Giving

The Tigers are chasing the Yankees for the Wild Card spot. 50 Cent is chasing Kanye West for top CD sales. Jude Law is somewhere chasing a new skirt. And the executives in my Company are chasing me for my United Way contribution.

It’s only been 10 days since the campaign began and already I’m exhausted. There are emails, voice mails, conference calls, town hall meetings, building posters, elevator posters, flying rubber chickens (ok, so maybe not in our office but I heard about this in Flint, Michigan.) -- all with the just inbetween the lines message that giving to the United Way is good for our career ….ummm, I mean for the people who receive it.

So the chase is on. I’m being courted. And not just for participation, but for giving at the “leadership level.” Which means real, hard cash. Not just a nominal contribution that one could write off as a cost of employment, but one that causes you to recalculate your overall compensation package and giving plan. One that would also surely cut down on the number of cool boots walking around the office.

Let me say, that I believe in giving and giving generously. The idea that “To whom much is given, much is required” is something that I wholeheartedly agree with. I also believe that the United Way is a good organization doing good work. And I am all for encouraging people to look beyond themselves. But I do have heartburn over the idea that giving is anything but a personal decision. And, I think that people should be able to give to the places and organizations that are important to them. I say that if you want to give to “Ducks Unlimited” or to “Accuracy in Media” as your charity, then you should be able to do that. Our 2008 presidential hopefuls might really appreciate some extra money in the “Accuracy in Media” foundation coffers.

When someone first told me about the expectation for a certain dollar amount, I thought they were kidding. So I re-read the email to the “leaders of the Company” and realized they were right. Then I was confused. Then I was offended. Then I went to lunch.

As a “leader of the Company”, one of the important things I have learned is to not send email when confused or offended. This is what the DRAFT folder is for. Nothing good can come of it. Unfortunately, I haven’t always ported that learning into my personal life – and so some misguided missiles have made their way through cyberspace. Like the nasty gram I sent to my son’s principal when I got an email about his days absent from school. It was after I hit send on my reply that I realized that a) I had forgotten about a couple of “extra” trips my son had taken, b) that the email was autogenerated, and c) that maybe it was actually nice of the principal to be concerned. But I digress…

After my cooling off period and some informative conversations with friends, I realized that my employer is not charting new waters. This level of intensity is common among many big companies. How else could you explain the one upsmanship with flying rubber chickens. So I guess I’m still roughly at par with my friends over at Microsoft – except they do get a big fat maternity leave policy, an athletic club membership, and filtered water in their office.

By the way, it turns out that you do decide where your money goes – you can even elect to give to organizations outside of the United Way family. Now that I know it, I’ve jumped on board the train … and somehow now I can better see the pictures of needy children on the elevator posters.