New directions for corporate givers.

• Author: Shafer, Geri

Many of Alaska's businesses are struggling with internal and external economic factors that affect their corporate giving programs. As a result, companies are being challenged to rethink and retool the process of giving back to their communities. Many are pausing for reflection and for developing some innovative solutions to become more effective grantmakers. One thing is certain: All businesses are concerned with their bottom line and with maximizing their efficiency, regardless of how simple or how sophisticated their giving practices are.

To cope with these tough economic times, corporate giving in Alaska is changing, following new strategies such as Total Quality Management (TQM), information linkages, collaborations, renewed focus, decentralization, hotlines and grantmaker forums. Here's an overview of what these new directions involve.

Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management, or TQM, has become a buzzword in the business world. Basically, TQM defines quality through customer satisfaction. To bring quality into a company's business practices, TQM advocates using prevention, not correction, obtaining management commitment, and adapting to customers' needs.

Some Alaskan businesses may be reluctant to embrace Total Quality Management as a tool to improve their giving programs because of perceived time and cost. But one company, the Alaska Railroad Corp. (ARR), will ultimately extend the TQM process to its entire operation.

TQM has only been in use for two years at ARR, but William McDaniel, manager of quality support and training, reports the company plans to "extend quality management to the entire railroad." McDaniel says that TQM can also be useful for small to medium-size businesses since "TQM has a certain generic quality to it," and something as simple as a problem-solving process or the flow chart could be used as tools to examine giving programs.

According to John Coy of The Consulting Network in Vienna, Va., a leading expert in the field of TQM's application to corporate giving, "Companies considering TQM may have to take a leap of faith since TQM is not just a product issue but extends to services as well."

Often, he says, public affairs and corporate community relations are seen as the "gotta do" arm of the company, and the focus isn't necessarily on service. Yet, Coy says these departments might use "TQM as a tool to think through defects in a system." He urges companies to recognize that issues in grantmaking are both qualitative and quantitative and to ask, "How do we become more effective grantmakers?"

Coy believes companies of any size can begin by...