Charities Discover Their Business Ties Pay Off With Donations

Sharon Sterling says the positive feelings she gets from serving her community are priceless.

It’s not all that surprising, then, that the longtime aerospace employee plans to give away 30% of all profits from Fresh Beginnings Cleaning Service Inc., a commercial, industrial and office cleaning company she is starting out of her Moorpark home.

The Ventura-based Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence will be the beneficiary of those donations. The countywide organization provides 24-hour hotline assistance, shelter, referral, advocacy and other outreach services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and to their family and friends.

Although donating a sizable percentage of profits on a regular basis is rare, Fresh Beginnings is by no means the only Ventura County business that supports Ventura County’s nonprofit community. Officials at local charities said they depend heavily on contributions from businesses large and small.

“We welcome any business interested in donating a percentage of proceeds,” said Sylvia McGinnis, executive director of the coalition. “It means an important ongoing income from an outside source.”

For many business people, the reasons for donating to a particular charity are personal. Such was the connection between Sterling and the domestic-abuse coalition.

“I experienced that type of life” for years, she said. “I really have a lot of respect for the coalition.”

To create a business that would be connected with the coalition was never in question, Sterling said. But what kind of business to start was somewhat unclear.

“The reason I chose cleaning? I haven’t the foggiest,” said Sterling, 46, who is employed full time as a subcontract administrator, purchasing major aerospace components for the Los Angeles-based Northrop-Grumman Corp. “One day it just dawned on me.”

That day came last July when Sterling was considering alternative sources of income, were she to be displaced in a downsizing aerospace industry. In September, she contacted the coalition, and the plan was set in motion.

Fresh Beginnings is made up of three independent sales contractors, an office manager and an employee who hires and trains the cleaning staff. Cleaning personnel are being hired.

As with the coalition, corporate donations are critical to the operation of FOOD Share Inc., said Jim Mangis, executive director of the nonprofit countywide food bank.

“We just have a tremendous number of businesses helping us and in a variety of ways,” Mangis said. “We have little companies that donate money every month. We have food producers and farmers who donate a tremendous amount of food to us on an ongoing basis.”

Mangis said he believes that the business people with whom he has dealt are genuinely concerned about their community.

“There’s this perception that businesses donate for tax deductions, but I’ve found that companies and businesses donate because people really want to help,” he said. “Tax write-offs and publicity add to the equation, but that’s not the reason. I’ve seen this from the big companies on down.”

Wendy Hechtman, income development director for the American Cancer Society’s tri-county region, said the organization’s annual Daffodil Days fund-raiser is dependent primarily on money donated by businesses and their employees.

Last year, she said, Daffodil Days brought in $180,000 to Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. The Ventura County chapters, she said, raised about $80,000 in what is the cancer society’s largest benefit each year.

“I see a big tie-in between nonprofits and for-profit corporations here,” she said. “Most often, businesses that donate to us have a personal connection, and they care about our mission to cure cancer.”

Last week, Hechtman received a donation of $8,000 from the Kemp Ford auto dealership.

“My mother, my father and my sister have all died from cancer,” said Jeff Kemp, owner of the Thousand Oaks business. “The dealership donates fairly heavily, and I donate personally as well.”

Kemp Ford has contributed $5,000 toward Daffodil Days each of the last three years. As a member of the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall Assn., Kemp said, his business also has contributed to the Manna Food Bank, which serves the Conejo Valley, and to other local charities.

And he regularly donates to the American Red Cross through his membership in the National Automobile Dealers Assn.

“All the dealers in the area make various and sundry donations to different groups,” Kemp said. “I think it’s very important for businesses in the community to support these organizations as we can. If you’ve got a business and you’re making your living in the community, then you do have some stock in the community’s well-being.”

Amgen Inc. of Thousand Oaks is at the higher end of the corporate donation scale.

The Amgen Foundation, the gift-giving arm of the biotech company, contributes about $1 million annually to various organizations throughout Ventura County and in Los Angeles County, said Joe Staines, president of the foundation.

“The [philanthropic] philosophy has been set up by the employees at Amgen,” Staines said. “We all live in the . . . community and we are helping our own community.” Staines said the Amgen Foundation contributes to educational, social service, performing arts and environmental causes.

Judy Mann-Hillis, president of the American Heart Assn.’s Conejo Valley chapter, said she cannot remember being turned down for a donation of money, time or supplies when making requests from the Ventura County business community.

“Most small businesses give the same as the large businesses, in proportion to their profits,” she said. “Everyone tries to work with you in some capacity. Businesses as a whole in Ventura County work with, and give to, all kinds of nonprofit organizations.”

The donations do not always have a dollar value.

“There is a larger picture than the monetary benefits,” said McGinnis of the contributions promised by Fresh Beginnings.

“Sharon was a victim of domestic violence and consequently she is a role model to other victims and survivors of domestic violence in our county. This says there is another way, there are options, you can break the cycle of violence and become a successful businesswoman.”