BUSINESS PULSE : SMALL BUSINESS IN ORANGE COUNTY : Their Gifts to Charity Are No Small Affair : Modest Bank Accounts, Big Hearts Add Up to Sizable Contributions
One day each month, Thomas Gaglio and a crew of fellow beauticians from the Thomas Jsalon in Newport Beach head to Orangewood Children’s Foundation for a day of hair styling. The clients: abused and neglected children, 20 to 40 at a time. The bill: $00.00.
It’s a service that Orangewood might not get otherwise, said William G. Steiner, Orangewood’s director. And for the recipients, it’s not just a matter of money. “Many of these girls have been molested,” Steiner said. “This is tremendous in increasing their self-esteem, just this one activity.”
A Thomas J cut normally costs about $35, and the value of the services the salon donates to Orangewood averages $12,600 per year. That’s not a huge sum compared to the six-figure charitable contributions made by many big corporations. But it’s a lot for Gaglio.
Like many small-business owners, Gaglio’s heart is bigger than his bank account. And any gift he gives or service he provides represents a bigger commitment than a similar donation from a big company. But he gives anyway. And he’s not alone.
From laboratory tests to loaves of bread, hair ribbons to auto repairs, lima beans to cold cash, donations from Orange County’s small business community flow into the region’s charitable organizations in a strong and steady stream.
$4.6 Million From Corporations
“I think small businesses do give a lot,” said Tom Hassell, vice president for resource development at the United Way of Orange County. “They give a lot at the neighborhood level. If you could do an accurate survey of all of the small businesses . . . I suspect you’d find most are giving of their dollars and their services, as well.”
But no one has ever done such a survey, said Nathan Weber, editor and publisher of Giving USA: The Annual Report on Overall Philanthropy. Total contributions of cash, products and services from the large corporations included in the report were estimated at $4.6 billion in 1987, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
Unlike their big-business counterparts, smaller firms are not equipped with multimillion-dollar charity budgets. In fact, in Orange County, 82% of all small businesses ultimately fail; many others have trouble meeting payroll and paying bills.
“The poorer you are, the more difficult it is to give,” Weber said. “That’s naturally the case.”
Yet small businesses give, for reasons ranging from the philanthropic to the pragmatic.
Michael Anderson, president of Anderson Asphalt Paving in Santa Ana, figures he donates between $5,000 and $6,000 each year to such groups as El Modena Community Center in Orange, Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana and Share Our Selves in Costa Mesa.
“It’s not a great amount, but it’s what we can do,” Anderson said. “My favorite of anyone is SOS. I think that SOS does the real work that needs doing. They feed and clothe people.”
Gaglio, who was introduced to Orangewood through clients who support the foundation, said he gives of his time because foundation children bring him back to the real world.
“In our industry, we get caught up in this fast-paced Orange County life style,” said Gaglio, whose 12-year-old salon has 26 employees. “But being there at Orangewood, it’s real. . . . This is something that feels incredible compared to charity balls and luncheons.”
At the same time, fund-raising experts note that many companies donating their products are creating new markets by exposing more people to their goods and increasing their name recognition. Or they are able to clear out unwanted inventory that would otherwise be tossed in the trash.
For example, Sun Glass Products, a Fullerton manufacturing firm, has donated about 7,000 hair ribbons, barrettes and curlers to the Southwest Community Center in Santa Ana over the past 3 years.
“We had some merchandise that we wanted to get rid of,” said Jessie Coffman, assistant manager. “We thought that giving it to a charity would be a fast way to do that. I thought this might help our cause and their cause.”
Paul Kong owns Pain Dore, a French bakery that opened in 1982 on the edge of Little Saigon. Nearly six years later, the bakery started to make a small profit, and it’s been in the black for about 18 months.
Free Laboratory Tests
Kong spends 7 days a week at the retail store and nearby factory, churning out French rolls and baguettes for hotels, supermarkets and individual customers. And 7 days a week, a battered truck rolls up to the back door of Pain Dore at 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., loads loaves and departs.
This truck, however, doesn’t head to the Holiday Inn or Man Wah market. Twice a week, the truck trundles over to Abrazar Elderly Assistance, a senior center in Westminster. On other days it makes trips to other agencies. Kong figures that he sends Abrazar alone more than 100-day-old loaves per day, worth about $100.
“In place of throwing away, I give it to somebody who needs it,” Kong says. “It makes me happy that someone who needs it and has nothing to eat has something. I can’t sell all the bread. I prefer to give it to the people who need it.”
Jay R. Stern is another small-business operator who can’t afford to make cash contributions. But the services he provides are just as valuable: an estimated $12,000 to $15,000 worth of free laboratory tests for Share Our Selves Free Medical Clinic in Costa Mesa.
Stern is a partner in Specialty Medical Laboratory, a clinical lab in Garden Grove that employs 28 full-time and part-time workers.
Four years ago, when the SOS clinic opened, Stern was asked to teach clinic workers how to draw patients’ blood and do simple laboratory tasks. The clinic wanted to start its own lab, said acting director Vicki Mayster, but was overwhelmed by the job. So Stern taught a few clinic workers and then decided it would be better if he did the lab work himself.
Every day, Specialty Medical does anywhere from three to a dozen lab tests, ranging from simple blood counts and throat cultures to complex tests for hormone and thyroid troubles and checks for exotic parasites.
“We couldn’t afford to give $12,000 a year,” Stern said. “For us, it would be a lot of out-of-pocket cash. We were not galloping along when we started doing this. We are now breaking even.”
SOS sees about 1,000 patients every month, up to 20% of whom need laboratory tests as part of their diagnosis and care.
And without Stern’s help, Mayster said, “I don’t think there’s any way we could continue to see the number of people we see and offer them the kind of services we do.”
