Giving back, part 1: The reason they work — and succeed

At Vibrant Nation, we recently asked women entrepreneurs over 50 to tell us about how they give back. What we learned offers important insights for marketers to the new 50+ woman.

The businesswomen we heard from started and run ambitiously for-profit companies. But they tell Vibrant Nation that giving back is not just something they like to do with their after-tax income. Giving back is often the reason they started the business to begin with. Some examples:

• June Blume, with her husband Wally started Denali Flavors, the creator of Moose Tracks® and other creative ice cream flavors and products. For June and Wally, who support numerous Christian ministries through Denali, giving back is not a marketing afterthought. They found that the more they gave to the causes they loved, the faster their business grew. June compares their balance towards giving back to having a balanced retirement portfolio.
• Susan Rice, 53, entered the luxury food business when she created Black Diamond French Truffles, Inc.–the largest truffle farm based in the U.S. Her products (which can be found at some Whole Foods) include truffle popcorn, oil, salt, butter and honey. To support her industry and give back, Susan (who sees herself as the Robert Mondavi of the truffle world) is teaching rural farmers how to convert their dying farms into profitable truffle orchards. And she donates truffle trees to those farmers and donates land for truffle research.
• Dallas-based Trisha Wilson founded Wilson Associates, an interior architecture/design firm, in 1978. Her firm now employs 350 professionals and has built a leading global business designing luxury hotels and tourist destinations. In 1997 Trisha created the Wilson Foundation, which uses funds generated by her business to support children, mainly through schools and programs that support children in rural South Africa. Trisha’s mission statement combines professional and philanthropic goals: “Do great work, treat others well, give to those less fortunate, and success will follow.”
• Finally, Katy Leakey, 53, is a daughter-in-law of famous anthropologists Louis and Mary Leakey who created a brand of jewelry–Zulugrass–that now employs 1400 Masai women and is sold in shops in 20 countries. The Leakey Connection offers Masai women employment and sustainable life and contributes 5% of its profits to support Masai communities. Zulugrass is a successful and philanthropic endeavor.

None of these women started cause-marketing businesses, hoping to attract customers solely to support a non-profit partner or mission. (Besides, women don’t hire architects or buy ice cream, truffle or even jewelry unless they like the product.) But these entrepreneurs would not have created their businesses –and tell us they wouldn’t be growing them so passionately or successfully–if the businesses were not also about giving back.

As marketers, we need to recognize that women entrepreneurs, who combine business and philanthropy, are not the exception but the rule. For women 50+, giving back is not a year-end afterthought (or a slogan to generate consumer appeal): giving back is integrated in almost anything they do.

In my next blog entry, I’ll explore how marketers can speak to the philanthropist that resides inside Boomer women.