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Local Philanthropy Headlines
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"More Wealth to Share"
The Daily Record
July 8, 2004
Kara Kridler
One of Maryland's largest charities is anticipating an increase in corporate giving this year, a sign that charitable donations are returning from a three-year lull.
With almost two months of recruiting to go, United Way of Central Maryland has already matched last year's total for its “Leader on Loan” program. Under the initiative, companies lend an employee to United Way for three months.
During this time, the company continues to pay the employee's salary but the employee reports to United Way for work. The relatively strong showing is evidence that companies have more capacity to spend on charitable giving than in the past several years, said Anirban Basu, chairman and chief executive of the Sage Policy Group Inc., a Baltimore-based economic consulting firm.
“Up until early- to mid-2003, most firms were cash poor,” Basu said. “What we have seen over the past 12 to 18 months is a real recovery in corporate profit. Corporations have more cash than they have had in several years.”
The “Leader on Loan” program does not start until late August, and already 16 volunteers from 13 organizations have signed up, said Mark Furst, senior vice president of marketing and resource development for United Way of Central Maryland. “Last year, we only had a total of 16 volunteers for the actual program,” Furst said. “Based on what I am seeing so far, we will certainly surpass last year. I am hopeful to hit 20 [volunteers] this year and we are thinking about stretching our goal to 25.”
The next three to four weeks are “critical in our drive to get 25” volunteers, Furst added. “Now is the prime time to sign up because it takes some time to line people up because they will be stepping” out of their jobs for a few months.
Last year, the program had 16 volunteers, down from 20 in 2002 and 31 in 2001, Furst said. He attributed the nearly 50 percent decline to a struggling economy. “It is harder and harder during tough economic times to find these available human resources to loan us,” he said.
Despite an underperforming economy, Legg Mason Wood Walker Inc. in Baltimore continued supporting the program. This is the company's fifth year participating in the initiative, said Tim Sheve, president and chief executive for Legg Mason Wood Walker, the private client division of Legg Mason Inc.
“The ‘Leader on Loan' is a great way of investing in the community,” Sheve said. “It is a win, win situation for both” the charity and the donor company. Legg Mason will send two volunteers this year, he added.
Along with Legg Mason, volunteers will come from Lockheed Martin, The College of Notre Dame, First Mariner Bank and BB&T bank. Basu added: “What one hopes, of course, is that corporate profits continue to hold up and charitable contributions [continue] to increase as well, but that is a function of the overall economy more than any other factor.”
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