Foundation urges civic involvement


	Posted on Wed, Nov. 16, 2005	=
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Foundation urges civic involvement 140 FIRMS INVOLVED; SUMMIT CONVENED TO ATTRACT MORE By Matthai Ch= akko Kuruvila Mercury News At Scalix, employees are given five days of paid leave every year to do volunteer = work of their choice. At Salesforce.com, 1 percent of the company's profits, staff and stock is devoted to philanthropy a= nd community involvement. These are but two of= the ways Silicon Valley companies integrate civic responsibility into their corporate culture, said speakers at a Sunnyvale event Tuesday sponsored= by the Entrepreneurs Foundation, which helps companies develop philanthrop= ic programs. Wealth creation is g= iven more prominence in the valley than civic life, they said, while innovat= ion is often limited to the boardroom. They said a company's civic engageme= nt is not just helpful to society, but profitable as well. ``The hallmark of a = great company is that they have leaders who care about more than just their company, more than just their products,'' said Don Wood, general partner for Vanguard Ventures, a venture capital group in Palo Alto.= Tuesday's ``leadersh= ip summit'' was aimed at encouraging more companies to become active in ci= vic affairs. Roughly 140 companies currently work with the foundation to strengthen ties to their communit= ies, but Wood and others would like to see that number grow. Corporate civic enga= gement can involve donating money, time or resources. ``We're trying to ma= ke it the normal practice -- not the exception,'' said Wood, chairman of the Entrepreneurs Foundation. At CenterBeam, a San Jose enterprise that manages other companies' computer systems, employees have worked with the Bill Wilson Center, which provides resources and counseling to youth and families in need. At Scalix, a San Mateo software developer, most employees do some sort of volunteer work, said Julie Hanna Farris, the company's founder and chief strategy officer. Some work in their churches or in impoverished communities, but Scali= x also does collaborative events, including some with the non-profit environmental group Save the Bay. The benefits are substantial, several speakers said. Employees learn how to work with ea= ch other, and they identify more closely with their company's mission. ``Doing good makes people feel good, and we want to do what feels good,'' Farris sai= d. ``It bonds them to the company and the loyalty is very powerful.''= The Entrepreneurs Foundation seeks to have start-ups invest a portion of their early equi= ty for philanthropy, so the seeds for civic work are sown early. That's what drew Eri= ca Brescia, director of business development for BitRock, a software development firm. Her company= is based in Seville, Spain, but is looking to make inroads into Silicon Vall= ey. As the company expan= ds its offices here, Brescia wants to make sure philanthropy and community involvement are integrated into how it operates. Tuesday's forum, she said, provided a practical a= nd straightforward path. ``Everybody talks ab= out community involvement at a very high level,'' Brescia= said. ``But they don't always get down to the nuts and bolts.'' Contact Matthai Chakko Kuruvila at mkuruvila@mercurynews.com= or (408) 920-2722.	=