good look at
all of these things and making sure that we're doing everything we can
to be socially responsible in more than just community giving.
CV: What are some of the specific challenges associated with being a corporate funder? Are there expectations or responsibilities beyond those that other funders might face?
DG: Being a large, national retailer we get approached for a
lot of different things. It's so difficult because you want to support
as much as you can, but again, even with $11.5 million we don't have
enough to give to everyone, and that's a challenge. What's going to
be great about the new HBC Rewards community program is that we can
help those people. We can give them that as an option so that if we
aren't able to give them a financial donation we can still give them
that avenue to help raise money for their organization.
CV: What are your hopes and goals for the foundation's first year of operation?
DG: One thing is to develop clarity around the new foundation
and programming, to get more visibility for who we are, and let people
know how we are helping to support communities. I think the awareness
of who we are is the big thing.
Diane Gordon has been with the Hudson's Bay Company for 14 years
and is the director of its community investment program. For more information
about the new HBC Foundation, visit www.hbc.com/hbc/socialresponsibility/foundation.
