FedEx is one company that keeps most of its out-of-box giving a secret.  They tell me they don’t want to honk their own horn.  But I maintain that the rest of the world needs to see their example so the good virus of giving infects more business leaders.

FedEx is one company that takes giving to the next level.  They give 1.5% of their profits back to communities, and more specifically they use their shipping expertise to get help to those who need it the most when they need it the most.  That’s their magic.  They amplify their humanitarian impact by using their strategic expertise to relieve suffering on a big scale.  Here are just a few highlights:

• Each year, FedEx sets aside space for more than 4,000,000 pounds of charitable shipping.
• FedEx provided more than $1.8M in-kind and cash support for the earthquake relief efforts in Haiti, including in-kind charter flights to support global relief efforts from agencies including Red Cross, World Vision, Heart to Heart International, Direct Relief International, The Salvation Army and Water Missions International. Within one day of the earthquake FedEx had committed $425,000 in cash to support Haiti relief efforts. Within seven days FedEx transported more than 520,000 pounds of relief supplies and within the first month FedEx transported more than 1 million pounds of aid shipments.
• Working with the relief organization Heart to Heart International, FedEx has established four global forward-response centers to pre-stage relief supplies that can be quickly transported to people affected by a disaster. These centers allow Heart to Heart to get supplies where they’re needed immediately (anywhere in the world within 24-72 hours). Each center is stocked with 60 to 80 pallets of basic relief supplies: shelter, drinking water and medical supplies. The stock is automatically replaced once deployed, which takes advantage of the efficiency of our network.  In 2007 alone, FedEx helped move $107 million in medical supplies to impoverished areas around the world (See www.hearttoheart.org).
• FedEx Corp. is responding rapidly to the recent cholera outbreak in Haiti and the pending hurricane by assisting non-profit agencies with disaster relief deliveries to Port-Au-Prince.  Ten water purification systems were airlifted to Haiti last week and twenty more systems are being flown from Miami to Haiti for Water Missions International (WMI), in addition to FedEx providing in-kind transportation for the needed components within the U.S.  Each of these portable water treatment systems can provide clean water for 5,000 people each day, potentially saving some 150,000 Haitians from water-borne illnesses (See FedEx).
• In the weeks leading up to Christmas, FedEx will deliver approximately 15,000 real Christmas trees to more than 50 military facilities in the United States and overseas as part of the 2010 Trees for Troops program.

And FedEx is winning plenty.  For 2010 their revenue was $34.7 billion.  FedEx Ground’s average daily package volume has increased by more than 50 percent, from 2.2 million daily packages in 2003 to more than 3.5 million FY10.

What if every leader and every company adapted FedEx’s ideal of using their expert competence to do the most good they can imagine?

GIVING IS WINNING

No company is perfect. It’s true. And the negative impact of thoughtless acts, unintended consequences and willful greed of business enterprise can be immense. But over the past five years I have seen genuine change in many corporations. Today there is a growing commitment by leaders to step up to creating a future that is better for everyone. No, these effects don’t repair past mistakes or make up for current compromises. But as Chip and Dan Heath report in Switch, we get people’s attention by protesting, but we get people to change through the good example of successful new strategies put into action. We all need something to “switch to,” not just be reminded about what we must “switch from.” Giving is Winning is a “switch to” message. Good things are growing. It’s time to recognize them, reward them and insist on more. Our future depends on it.