Dell matures as corporate citizen" Sunday, November 1, 1998
-Part II-
from Austin American-Statesman, Sunday, November 1, page H1
$13 million arts gift reflects awareness of community role
by Jerry Mahoney, American-Statesman Staff
By any measure, Dell already has had a cultural and philanthropic impact through its employees and executives and the 3-year-old Dell foundation. Since 1993, when Michael and Susan Dell donated 40 acres in Austin's Northwest Hills for the Dell Jewish community Center, Dell-related gifts in Central Texas have exceeded $5 million. Contributions last year to United Way/Capital Area soared nearly 300 percent to $852,000, propelling Dell to No. 3 among the top 10 United Way donors. Dell is likely to be No. 1 this year, with donations rising another 193 percent to about $2.5 million, according to Topfer. More than 500 managers and executives pledged "Leadership Gifts" of $1,000 or more.
A lot of Dell executives see this as an excellent opportunity to give back to the community," said Topfer, who helped raised about $900,000 through the Alexis de Tocqueville Society, a $10,000-and-higher donor group. "I think you'll see more involvement growing forward." In addition to the Dells and the Topfers, the 10 Dell donors are vice chairman Kevin Rollins and his wife, Debbie; Green and his wife, Deborah; and Meredith and his wife, Lynn.
Executives also predict Dell employees will be a volunteer force in the region. Saturday, 1,300 employees were expected to join the fund-raising walk for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, which is co-chaired by Dell vice chairman Rollins.
The $13 million gift for the Austin Museum of Art is the largest single cash gift for the arts in the region. Green, who was on the committee that recently selected Richard Gluckman of New York as the architect for the facility on West Third Street, said the five couples were willing donors several months ago. But the announcement was delayed in part because the museum was till filling openings on its board of directors and had not yet hired its chief executive officer. In June, former IBM executive Bill O'Brien was named museum CEO. "We were waiting until it was kind of 'soup', if you will," said Green. "Until it was ready."
Time to 'look outward'
Dell itself has only recently been ready to embark on a path of substantial giving in Central Texas, executives acknowledge. "Up until the last couple of years, it's hard to fault the company for concentrating on building a sustainable business," said Green. "And we're still working every day to do that. But once you've built something that is relatively stable and sustainable, then you have-call it maturity or whatever-the ability to look outward."
Of course, Dell didn't become a fierce global competitor because it had a big heart. The company keeps an eye on the return from all its philanthropy and civic-mindedness. When it began considering its broader role in the community about three years ago, Dell discovered that wile it was revered as a global success story, the company hadn't nurtured relationships with elected officials and community groups. Green said those relationships became more important as Dell planned to build new factories. "It would be nice to have, in response to a question like, 'What have you done for the community lately?', something to talk about," he said.
Green likens Dell's approach to giving to a "three-legged stool"; corporate giving, the Dell Foundation, and employees through donations and volunteerism. The $13 million gift to the museum falls in the third category. While Dell's three-pronged approach includes time-honored elements of giving, the participation by Dell executives ant their spouses fits a patter of change in U.S. philanthropy, especially in technology centers.
Peter Hero, president of Community Foundation Silicon valley, said the newly affluent technology community didn't inherit its values from the Rockefellers, Carnegies and other wealthy dynasties that remained distant from the beneficiaries of their giving. Silicon Valley's donors base their giving on their personal interests and frequently become involved with the organizations, Hero said.
Besides Green's work with the Austin museum of Art, Dell families are active in such organizations as the Austin Children's Museum, Ballet Austin and the Seton Healthcare network. After Scott Eckert, director of Dell Online, joined the board of Ballet Austin in 1996, he and his wife, Kristi, updated the computer system and Eckert guided the ballet's administration through a strategic-planning process. That's the kind of involvement that Community Foundation Silicon Valley, a $200 million foundation, is seeing. "It's basically people stepping up to get more involved because they're interested," said Hero. "They're really writing the whole thing from scratch."
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