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Beyond ProfitWhen businesses partner with disadvantaged

communities, everybody benefits

People start businesses in order to make money. With profit as the ultimate goal, businesses often compete

fiercely, sometimes ruthlessly. They spend millions not only to perfect their product but also to outthink, outdo,

and outproduce their competitors, with the ends often believed to justify the means. Thus the oft-quoted

“It’s just business,” a phrase used to excuse a multitude of sins.

But can “just business” be turned on its head and redefined to mean business that seeks to be just? Is

there a higher, more life-giving purpose for businesses, one that goes beyond profit to challenge the assump-

tions of our capitalist society and to share opportunities and resources rather than compete for them?

As the stories on the following pages attest, there is indeed a way to conduct business that creates

room for compassion, mercy, and justice, a way that serves the poor and underprivileged, gives glory to God,

and profits the whole community. These corporate models testify to the possibilities of transformation when

Christian businesspeople think beyond profit and commit to the vision of the kingdom of God, where no

economic or racial divides exist.

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Memphis-based Diversified Conveyors incorporated (DCi) conducts business as both profit-making and kingdom-building. in a matter of a few years, DCi has become one of the leading builders of conveyor systems for major carrier companies such as UPS, DHL, and FedEx Ground. it is licensed in 47 states and also does business in the United Kingdom. DCi employs 35 people in the Memphis office and has field representatives that at times number in the hundreds. Established in 2000 by Tom and Beth Phillips, DCi has grown remarkably in its operations as well as in its profits. From all angles, it has become a suc-cessful business.

its financial success, however, is only the beginning of DCi’s story. it turns out that there is much more to this company than simple profit-making. To begin with, it has a missions committee. You read correctly: a corporate, profit-making business with a missions committee! Composed of three employees—an account manager, a project manager, and an engineer—the committee regularly meets together and prayer-fully decides on ministries with which DCi should partner.

Whether it is offering financial support, encouragement, expertise, labor, or all of the above, DCi is in active partnership with many organizations, both locally and abroad. Memphis-based ministries that DCi supports include urban renewal projects, literacy initiatives, pregnancy counseling, parenting classes, prison outreach, and job training to help released prisoners transition back into the working world. On the international scene, it partners with organizations doing every-thing from microloans and healthcare to literacy training and evangelism in Nepal, Burma, india, Poland, Peru, Brazil, Guatemala, Jamaica, Burundi, and Rwanda. Partnerships have become so numerous and complex that DCi this year hired a full-time missions coordinator.1

Furthermore, DCi hosts an annual missions banquet for the purpose not only of informing DCi employees of the many worthy ministries the company supports but also of show-ing appreciation via good food, recognition, and celebration for the faithful work of the men and women who run these ministries. One leader of an inner-city organization confided in Phillips after the 2006 banquet, “For the 27 years that i’ve been doing this, i’ve felt like a beggar [referring to fund- and support-raising]. This is the first time a supporter has fed me and thanked me!”2

From the outset, Tom and Beth Phillips envisioned DCi as a “beyond-profit” company, intent on reflecting the power and love of the gospel. “Any good that we do is in response

to God’s goodness,” Tom asserts. “We don’t do it to earn our salvation but rather in response to the gift of salvation given to us. Because of what Christ has done for us, how can we not bless others?”3 Such a conviction flies in the face of the more-money, more-power, more-comfort, more-security spirit that drives much of the corporate world. The founders of DCi set out to build a giving company that would be involved in hands-on ministry to the underprivileged and under-resourced.

it was unclear, however, what form this involvement would take locally—until they met the people of Advance Memphis, a Christian nonprofit organization that serves the Cleaborn/Foote community, which has the dubious honor of being the poorest urban sector of the state of Tennessee (according to 2000 census data) and the third most impoverished zip code in the nation. The relationship formed between DCi and Advance Memphis represents a partnership between a busi-ness and an urban agency that can serve as both an inspiration and a concrete model for others.

BUSINESSES ON A MISSION

Above: Jobs for Life graduate Prentiss Harris (left) and Outsourcing Supervisor Clifton Covington (right) at work in the Advance Memphis Outsourcing Program.

Opposite: Derrick “DeDe” Osborne is a highly valued project supervisor with DCI.

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Advance Memphis has its own story to tell. Founded in 1999 by businessman Steve Nash, Advance Memphis seeks, according to its website, “to serve adults in the Cleaborn/Foote community by helping residents acquire knowledge, resources, and skills to be economically self-sufficient through the gospel of Jesus Christ.”4 Cleaborn/Foote residents live under what might seem insurmountable odds: Nearly half never complete high school, only 4 percent are homeowners, and 14.5 percent of the workforce is unemployed.5 (This is in addition to the 55.5 percent of the 16-and-over population who are not in the workforce, according to 2000 census data, meaning they have not looked for a job in over 4 weeks.)

Drugs, crime, violence, teen pregnancies, single-parent households, welfare dependence, and joblessness create a cloud of hopelessness and despair that hangs over the com-munity. in this context, Advance Memphis offers financial literacy courses, a savings program, GED tutoring, job place-ment services, and community improvement opportunities. it envisions empowered adults who attain a significant level of socioeconomic self-sufficiency. in this way Advance Memphis is essentially a nonprofit that helps families thrive and in turn contribute to the good of the whole commu-nity for the glory of God.

Advance Memphis is the culmination of Nash’s involvement with various urban agencies, including STREETS Ministries, a community-based youth organization through which he developed the Cycle with a Mission program. Cycle with a Mission brought urban and suburban youth together to bike across town to do service projects on a monthly basis. Nash and his wife, Donna, also served on the board of Neighborhood Housing Opportunity, a program of the Memphis Leadership Foundation that helps people own homes. These hands-on experiences, along with the biblical teaching he had heard through the years from holistic ministry advocates who came to Memphis, culminated in the birth of Advance Memphis.6

Because of Nash’s business background, it makes sense that Advance Memphis relied heavily on partners in the cor-porate world to achieve its goals. “Business partners are key to our success!” exclaims its website. “You are the ones who are sourcing qualified applicants, working with us to meet your retention targets, and investing resources.”7 With Advance’s desire to partner with businesses and DCi’s desire to partner with worthy ministries, it was only a matter of time until the two Memphis entities crossed paths.

Nash’s good friend Ken Bennett, founding director of STREETS Ministry in Memphis, happens to be a member of the same church as Phillips. One day Phillips mentioned to Bennett the need for janitorial services at DCi’s facility. Bennett responded by telling him about Advance Memphis, adding that one of the participants in Advance’s jobs program, Janice Hopson, was looking for a job. Phillips hired Hopson, and unbeknownst to anyone at that point, an enduring part-nership began.

Soon more people whom Advance helped in one way or another began working at DCi, including Derrick “DeDe” Osborne, who was hired as a kind of draftsman-in-training in 2003 and has since become a full-time project engineer for the company. in addition to employing residents of the Cleaborn/Foote community through Advance, DCi has done this indirectly through Cornerstone Manufacturing, a limited liability company owned by Phillips, which has also hired qualified graduates of Advance’s training programs.

Moreover, in 2003 DCi established two types of scholar-ships that Advance administers. One scholarship provides recipients an opportunity to enroll in one of the local voca-tional training schools, and the second enables them to go to college to earn an undergraduate degree. in addition to outsourcing from Advance and providing these two kinds of educational scholarships, DCi also occasionally requests from Advance and other organizations project proposals that the missions committee can consider supporting. in 2005 DCi presented Advance a certificate of support that reads, “Based on our mutual desire to see God glorified through the spreading

Advance Memphis graduate Detra Bankston is a full-time DCI employee, pictured here with Hubert McManus, DCI controller.

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of the Gospel of Christ and your organization’s commitment to justice through service to the poor and oppressed in Memphis, we are pleased to offer to you DCi’s prayerful and financial support.”8 These words reflect the official nature of the partnership—it is not an informal arrangement but rather an integral part in the life of both DCi as a company and Advance Memphis as an urban nonprofit organization.

True partnership benefits both parties. For Advance, DCi has become one of the primary places to which it outsources its training graduates. if program and financial support are the tangibles, then encouragement, prayer, and friendships between DCi employees, Advance staff, and Cleaborn/Foote residents are the intangible rewards of the partnership. For example, Nash speaks of Hubert McManus, controller at DCi, as his brother and partner in Christ. They get together regularly to pray and study the Bible. McManus and Phillips attend Advance functions, and Nash and other Advance staff, along with a contingent from Cleaborn/Foote, recently attended DCi’s missions banquet. Rendi Hopper, accounting man-ager at DCi, regularly gets together with Betty Massey from Cleaborn/Foote for mutual learning and friendship. And the list of interactions across the urban-suburban divide goes on between these two entities. These are merely samples of the intangible rewards of spiritual and moral encouragement that Advance Memphis reaps from the partnership. Nash sums it up: “DCi has been invaluable to us in so many ways.”9

As for the benefits to DCi, the qualified graduates of Advance’s programs whom DCi hires are not charity cases or liabilities but real contributors to DCi’s multifaceted operation. To have a local source of trained personnel join the employee roster is a significant benefit for the company. But beyond that, there is much joy shared among the employees, from the presi-dent on down, simply knowing that DCi plays an important role in providing real hope to people in the form of jobs. “Anytime we give our service to the world, the benefits exceed what we can give,” says Phillips.10 Furthermore, because of DCi’s beyond-profit philosophy, a beyond-profit ethos of com-passion and justice rooted in the gospel is cultivated among the employees. While not all DCi employees are Christians (nor are they required to be), Christ is lifted up in the work-place as DCi employees come to work not simply to earn a paycheck but also to participate in the eternal profits of loving God and loving their neighbor as themselves.

The life of DeDe Osborne exemplifies the fruit of this partnership. The fifth of eight children, Osborne grew up in the Cleaborn/Foote neighborhood, raised by a single, work-ing mother. Despite being surrounded by the negativity of drugs, violence, financial hardship, and hopelessness, Osborne managed to stay out of trouble. He always knew there was more to life than that, and upon meeting Bennett at STREETS

Ministry when he was in the seventh grade, that “more to life” began to be defined in terms of faith in Jesus Christ. Osborne describes STREETS as a place where we kids wanted to be. “it was a positive environment; it was safe. People there let us play and be kids; they supported us, loved us, taught us. So when they told me about God, i listened.”11

With the exception of a brief period during his junior year in high school, he stayed active in STREETS. Then, upon graduating from high school (which was a feat in and of itself, given the dropout rate among Cleaborn/Foote youth), Osborne was encouraged by Bennett to join the STREETS staff, which he eventually did. During the six years that Osborne served on staff, his duties included running the recreational facility, driving kids to-and-fro in the ministry van, and facilitating the computer lab. in these roles, Osborne demonstrated love to the kids, as former staff had done for him years earlier. He says of the decision to work with STREETS, “i’m sure glad i did. i am where i am today because of my involvement with them.”12

His STREETS connection led him to Advance Memphis, which led him to DCi where he is now a full-time project engineer. Advance made the call to DCi about hiring Osborne, and an interview was set up. Advance prepared him for the interview, and when the time came, Osborne made enough

Jobs for Life facilitator Michael Rhodes (left) and Jobs for Life graduate Simon Onak (right) shoot the breeze in the classroom at the end of the day.

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great employee.”14 Osborne returns the compliment: “Some of the most encouraging words have come from Mr. Phillips: ‘You’re not the best engineer i have yet, but you’re going to be.’ i know i’m not competing with anyone for a position, but words like that make you want to continue to work hard and learn more.”15 He goes on to say, “i have bonded with my entire DCi family. That’s what we are here at DCi.”16

Besides serving on the board of Advance Memphis until recently, Osborne has also referred others to Advance’s ser-vices, often acting as friend, mentor, and model for others in the neighborhood. He tells the story of Geoffrey Bailey, a young man from the neighborhood whom Osborne had met

of an impression that DCi hired him in March 2003. “To be honest,” says Osborne, “i didn’t know what i was actually hired for when they first took me on.”13 He just started going to work and began learning from DCi engineers, slowly but surely developing into a draftsman. Then, as the first recipient of a DCi college scholarship, Osborne went back to school while working full-time at DCi and eventually earned a bach-elor’s degree in liberal studies with concentrations in business and manufacturing engineering technology from the University of Memphis.

“Everybody loves DeDe here at DCi,” says Phillips. “He is a success story from Cleaborn/Foote, but besides that, he is a

development. So what happens in our impoverished inner-city com-

munities where significant institutions, civic groups, churches, and volunteer agencies/clubs have closed up shop and moved out? What happens to those who live in neighborhoods where high school graduation rates are as low as unemploy-ment rates are high, where very few people leave for work in the morning and return in the evening with an expanded network of social connections?

We all know what happens. As our poorer communities become isolated from mainstream society—historically due to racial differences, insufficient educational opportunities, lack of employable skills, and inadequate transportation—their residents have fewer and fewer opportunities to build social capital.

After 20 years at UrbanPromise, a ministry to kids from under-resourced communities, i believe that the real differ-ence between those who enjoy a life where their basic needs are sufficiently met and those caught in a web of debilitating poverty is their social capital. Can a poor kid pick up the phone and comfortably call someone she knows outside her zip code to request a favor, or even some advice? Put bluntly, one’s ability to get ahead in life often correlates directly to the relationships represented by names and numbers in one’s cell phone memory bank. A crucial difference between the haves and the have-nots has less to do with the balance in their savings accounts and more to do with the people they can access. Chances are your relationships include people who can directly or indirectly help further your economic, aca-demic, physical, and spiritual well-being. How do we help disenfranchised youth build that kind of social capital?

Harvard University’s Robert Putman has spent years research-ing the importance of what he calls social capital, an invisible phenomenon that affects us in ways we seldom stop to ponder. Social capital is that network of relationships that enhances and significantly determines the course of our lives—our family of origin, network of family/friends, the neighborhood in which we live, the church we attend, the university from which we graduated.

if our parent has an upper-management job and lots of business connections, our odds of getting employment dra-matically increase. if our cousin sits on the board of a reputable university, our odds of getting a great education are height-ened. if we make substantial philanthropic gifts, it increases our chances of being invited to parties where we meet other people with disposable income—people who can tell us of potential investment opportunities. The benefits of social capi-tal are endless, contributing to our wealth, health, and personal

UrBAN PrOMISE’S

LUNch cLUBPairing teens and professionals

in one of America’s poorest neighborhoods

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helped me find a full-time job with benefits. i really enjoyed the biblical teachings i received as i attended the class.”17

Osborne was helped through STREETS, Advance Memphis, and DCi, and he has in turn helped others through the same partnership. The hope of the gospel depends on such multiplication of kingdom fruit. Through the partner-ship of Advance Memphis and DCi, God has touched not only many residents of Cleaborn/Foote but also Nash, the staff at Advance Memphis, Tom and Beth Phillips, and many employees of DCi. The common denominator among all involved through this partnership is the sense of God’s manifold blessing upon all.

while at STREETS. He had lost touch with Bailey after leaving STREETS, and when they reconnected, Bailey was down and out. Osborne helped him get back on his feet and hooked him up with Advance, where Bailey eventually enrolled in the Jobs for Life program. Through Advance, Bailey revived the hope that his life could amount to more than what his circumstances dictated, not just because of the job training but more importantly because of Christ, whom he encoun-tered while at Advance. He cleaned himself up, stopped taking drugs, and applied himself to the program. Upon graduation in 2006, Bailey got a full-time job at National Guard Products, where he continues to work. Bailey testifies, “Advance Memphis

Once a month over 50 business professionals who work within 15 minutes of our Camden headquarters—teachers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, social workers, bankers, home builders, doctors—take a lunch hour to break bread with students at the UrbanPromise Academy, a small alternative high school designed to help underachieving Camden teens reach their academic potential. Over an italian hoagie and a cup of juice, high school teens and business leaders build friendships by discussing topics relating to employment, faith, and personal challenges. Over the course of a year, each kid meets with the same professional, with occasional group networking oppor-tunities, to discuss first job experiences, getting along with a boss, managing personal finances, and integrating faith in the workplace. These lunch partners exchange e-mail addresses and cell phone numbers and communicate regularly with each other throughout the year.

Beyond building friendships with older, caring adults, our youth are expanding their network of relationships. When our youth need a job, they have someone to call. When our youth need a reference for college, they know an adult who will write a stellar letter of recommendation. When our youth need vocational advice, they can access a larger pool of professional adults who can share guidance. Mark Goode, a recent graduate of the UrbanPromise Academy and a fresh-man studying business at Rutgers University says, “The Lunch Club allowed me to meet real people, in the real world, who are engaged in the larger business community.”

And the sharing goes both ways. “This is the highlight of my month,” confesses a psychologist. “These young people inspire me.” One local business sends out four to six staff members each month, in an effort to get its employees to give back to their community. “This opportunity is having an impact on the culture of our business,” claims the owner.

As the Lunch Club enters its third year, i anticipate it will continue to create bridges between the inner-city youth and our local business community, ultimately expanding the social capital of our youth and opening more doors of opportunity as Lunch Club graduates go into their own professions and return to mentor the next generation of urban youth.

Bruce Main is president of UrbanPromise Ministries (UrbanPromiseUSA.org) in Camden, N.J.

Teens grow their social capital through monthly Lunch Club meetings with professionals.

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What is Saint’s Coffee?Brett Irwin: Saint’s Coffee is a

small-batch, micro-roaster offering the freshest, roasted-to-order coffee available, all the while feeding the world’s most needy children.

How did it begin? BI: Saint’s Coffee was an idea

born on the banks of the Crocodile River outside of Nelspruit, South

Africa. Tom Davis, CEO of Children’s HopeChest, and i had just spent five weeks living with our families in Manzini, Swaziland, and had our hearts broken over the devastation we saw. Swaziland has the highest HiV/AiDS infection rate in the world, and because of this is home to thousands of orphans. in our time there, we met hundreds of orphans who, apart from the meals provided by Children’s HopeChest (HopeChest.org) and 5 for 50 (5for50.com), would not eat.

So we decided to start a company that combined our love of kids with our love of coffee. We’re committed to combining our passions to fight the spread of HiV/AiDS, extreme pov-erty, and other killers through the sales of coffee.

Where does the coffee come from? BI: We buy green coffee beans from all over the world

(Central and South America, Africa). Then we roast it in Palmer Lake, Colo.

What’s so “saintly” about Saint’s Coffee?BI: Kids need saints to protect and help them. One of our

inspirations is St. George the Dragon Slayer. Our world is full of dragons that terrorize children—malaria, HiV/AiDS, dirty water, sexual predators, preventable disease, abandonment, armed conflict. in the tradition of St. George, we’re helping to slay those dragons for orphaned children around the world. That’s why we chose the name.

What does it mean to the customer? BI: it means that for every pound of Saint’s Coffee you

purchase, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve fed an orphan for a month.

How does buying a pound of coffee translate into feeding an orphan?

BI: We send over a third of the profit from each pound of coffee sold to Children’s HopeChest (CHC). These mon-ies are earmarked for the food program and provide meals to children in Swaziland. Each pound sold provides 30 meals. CHC has staff on the ground who prepare meals and deliv-er them to care points all over Swaziland.

Why should someone buy Saint’s Coffee over Folgers, Starbucks, or Dunkin’ Donuts?

BI: This is the freshest roasted-to-order, 100 percent fair-trade/ organic coffee you can find—only the top 3 percent of coffee beans in the world are good enough for Saint’s Coffee. And it’s coffee that makes a difference in the lives of orphaned children. it’s purchasing with a purpose and a pas-sion to make a difference.

(To choose from a selection that includes blends named after Saint George, Saint Nicholas, Saint Martin de Porres, Saint Katharine, and Joan of Arc, or to become a “Patron Saint” by signing up for regular coffee shipments, visit the website at SaintsCoffee.com.)

Jeff Goins is editor-in-chief of the online magazine Wrecked for the Ordinary (WreckedForTheOrdinary.com) and director of marketing for Adventures in Missions (adventures.org).

Coffee with a MissionAn interview with Brett Irwin, owner of Saint’s Coffee

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Small buSineSSeS partner with ChiCago ChurCh

Lawndale Community Church (LCC) has a long and proven history of holistic ministry to Chicago’s most disadvantaged neighborhood. Over the years, a number of businesses have partnered with the church to bring skills, funds, and hands-on help to the work of improving the opportunities of those living within LCC’s purview. A trio of businesses—a restau-rant, a masonry company, and a housing development firm —stand out for their vigorous and ongoing partnership.

Malnati’s Pizzeria sits on the corner of Ogden and Cermak, a stone’s throw from the church. Marc Malnati, son of Lou Malnati, a highly successful restaurateur of 25 family-owned Chicagoland pizzerias, established a restaurant in Lawndale in 1995 in partnership with LCC. The only sit-down restaurant of its kind in North Lawndale, the estab-lishment is an anomaly in the neighborhood and, from a business standpoint, an unwise investment. But Malnati’s motivation was not simply to add to his list of profit-making restaurants; rather, it was to help rejuvenate the neighbor-hood by providing excellent food at affordable prices and, more importantly, to reinvest all the profits back into the community. As expected, Malnati’s Pizzeria in Lawndale has not made a profit for the franchise, but as Chicago Sun Times reporter Mark Konkol wrote (January 2, 2007 issue), “[This restaurant’s] financial failure is a success story,” referring to the fact that this particular Malnati’s trains and employs residents of Hope House, LCC’s home for people recover-ing from drug addiction and for ex-offenders trying to reenter the workforce. Malnati’s Pizzeria in Lawndale mod-

els a beyond-profit business that, in partnership with LCC, is giving back to the community.

J & E Duff Masonry has also partnered with LCC in significant ways. Owned and run by father-son tandem Dick and Richard Lauber, J & E Duff has donated literally a mil-lion dollars’ worth of building material and labor in the service of LCC and other urban ministries. Most of the brickwork for LCC’s facilities was done by J & E. it also donated a truck to help with the many transporting needs of LCC’s housing ministry. With LCC’s help, J & E Duff has employed many from the Lawndale neighborhood. The company has also been a regular supporter of the Christian Community Development Association.

Yet another business, Bigelow Homes, has partnered with LCC and many other urban agencies to help build affordable, entry-level homes. Owner Perry Bigelow, named Builder Magazine’s “Builder of the Year” in 2005, designed an energy-efficient, affordable home—with the environment, the poor, and a sense of community in mind. From a financial stand-point, the design went against what would normally make a profit in the home-building industry, but that did not stop Bigelow from partnering with LCC on several fronts. First, Bigelow Homes went alongside the Community Development Corporation of LCC in its Harambee program, which was a seven-year project enabling nine families to build their own homes in Lawndale.

Under Bigelow’s direction, these families, four of which were single-parent households, worked tirelessly to design and build simple, energy-efficient homes for themselves. Another project that brought together Bigelow Homes, LCC, and many other churches was Ezra Community Homes, a development project that built 100 affordable homes in North Lawndale. Bigelow was the principle planner and builder of the project.

By partnering with the holistic ministries of an urban church, Bigelow Homes, J & E Duff Masonry, and Malnati’s Pizzeria in Chicago model how businesses can be successful in ways far more rewarding than economic gain.

buSineSS exeCS ConneCt CommunitieS

Another type of business partnership is when business executives partner with each other for the sake of the city. Though different from the model of a business directly part-nering with an urban agency, a collaboration of business-people who seek the welfare of the city is yet another way in which the corporate world can meaningfully intersect with the world of the urban poor.

Take for example the Foundation for Community Empowerment (FCE) in Dallas, Tex. According to its web-

Cornerstone Manufacturing, owned by DCI’s Tom Phillips, hires qualified graduates of Advance Memphis’ training programs, some of whom are ex-offenders.

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Adam Smith maintained that individual pursuit of profit would yield the best outcome for all. Think again, says Muhammad Yunus in Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism (Public Affairs Press, 2007). Yunus was the winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in developing microfinance as a tool for alleviating poverty in developing countries; over 140 million households are now financing their way out of poverty through miniature loans, thanks in large part to Yunus.

The concept of “social business” may be Yunus’ second important idea. in fact, one of the greatest contributions of the book may simply be the term itself, elegant and catchy. Yunus introduces the idea of social businesses as economic entities that are neither traditional for-profit businesses nor charities but rather exist in the middle.

While a traditional for-profit business maximizes profit subject to various legal and resource constraints, and a chari-table institution tries to maximize social welfare benefits subject to the constraints imposed by donor giving, a social business seeks to maximize social welfare subject to a zero-profit constraint after all the bills are paid. in other words, a social business produces a service or product that is socially beneficial (or operates its business in a way that is socially beneficial), but it breaks even on the bottom line and is eco-nomically self-sustaining. investors break even, getting their money back but receiving no dividends.

Yunus illustrates his idea with the partnership of his Grameen Foundation with Danone Yogurt, a successful $16 billion French firm (branded as Dannon Yogurt in the US). in 2005 they launched a joint-venture social business to

SOcIAL BUSINESS

Microfinancier Muhammad yunus’recent book outlines his latest Big Idea

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site, FCE, established in 1995, “marshals people, data, ideas, and resources to lift up South Dallas and make Dallas a whole city. in whole cities, people have equal economic opportuni-ties, are equally self-sufficient, and participate equally in political and civic life—regardless of what neighborhood they live in or how much money they have.”18

J. McDonald “Don” Williams, retired chairman and CEO of commercial real estate giant Trammel Crow Company, established FCE in order “to develop an asset-based, com-prehensive renewal initiative in the low-income neighbor-hoods of southern Dallas.”19 Compelled by his Christian faith, Williams not only had the vision to help the under-resourced in Dallas’ poorest section—the South Dallas-Fair Park area—he also had the connections to fulfill that vision.

Dallas Observer News reporter Robert Wilonsky describes Williams as “a powerful man with connections to powerful people who … woke up one day and realized he needed to direct some of that power toward the powerless in this city.”20

FCE came into being precisely to manage that redistri-bution of power in the service of the poor, and even though it is not officially faith-based, FCE derives its vision, inspira-tion, and energy from God, in whom Williams has placed his uncompromising faith. “individually and collectively we work from a moral and ethical impulse to live out the call that is central to the world’s great religions—to be of service to our neighbors who suffer material, emotional, and spiri-tual deprivation,” states the FCE website. This open spirit of goodwill has enabled FCE to collaborate with a wide range

produce a tasty and nutritious yogurt for the children of Bangladesh that would help employ thousands of the coun-try’s small dairy producers while addressing a critical nutri-tional deficit among the poor. (They even convinced French soccer star Zinedine Zedane to help them with the marketing.) The result: a booming business that has had a positive impact on millions and hasn’t cost charitable donors a dime.

Yunus envisions social businesses such as Grameen-Danone eventually as a mainstream form of economic activ-ity, even having their own stock market, with prices of a stock rising and falling based on how well a social business is carrying out its mission. He envisions entrepreneurs with social MBAs launching new enterprises that address myriad social problems (homelessness, the environment, global warm-ing, family issues, poverty), all while paying market-based salaries to employees and allowing investors to recoup their investments.

Some of this may seem rather like the visions of an ide-alistic dreamer who is detached from the hard-nosed realities of capitalism and markets. But Yunus, with a PhD in econom-ics from Vanderbilt, knows what he’s talking about. Moreover, his previous world-changing idea (microfinance) has become so important, widespread, and successful that one tends to give Yunus the benefit of the doubt.

He anticipates some of the obvious criticisms, such as doubt as to who would want to invest in such an enterprise, by pointing out the billions that people in the industrialized world give to charity each year. if they are willing to give their money away to charity, why would they be unwilling to break even by investing in social business? Moreover,

recent success stories have shown that people may not be in it just for the money. One such example is the now famous Kiva.org, a social business started by Silicon Valley Christians that allows people to lend to poor entrepreneurs in develop-ing countries over the internet, recouping or recycling their principal at no interest once the loan is paid off. (Kiva has a 100 percent repayment rate.)

Yunus furthermore points out the need for certification and monitoring of social businesses to deter the unscrupu-lous from taking advantage of people’s capital and goodwill. in the articulation of his social business vision he aptly rec-ognizes our potential both for malice and altruism and our yearning for something better beyond ourselves. indeed, Yunus’ idea stands on the premise that people, especially those who have reached a certain standard of living, eventually look past personal profit in order to find a deeper meaning to their lives.

Yunus may be one of the few people in the world who could write this book. Having met Yunus in San Francisco earlier this year, i can attest to the unique set of personal qualities that give him a rather Ghandi-esque aura. His book, too, combines a quiet confidence and practicality with bold, world-changing ideas. The book will be inspirational for business-minded Christians who prioritize people over profits. Given the meteoric rise of microfinance, don’t be surprised if we begin to hear a lot more about social business in the future. Wouldn’t Adam Smith be surprised?

Bruce Wydick is professor of economics at the University of San Francisco and a regular contributor to PRiSM.

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of partners. The website continues, “We welcome partnerships with faith-based organizations as well as secular ones, and we challenge all people of faith to take seriously their obligation to embrace and help the forgotten and the despised.”21

From the outset, FCE has supported authentic commu-nity-based leaders and organizations in an empowerment mode. At the same time, it has been committed to comprehensive change that is based on well-researched data on the com-munity, and it has focused on multilevel partnerships. “What we do is we bridge [people],” Williams told the Dallas Observer News. “i’ve got some degree of credibility in the business community and the philanthropic community and, in some levels, in the political community, and it takes all of those in appropriate partnerships with community leaders and orga-

nizations to effect real changes. … Our interest is in large-scale system change, and i have become convinced that it is through empowering the neighborhood. … You’ve got to have grassroots relationships, and you’ve got to have rela-tionships with the power structures. Otherwise, things don’t change.”22

in this light, FCE has partnered with the Dallas independent School District (iSD), the National Center for Educational Accountability, and Texas instruments to form Dallas Achieves, an ambitious program whose goal is for “every Dallas iSD student to graduate and to be college- and career-ready.”23 This transformational effort is guided by the 65-member Dallas Achieves Commission, co-chaired by Williams (along with Pettis Norman, CEO of PNi industries, and Arcilia

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measures of distress surpass those that existed in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina, two-thirds of the residents have fled since the 1970s. Yet FCE, working in partnership with those who remain, has enlisted a host of collaborators in a revitalization effort that includes the City of Dallas, the Dallas Housing Authority, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit, corporations, banks, medical and cul-tural institutions, and developers.

These partnerships have formed between rich and poor and among black, white, and brown, igniting transformation in the community. in the past, promises of change in the Frazier neighborhood came up empty, and the residents had little hope to go on and little trust in those who came with big plans. But the progress being made through Frazier Revitalization inc. has people hoping again. Wilonsky reports:

For the first time in decades, there is real progress in Frazier. The bulldozers are churning; the bricklayers are spreading mortar; the carpenters are hammering nails. And FRi is about to close on a deal that would turn a piece of land across the street from the Shearith israel cemetery on Dolphin Road, where a small church now sits, into a 150-unit assisted living center, the first of its kind in the neighborhood.25

“it amazes me how this has happened,” says Nat Tate, director of FRi, echoing the sentiment that exists throughout the Frazier neighborhood.26 indeed, amazing things happen when powerful businesspeople like Williams—ignited by faith in Christ—join forces with corporations, foundations, devel-opers, researchers, and grassroots organizations. n

This article was adapted from chapter 11 of Linking Arms, Linking Lives: How Urban-Suburban Partnerships Can Transform Communities by Al Tizon, Ronald J. Sider, John M. Perkins, and Wayne L. Gordon, just out from Baker Books. It appears here by kind permission of the publisher. (ESA supporting members receive signed copies at a 50 percent discount. Call 484.384.2990 or e-mail kathryn@esa-online.org to order.) Al Tizon is director of Evangelicals for Social Action’s Word & Deed Network and assis-tant professor of holistic ministry at Palmer Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa. Ronald J. Sider is the president/founder of the Sider Center on Ministry and Public Policy, of which ESA is one ministry. John M. Perkins is president of the John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation and Development of Jackson, Miss. Wayne L. Gordon is the founding pastor of Lawndale Community Church, Chicago, Ill., and chairman/president of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA).

(Editor’s note: due to space limitations, the endnotes for this article have been posted at esa-online.org/Endnotes.)

Acosta, CEO of Carcon industries & Construction) and composed of leaders from every segment of the Dallas com-munity.24 Despite a public education system historically torn by acrimony and divisiveness, often occurring along racial and ethnic lines, the racially and ethnically diverse commis-sion unanimously adopted a slate of more than 100 recom-mendations based on intensive research into the practices of the nation’s most successful urban school districts. Those recommendations were adopted wholesale by the Dallas school district’s board of trustees and are being energetically imple-mented by the district’s administration with continued oversight by the Dallas Achieves Commission.

FCE was also instrumental in creating Frazier Revitalization inc. (FRi), a separate nonprofit organization dedicated to redeveloping the Frazier neighborhood of southern Dallas in accordance with a plan that embodies the vision of com-munity residents. in Frazier, where the poverty rate and other

Frazier Revitalization Inc. CEO/President Jon Edmonds (left), Dallas City Councilman Dwaine Caraway (center), and FCE Founder/Chairman Don Williams (right) celebrated the demolition of a hot-sheet motel last year that was the site of prostitution, drug dealing, and violence in the Frazier neighborhood of Dallas. FRI acquired the property, which is adjacent to a new light-rail line, in order to rid the community of the motel, and is considering transit-oriented development for the site.Photo courtesy of FCE.