BNS assists businesses and nonprofit organizations in constructing strong, mutually beneficial linkages.
BNS literally “wrote the book” on business-nonprofit relationships.
For years, BNS President Curt Weeden has been a leading voice in corporate philanthropy. Smart Giving Is Good Business and Corporate Social Investing are landmarks in the field. He also is a novelist, and he has written on the role women play in opposing terrorism.
Smart Giving Is Good Business
Two decades ago, corporate giving averaged 2% of pre-tax earnings for charitable causes. In recent years, company donations have fallen to around 1%. The lower levels of corporate support are particularly painful at a time when so many of America's 1 million-plus nonprofits are desperate for funding. If American businesses could be convinced to ramp up their philanthropy to just 1% of pretax earnings (1/2 of what it was 25 years ago), an additional $8 billion would be injected into the nonprofit field each year.
What stands in the way of companies doing what they used to do in the charitable field? Smart Giving Is Good Business tackles the 13 questions businesses most frequently ask when weighing whether to spend more or less on contributions. The right answers to these questions promise to pave the way to a larger philanthropic commitment on the part of any company regardless of size.
Smart Giving Is Good Business is more than a business book. It is a prescription for linking businesses with nonprofits in a way that will preserve or restore services essential to our quality of life.
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Corporate Social Investing
Corporate philanthropy is on its way out. A new concept called "corporate social investing"—which requires that every commitment of money and/or product/equipment/land a company makes must have a significant business reason—is taking its place. The transition has implications to every business and nonprofit organization in America. Corporate Social Investing provides the strategic plan for making the transition to corporate social investing. By following the practical steps described here, businesses and nonprofits can forge creative alliances that can boost corporate profits and at the same time provide added resources for schools, colleges, cultural organizations, civic groups, and other important charities.
Weeden's breakthrough plan, based on his innovative concept of corporate social investing, has the potential to dramatically change the way businesses and nonprofits interact. If widely implemented, it could substantially increase corporate support for nonprofits, turning the tide against cutbacks, offering profound benefits to businesses, and revitalizing the essential services nonprofits provide.
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Other Books by Curt Weeden
Dutch Island, Curt Weeden's latest novel, "stars" a Parkinson's disease patient and his wife. The book is a comedic mystery reviewers call "a fascinating fast-paced thriller punctuated with knee-slapping humor." But the novel also has nonfiction "bookends" that are a mix of medical reality, American history, and a real-life story of the author's brother, who has battled Parkinson's disease for over 30 years.
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"A wild ride!" is how Publishers Weekly sums up the comedic mystery Book of Nathan (coauthored with publishing executive Richard Marek). The novel is fiction wrapped around contemporary social issues and characters plucked out of the business world and nonprofit field.
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In How Women Can Beat Terrorism, Curt Weeden sounds an urgent warning: If the world stays on its present course, terrorism and conflict may take the lives of over 100 million people during the next three decades. Give women the opportunity and resources to combat poverty and hopelessness that help fuel terrorism and the gloomy forecast improves, writes Weeden.
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Selected Articles
- Corporate Social Irresponsibility
- Article in BusinessWeek by Curt Weeden and Leo Hindery Jr. arguing against the downward trend in corporate giving.
- What Would Andrew Carnegie Do About Executive Pay and Charity?
- Curt Weeden op-ed in USAToday.
- Business Leaders Should Lead—and Volunteer
- Curt Weeden op-ed in the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
- Today's Seed...Tomorrow's Crop: Community Excellence Through Philanthropy (abstract)
- By Frank Simon, Jr., and George Markon. Social Science Research Network publication describing Curt Weeden's corporate social investing management model.