Awhile ago I wrote about the South African Mugg & Bean’s Gingerbread Foundation.
Going by the example I wish to set, I had also joined this initiative and always used my card when eating at said coffee shop.
Great was my surprise when, in early October, I was told by the waitron that the card had expired.
“But I just got it the other day! It can’t have expired!”
It turns out the actual involvement of Mugg & Bean with the foundation had been withdrawn.
Initially I was a bit angry – as though I was being deprived of a chance to give (well, I was, but that’s not really the point).
I have now gone beyond that and am just disappointed. None of the parties involved state any reasons for the withdrawal – merely that it has happened.
I suppose any kind of corporate social responsibility is better than none, but part of me wants to stamp my foot and demand than when something is started, it is carried through with commitment.
I could think of three possible reasons for the cessation of this involvement:
- Lack of participation by M&B patrons
- Loss of income to M&B
- Internal politics
If there are other possible reasons, feel free to help me out here.
If the reason is one of the first two, then it really boils down to commitment. They are problems that can be solved with proper marketing and planning. An example is that M&B waiters are supposed to ask patrons if they have a Gingerbread Foundation card – if yes, they remind the client to swipe it; if no, they offer them one. I ate at the coffee shop several times where a waiter did not ask me for my card.
If it were the third reason, then that saddens me even more. I do suppose that some form of politics is the biggest reason many charity initiatives fail colossally, but it shouldn’t. Groups of people who are passionate about a cause should not allow politics to ruin what they do.
Of course, this is the ideal. Furthermore, if a business is merely participating with a cause to gain social brownie points, it doesn’t help much for the cause’s success either.
At this point, the jury is still out on whether this post has a point to make or not. That doesn’t really matter though – more people should be passionate about worthy, charitable causes. That is a concept I won’t debate.
[Photo courtesy of FotoDawg's Flickr photostream]
Who Ate the Gingerbread Man?
