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this podcast is brought you by knowledge
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at Wharton please visit knowledge
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Wharton upendi D you for more
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information the MAC AIDS Fund is the
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charitable division of MAC Cosmetics MAC
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Cosmetics was founded about 15 years ago
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by two partners Frank Tuscan and Frank
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and jello and when they founded the
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company they very much wanted to give
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back to the community so they herded all
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of the original employees into a room
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not much bigger than this room and asked
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them what they should focus on and the
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resounding answer was AIDS and what's so
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terrific is that the company has for 15
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years continued to focus on AIDS HIV
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well we see our mission as being what we
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would call an early adopter in terms of
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getting out in front of issues that
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perhaps other charities other
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foundations or other corporations would
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be hesitant to adopt so for instance we
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have funded commercial sex workers we
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have funded harm reduction AIDS and HIV
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as you know preys upon both poverty as
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well as people's behavior that are is
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often marginalized by society and so
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what we do is we try and get an early to
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high need areas and spark attention
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through our media and communications
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work and our spokesmodels as well as to
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infuse cash - very much needed issues
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our money is raised exclusively from the
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sale of a line of lipsticks and lip
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glasses called Viva Glam
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and what is fortunate for me as the
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person who runs the foundation is that a
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hundred percent of the selling price of
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Viva Glam is given to the foundation so
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if you go into a store and you buy a
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Viva Glam lipstick or lip glass you pay
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$14 17 pounds and all of that 14 dollars
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goes to the foundation to give
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it's it's a very generous giving model
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100% giving model in fact we're not
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aware of anybody else that's doing it
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it was the founders belief that that's
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the way that it should be the the other
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piece that's very interesting is Mac
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does not advertise except for Viva Glam
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and we've had a wonderful pantheon of
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spokesmodels the original spokesmodel
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was RuPaul who as you know is a gay man
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of color who's transgender and the the
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the ad read I am a Mac girl and we've
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done everything from you know Katie
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Lange john mary j blige and the the
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unifying concept really is end of the
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company is that the tenth is big enough
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for all of us and we want to celebrate
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in a sort of joyful sexy playful way
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both ourselves but that also we want to
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protect ourselves from HIV
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well we are fortunate again and that the
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money comes directly from the sale of a
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product so as long as people keep buying
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Viva Glam then we'll be able to keep
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giving I think there's no doubt but that
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it will be harder times I think both for
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our grantees and for the people that
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they serve
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generally companies give to worthy
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causes for a range of reasons one is
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that it's the right thing to do
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but there's also very good business
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reasons to give you you'll see
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increasing data showing that customers
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are very concerned about the fact that
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companies are good sort of global
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citizens and in additionally as global
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citizens we are very interested as as
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many companies are in creating and
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sustaining global markets about over the
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last couple years we've given about nine
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million dollars in Africa
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we've given about three million dollars
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each year in the Caribbean and so a
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healthy productive world is in the best
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interests of all businesses
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well they're arranged I think of
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leadership's in different countries
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actually some of whom have really
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embraced HIV and taking it on head-on as
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a public health issue and other
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unfortunately I think who've taken on
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more more a sort of a negative approach
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but what we have done is really follow
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the lead of our grantees we are about to
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make a very large grant to UNICEF - and
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in partnership with South African
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provincial governments where we are
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integrating into the childhood
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immunization programs for two-year-olds
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HIV tests so in many instances we're
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partnering with governments and if you
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need to make a bigger impact in HIV you
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need to integrate with government since
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the public health system really is a
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government-owned operation and we don't
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want to replace government dollars we
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want to supplement them
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I am an attorney by training I was
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fortunate enough I attended NYU and
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there's a Rue Tilden snow program which
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is a public interest scholarship and I
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was exposed to a range of issues and
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when I left law school I worked for
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several years and then decided that I
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wanted to work with prisoners living
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with HIV and so I spent six years
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working in New York state prisons and
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then did some research on the sex and
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drug use in the prisons because what I
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was finding was that we were talking
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about safer sex but people were being
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released to the prison sicker than they
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were when they were in prison and then I
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was lucky enough to get a job with
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George Soros at his foundation for six
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years and then I seemed to stay for six
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years each time and then I ran a large
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nonprofit in New York City and then Mac
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was our largest corporate funder and I
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was invited to take over this job so
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what is interesting to me about my
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current role is that I have both the
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corporate I have I'm a senior vice
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president of the brand as well as the
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head of the foundation and there's a lot
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to learn I think each world has a lot to
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learn from the other
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well I think being able to translate
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very clearly the business model that
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you're working with in terms of social
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change in foundations as well as the
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ability to think sort of translate the
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impact of the work that the foundation
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is doing to the employees and to the
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customers as well as to the corporate
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powers-that-be I mean the bottom line is
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that companies are in the business of
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making money they're responsible to
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shareholders and they're responsible to
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their employees and so as a foundation
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we have to show that all of those
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dollars are not only making the world a
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better place but also making the
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workplace a better place we have for
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instance that Mac the highest employee
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retention in the entire cosmetic
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industry and if you ask our employees
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why they stay at Mac one of the top
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three reasons as always the MAC AIDS
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Fund as the head of our Portuguese
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division said to me I was thanking her
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for her incredible efforts and she said
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it's one thing to sell lipstick it's
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another thing to sell lipstick and make
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a difference and just by way of example
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our holiday toy drive which we've done
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only in our corporate offices for
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children living in in the United States
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with HIV we decided to expand it this
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year and put an online clothing drive
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for orphans in South Africa and we've
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had enormous enormous interest in that
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program and you know again in hard
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economic times really reaffirming who we
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are and what we're about and even though
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times might be tougher in the United
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States there are children all over the
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world who barely have clothing and I
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think that very basic
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excuse me commitment to making the world
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a better place is is very evident in the
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company and if you look at data from
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customers there was a recent study on
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eBay that showed that if a if a
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purchaser believed in the cause that a
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product was benefiting they would pay up
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to 8% more for that product and I were
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seeing that particularly among young
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people
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it is there's one a large quandary I
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think in the nonprofit world is that our
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customers essentially the customers of
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the services the grantees clients don't
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pay the bill so for instance in the
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for-profit world if you make a lipstick
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and you put it in your store and either
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nobody buys it or they buy it and they
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bring it back you know that the product
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is a failure and you revamp it if it
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sells well you know that it's been a
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success what's complicated about our
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work is we give money to nonprofits that
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then provide services to customers or
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clients who don't pay the bill
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and so the imperative of having a
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feedback loop or outcomes data is much
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more I think in the nonprofit world the
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other thing that's tricky is our data
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compared to the corporate world is very
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old so for instance I can sit in a
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meeting with with the senior team at Mac
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and they will know how Mac sold last
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week at Nordstrom's versus a Mac store
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in Seattle and they'll have all the data
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and they can do an analysis whereas I am
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in making grants often dealing with
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public health data that's two years old
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I'd say the biggest challenge is also
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the biggest privilege which is that
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there's a finite amount of money which
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is about 20 million dollars a year and
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there is a seemingly endless amount of
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need and so the issue is is how do you
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make the biggest difference with given
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your company's profile and and the and
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the synergy with the brand as well as
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the need and where do you make the
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biggest difference and I often think of
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us I'm a rather short person who loved
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to play basketball is the same person I
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don't know if you know the point guard
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Bugsy Malone was a very short point
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guard
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I always feel we are the Bugsy Malone of
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aids funding in that we have to be very
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quick and very agile and we have to have
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very good outside shots and so we
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focused on issue areas for instance we
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gave last year almost three million
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dollars to the Caribbean because for
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whatever reason it wasn't falling within
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the priorities of other funders who
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funded HIV but there was very high rates
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and then what we do we do a big infusion
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of cash we do a lot of media work and
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then we try and get other funders to
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come in given you know given the amount
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of need
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it's particularly noticeable when we
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travel in a group particularly to
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charities because this group shows up
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although we're from New York but the
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philosophy of the company is that
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everyone should wear the same color and
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it's a it's a show of unity but also a
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Galit arianism in that the people at the
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retail counters wear black and so we all
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wear black
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it is a great joy to work with students
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we have the opportunity at Mac to use
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student interns and thinking out loud
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with people who are very much I think at
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the beginning of their career or
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redirecting their career but also it is
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really an extraordinary privilege and
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joy to make a difference so for instance
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the decision that we've made this
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holiday season to give clothing to
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children's and an AIDS orphanage that I
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visited and and you know to see the
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faces of kids that that the company is
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making a difference with and also when
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you have a program that we first
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invested in before any other foundation
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and that then other foundations are are
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investing it and then lastly there
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really is just enormous enormous spirit
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and passion within the Mac ranks I speak
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at the international sales meetings
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people you know have standing ovations
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people are so very committed to this and
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you know when you go into a Mac store
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there's literally a thousand things you
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can buy sometimes more than a thousand
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so it really is the mac makeup artists
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that are directing people to Viva Glam
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and they passionately passionately
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believe in in the cause and and selling
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the product which is wonderful for more
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information please visit knowledge
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Morton UPenn dot edu
