Giving Back

- A Discussion With Steve Jones, Dean of UNC Kenan-Flagler

What is your personal philosophy about the importance of philanthropy or “giving back?”
My observation is that government and corporate support for worthy causes is diminishing for a variety of reasons. That makes personal philanthropy more important than ever for creating the kind of world we want to have now and for our children. My personal approach is to give to a cause that really matters to me and where my gift can have real impact.

What advice would you give to UNC Kenan-Flagler alumni who are interested in giving back to the business school?
UNC Kenan-Flagler has a host of needs and opportunities in which people can be involved. We are entering the last 12 months of the seven-year Carolina First campaign, and we still need to raise about $20 million to reach our $180 million goal. Thanks to support from alumni and friends, we have made great strides during the campaign. Because of their contributions, we continue to innovate in the curriculum and attract new members to our top-notch faculty. And we have grown our world-class facilities for delivery of executive programs. We need our alums to keep this momentum going, and I would encourage them to go to www.makeagift.unc.edu and make a contribution.

We also have a great need for their skills, their contacts and the time to tap their experience. We need alumni to serve as alumni career advisors or student mentors; to communicate to their organizations about recruitment opportunities across all of our degree programs; or, just to get involved in their local alumni clubs.

What do you see as UNC Kenan-Flagler’s responsibility to the community?
I believe the school has two responsibilities:
The first is to educate students that being in business and running a successful company is about more than simply being profitable. I like the way UNC Kenan-Flagler alumnus Smedes York put it during a recent graduation ceremony: he said his business makes a profit but is not a “just-for-profit” company.

We want to educate our students that while business is absolutely about making a healthy return for owners, it should also be about doing it in a way that, first of all, does no harm and, secondly, benefits the community. We are educating our students to run their businesses in a way that promotes economic development without exploiting the disadvantaged and while respecting the environment that our grandchildren are going to inherit.

The second responsibility of UNC Kenan-Flagler is outreach that benefits the community directly. One example is our Student Teams Achieving Results (STAR) program, which teams students with North Carolina companies that have the potential to create jobs and grow exports. Our students, on a pro-bono basis, help them come up with strategies to do that (See Sidebar Story Student Consultants Contribute to North Carolina). Another example is our schoolwide Habitat for Humanity project called “The House that Kenan-Flagler Built.” For the second year in a row, our students, faculty and staff have come together to build an entire house, including the fundraising and five-plus months of hands-on building.

Being involved in these ways helps our students develop leadership skills, and it reinforces how important it is for business leaders to be connected to and involved with the community.

What have you done personally to give back to the community or those causes that are important to you?
When I lived in Australia, I contributed to disadvantaged youth as a foundation sponsor of Youth Enterprise Trust. Before that, in New Zealand, I was a trustee of Project K, a program that helps young people in trouble to turn their lives around. Since returning to the United States, I’ve supported the business school and the John Motley Morehead Foundation to support the scholarship program that had such a profound impact on my life. A lot of the good fortune I’ve experienced can be traced to how the university shaped me as a person, so I’m honored to be able to give back to UNC any way I can.

Regarding my personal giving, I’ve always thought that it shouldn’t be only money, it should also be time. So for me personally, helping to make the school better is another way of giving back.

Do you believe companies have an obligation to contribute to causes other than their bottom line?
That is a value judgment. My personal belief is that the answer is yes, but I respect that others may have the view that the company’s role is to maximize the return for shareholders and then leave it to shareholders to make charitable donations. But if I were asked to make a case for my viewpoint, I would say that it’s good business to contribute to the community because it builds goodwill among customers and staff that pays off in the long run. People want to work for companies that are striving to do good in addition to doing well. I would say that in nine out of 10 companies the key to success is good people. So being a good corporate citizen is one way companies can attract and keep them.