MUSKEGON – It’s that lovely time of year when individuals, families and businesses focus on giving to one another and giving back to the community. For those businesses that have done well, they might give back to their employees and the community that supports them. We see examples of cannabis businesses across Michigan adopting families, donating turkeys and holding mitten or toy drives.
From the heart giving is a warm tradition that’s good for building goodwill and community.
People should not expect, though, that cannabis businesses have some special obligation to be philanthropic just because the companies appear to be cash-flush. It seems that there’s an undercurrent of a quid pro quo when it comes to cannabis businesses and philanthropy. Just because a community opts-in for marijuana, doesn’t mean the company owes that community anything beyond creating jobs and paying taxes. Isn’t it enough that many cannabis businesses are also renovating neglected and abandoned properties and developing parcels of land for their businesses?
With wide-eyes and hands extended, municipalities and people across Michigan are expecting, prodding and making it clear that cannabis businesses must give back to the community where they’re located. No other company within a community, no matter how small or large, is asked before they open their doors “How are you going to give back to the community? What’s your philanthropy plan?”
It’s an oddly rude question like, “What are you giving me for Christmas?”
When it comes to business and philanthropy, there’s some history that’s worth understanding. For the most part, companies don’t give significant amounts of money to a community or a project until they’re well-established and successful.
Expecting big give-backs from new businesses isn’t realistic.
Here are three examples that give you an idea of why significant philanthropy takes time. The Ford Motor Company was established in 1903, and the Ford Foundation came into being in 1936. The Kellogg cereal company was created in 1906, and the Kellogg Foundation was founded in 1930. Steelcase was established in 1912 and its foundation in 1951.
Undoubtedly, those companies practiced community giving long before their foundations were active, but was that a requirement, a wink and a nod or a demand of the communities where they first settled?
It feels like there is an expectation that cannabis businesses should give back to the community and do it now. It’s premature for these businesses to be expected to give back to the communities where they are just establishing their businesses.
It’s not unusual to see promises being made by businesses as an incentive to approve licenses. It’s doubtful that such promises sway municipalities and elected officials, but it adds to the perception that philanthropy is part of the expected cannabis business model.
Municipalities cannot legally obligate a business to give part of its profits back to the community, that action must be done voluntarily, as any sort of philanthropy should be.
Part of what communities are looking for from cannabis businesses giving back falls under social equity planning and programming. Some municipalities are trying to undo the inequities and harm done, especially to people of color, from marijuana law enforcement. They’re looking to do this social equity work with cannabis profits. It is an issue that deserves addressing, and cannabis businesses should (and do) care about this issue.
Providing jobs for people who have marijuana-related offenses is probably the very best social equity action a business can take. Secondarily, providing jobs for people who live within the community where the business is located goes much further than any philanthropy.
Cannabis industry jobs provide opportunities for previously unemployed or even unemployable people who can experience being part of the workforce. Good paying jobs not only contribute to the local tax base but add to consumer spending, which is a benefit to other businesses. While it is a small scale change in the big picture of economics, creating and maintaining jobs is the best thing a cannabis business can do for a community. Job creation leads to a healthier overall local economy and allows more companies to thrive.
Giving back to a community is an inherently good thing, that point can’t be argued. As with any gift, it has to be given willingly and without expectation.
Roberta F. King, APR is the owner of Canna Communication. Previously, she was the vice president of PR & Marketing at Grand Rapids Community Foundation, a position she held for 13 years.