“What Do You Want?” Part II. (Or, A Brief History of Naples Social Action.)

When Jane and I moved to Naples from Boston last September, the very first thing we did, even before we found our house, was set up the Coiné Foundation. We’re still jumping through some of the hoops the government holds up for nonprofits, but we’re incorporated with the state, we’re established with the IRS, and we’re in business. We’re working with a great lawyer to win our 501(c)(3), a process that can take six or eight months or more.

Yes, you read correctly. I complimented our lawyer. I’ve employed a number of lawyers over the past several years, and I’m not allergic to them like most people. Ask any businessman or -woman: there’s nothing better than having a really good lawyer in your corner.

Sorry, that was an aside. We created the Coiné Foundation last September as the culmination of a long-term dream of ours, to really make a significant difference in the world. You see, Jane and I are bleeding heart capitalists.

Since 2001 and even before, our family and the Coiné Companies have been writing checks to good causes. The adults in our family no longer give gifts per se to each other at Christmastime; instead, we buy ducks, goats, and cows through Heifer International. We only see pictures of the animals, though, as the actual beasts are given to poor villagers in Appalachia, Bangladesh, and Guatemala.

My sisters and I give to the Nature Conservancy, the Sierra Club, and the American Diabetes Association in honor of our father.

Every Christmas at the Coiné Companies, as we tally our profits toward the end of our fiscal year, our colleagues choose which charities we should give to. We try to give 25% of our profits to charity each year.

Yes, 25%. A few years ago, Jane and I committed to splitting our after-taxes pie four ways: 25% to charity, 25% to reinvestment in the company, 25% to profit sharing, and 25% to stockholders. Since we are the only stockholders, we allocate that last 25% to reinvestment, for a total of 50%. Depending on the year, that’s a lot or a little. Welcome to business.

So, giving has been part of our family company from its inception. But we’ve always wanted to do more than just write checks. So, along with our move from Boston to Naples, we made another change and opened up our own nonprofit shop.

Then I took to the road for five months. Jane and I make a significant part of our income leading workshops on customer service, and we have to travel the country to do it. It’s a lot of fun – let’s be honest, we’re treated like rock stars by our clients and audiences. What’s not fun about that? – but it doesn’t leave much time or energy for running a charity. So we didn’t do much until February.

We met a lot of people around town, though. We took the time we were here to see what was going on around the nonprofit community. You see, we absolutely, positively, did not want to be redundant. We didn’t want to be a “me too” charity. That’s a business philosophy we’ve carried over to the charity realm. If you’re going to do something, make it different.


Let me sign off here with a few lessons that for-profits and nonprofits alike can benefit from:

1. “If you aren’t having fun, you’re doing it wrong.”

Repeat aloud as necessary until you believe it. Then continue repeating it aloud so others can benefit from your words.

2. Do something original.

“Me too” endeavors get “me too” results.

3. Stake out your territory as the best in your field, even if you’re tiny (in business, size only rarely coincides with quality).

After all, somebody has to be the best, and few people even try. There’s less competition at the top of the heap.

4. Absolutely and completely, do something you can be proud of.

Few people are proud of being redundant, and fewer still are proud of work solely for the sake of making money. We humans need a noble purpose. You won’t enjoy your work, and you won’t attract the top talent in your field, without such a purpose.

Find all of this a bunch of happy crap? Pie-in-the-sky bullshit? Think that real businessmen don’t think like this? (I say businessmen because you generally only hear men making this kind of comment). Not buying it? Good. I don’t want to change your mind. You go ahead and think small; we’ll change the world without you. See ya at the finish line. We’ll be waiting for you there.

5. Change the world!

Set a Big Hairy Audacious Goal, and go after it! Why on earth not? If someone can do it – and just ask business guru Jim Collins, there are people out there who do – then it can be done, can’t it? And if someone else can do it, why can’t you?

6. Have fun.

Did we mention that?