You have to be impressed with Sam Adams, the microbrewers out of Boston. It’s a brilliant stroke of strategic philanthropy, really. They just announced a partnership with nonprofit ACCION USA where they have committed $250,000 to form a micro-lending pool for “micro-entrepreneurs” in the food and beverage industry.
In addition to the money, Sam Adams is offering loan recipients education, expertise, advice, access to their employees and networks, all of which is probably a lot more valuable to the entrepreneurs than the loan they’ll get.
Why do I think this is brilliant? It capitalizes on some of the big trends in philanthropy right now: using market forces to help people help themselves, bringing assets beyond the money to accomplish philanthropic goals, aligning business and charity under a common brand, and recycling philanthropic capital instead of just giving it away. Whoever helped them design this philanthropic program, called “Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream,” I salute you.
Tags: ACCION USA, charity, corporate philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, microlending, philanthropy, Sam Adams, strategic philanthropy, trends
