Supply-Side Philanthropy: Building on the Impulse to Give

When he returned home from a seminar in Ukraine's capital on social entrepreneurship, Volodymyr Slobodonyak, owner of a small print house, immediately sought out Ilona Gudvoka, director of a local nonprofit, with a business proposition. What if they launched a new business whose profits could support Strumochuk, a nonprofit serving 170 people with intellectual disabilities and their family members? Gudvoka readily accepted—and with help from ISC, the Social Company was born.

Throughout all of ISC's programs, we work extensively with nonprofits to help them deliver exceptional services to their constituents—and to help them shore up sources of funding to sustain them over the long term. But we also work on the supply side—with government, businesses, and individuals—to encourage philanthropy in countries where resources are often scarce and a strong tradition of giving has not yet been established.

To that end, Slobodnyak offers the Social Company smaller and simpler orders that come into his print house in Chervonohorad, a small, ailing coal mining town on the Ukrainian border, such as silkscreening and placing logos and pictures on products such as souvenir cups, t-shirts, or keychains—and Slobodnyak's print house can focus on complicated orders that need more expertise.

With coaching, mentoring, and a start-up grant from ISC, Strumochuk netted $3,250 in its first year (the average annual salary in Ukraine is $4,800), which supports the nonprofit's activities and expenses and helped them launch awareness campaigns and a walkathon. More than half of the Social Company's staff are mothers of children with special needs who are often single heads of households and struggling to make ends meet, and children at Strumochok's day care center for children with special needs pitch in on easier tasks and hand out advertising flyers on the streets. "Our kids develop mentally in a different way so we have to engage them in a non-traditional manner which requires special attention, patience, and care," explained Gudkova.

Across Ukraine, ISC is working on a number of fronts to stimulate the supply side of philanthropy:

• The American Chamber of Commerce joined us in providing grants to social entrepreneurs like the Social Company. To date, we have funded 27 social enterprises in Ukraine.
• Gudkova and Slobodanyak also spoke at one of ISC's business breakfasts promoting corporate philanthropy to show how a business can add value to the work of a nonprofit.
• ISC just published a directory of businesses in Ukraine that practice corporate social responsibility to help stimulate social projects, workplace giving, charity donations, and volunteering.
• In February 2008, a conference brought together philanthropists to encourage them to look for ways to deepen the impact and sustainability of their gifts by moving beyond immediate donations of food and clothing to long-term involvement.
• The Foundation for Ukraine, launched in 2007 by some of ISC's Ukrainian staff, will draw on and develop resources to support initiatives that improve the quality of life in Ukraine.

Whether it is expressed through the creation of a new foundation or through the act volunteering, the philanthropic impulse is a declaration of responsibility, says Shannon St. John, an ISC consultant. "Philanthropy creates citizen participation and self-reliance."

As for the Social Company: "Our goal is to never stop. We want to keep our children occupied, to have society accept them so that they're not reduced to being simply 'customers' of state provided services but who contribute in their small way to society," Gordova says.