Opinion

Battle of Big Thinking part 5: Incentives for altruism; Microfinance; Companies doing good

Wednesday saw the APG’s Battle of Big Thinking. The fifth and final session covered big government and social ideas.

Speaker: Tim Gartrell, CEO, Auspoll

Topic: The value of a government-incentivised worthy program

Quote: “For many people, the best they can do is to donate money.”  

His argument:

Gartrell – former national secretary of the Australian Labour Party – spent almost the first half of his allotted 15 minutes warming up the audience. His most entertaining proposal during that time was to rehouse climate change deniers on low-lying islands.

But his main argument was that although many Australians wish to do more for society they aren’t sure where to begin, and end up simply making a donation. He backed this observation with the result of a survey Auspoll carried out – 57% of people said they had donated to charity in the last 12 months; 21% donate regularly; 20% volunteer (and 26% do none of the above).

He argued for government incentives to make it easier for companies and workers to do good work.

My take: an interesting idea but not a fully formed one.

Speaker: Kylie Charlton, Unitus Capital

Topic: Harnessing capital markets for good

Quote: “It’s impossible to overstate the social value fuelled by microcredit.”

Her argument:

That microcredit can help pull many people out of poverty. Microcredit consists of small loans to help those trapped in poverty who otherwise would not have access even to small amounts of money. This includes much of the third world.

My take:

The presentation focused mainly on examples of microcredit in action. For those unfamiliar with microcredit, the presentation may have assumed too much knowledge.

Speaker: Nic Mackay, MD, The Human Race

Topic: Companies doing good

Quote: “CSR is dead. For those of you who only just found out what it meant, I’m sorry.”

His argument:

That companies own future success lie not just in tokenistic corporate social responsibility programmes, but in putting doing the right thing at the centre of policies to deliver a genuine business advantage.

He said that the process that began with philanthropy  – “It had very little to do with doing good and more to do with gettign good seats at the Sydney Philharmonic” – had evolved.

He warned that Australia is behind the game on this. He cited the example of Pepsi’s new “Refresh” positioning. In the US this involved taking the money the company would have spent on a SuperBowl ad and instead using it to fund community projects. But Pepsi Refresh in Australia consisted of an  online treasure hunt.

He concluded: “We have a massive opportunity to take leadership in what I believe is on of the most enormous opportuniteis in the corporate sector in a long time.”

My take:

I could see light bulbs coming on over people’s heads as Mackay made the case.

My winner: Nic Mackay

Voting winner: Nick Mackay (79%); Second Tim Gartrell; Third Kylie Charlton

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