Hawaii Gives

Like many people whose jobs include community outreach duties, I have my share of "rubber chicken" dinners to attend. It seems there is no end to the fundraisers and events that are held throughout the year, and having been drafted recently to serve on the organizing committees, I know there are a few more being added to the inventory in 2006. I set my personal record with five fundraising and awards dinners in one week, but normally it's only perhaps three or four a month. Compared to some of the friends and acquaintances from the business community I see at all of the same events, I'm a rank amateur; for them, three or four events each week are par for the course.

At the fundraising dinners I attended, I was in awe at overflow crowds and the hundreds of thousands of dollars that were raised on behalf of the Girls Scouts, the Rotary Club of Honolulu, and the Roosevelt High School Foundation. More surprising to me, however, was to learn that the "Generosity Index," a respected annual survey of philanthropic giving prepared by the Catalogue of Philanthropy, ranked Hawaii in the last couple of years near the bottom as one of the stingiest states in the country. This seems hardly possible judging just from even these few events, and a more recent study by a Boston College researcher on behalf of the Boston Foundation found serious flaws the Generosity Index's methodology and determined Hawaii actually to be among the top 10 states in philanthropic giving when additional factors like cost of living and tax burdens were considered. Now that makes more sense for a state which reputedly spends more at Costco than any other state in the country.

It also makes sense because our business community leaders seem more directly involved in spearheading charitable causes than in any other community in which I've lived. For example, Mike May, President and CEO of Hawaiian Electric, is leading the charge as the principal corporate sponsor for the Walk for Diabetes, an annual fundraising walkathon that will take place in Kapiolani Park on March 18. This cause draws less attention than some other diseases because the effects of diabetes are less dramatic: if discovered in time, it's a disease that can be controlled with medication and even proper diet. If left untreated, however, it can lead to blindness, amputation of limbs, and death. It's sad to discover how many of us have family members and friends who suffer from diabetes (my mom and my oldest brother have it), and here in Hawaii the incidence of it is twice as great as the rest of the country. Millions of people have it but don't even know it, and a lot of them may be your employees. The local office of the American Diabetes Association, of which I am a board member, would be happy to come educate them about the disease. Just call 947-5979. It's what they do, and it's a free service.

This, of course, is just one of many good causes to support. Choose your favorites and help keep Hawaii at the top of the philanthropic giving list. It's a distinction of which we can be proud. Make this year one in which you set a personal record for attending fundraisers; you'll be surprised by how many people you'll see that you know there.

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