Buskin Interview
While the dizzying
array of assets that AOL-Time Warner share are easily recognized by businessmen
and consumers alike, the company’s commitment to social causes is probably less
familiar.
But make no mistake
about it; this new media empire isn’t your usual large capitalist conglomerate.
While other multi-million dollar companies have held their purse-strings tight, CEO Gerald Levin and Chairman of the Board
Steven Case are happy to spread the wealth by actively partnering with charities
and organizations and drumming up support amongst their staff for community
volunteerism.
The social mission
and work of the company is entrusted into the very capable hands of Kathy
Bushkin. As president of AOL Time Warner's Foundation and a Senior Vice
President of AOL Time Warner, Kathy is perhaps one of the most influential
humanitarians in America today. Her work and influence are felt nationwide, “a
perk,” she says, “no other job can match.”
While her heart for
giving was born long before she entered the workforce, Kathy’s skill for
identifying social causes was developed while serving as press
secretary for Senator Gary Hart. She worked with Hart from 1976-1984, and she
was there through his presidential campaign in the year of Yuppies and New Democrats.
The experience, she says, helped her to learn about the country in a whole new
way: She was addressing social causes of the day, honing her influence around
the country, and most dear to her, working on something “significant.” It was also during this time when she met
the future founder of Share our Strength, Bill Shore, who later convinced her
to sit on the board of the prestigious hunger and health organization.
By 1985, Kathy moved
off Washington Hill but even her next full-time job didn’t keep her away from
the social issues that she felt most passionate about. She enrolled her time in several non-profits,
serving on the board for Share Our Strength and the National Press Foundation.
She also was a formidable player in the creation of the International Women’s
Media Foundation. The organization grew out of a one-time event whose purpose
was to bring women journalists together after the Berlin Wall came
down in 1990. But its success demanded an ongoing foundation that would
encourage the very American idea of networking amongst European women in the
media.
Besides the triumphs in her philanthropic work, Kathy was
also receiving high marks of achievement at “US News & World Report.” As editorial administrator of
the popular newsweekly, Kathy was overseeing the logistics of everything from
budgets to policies. In fact, it was her policy work on emerging technology
issues that first plunged Kathy into exploring the nascent world of the Web.
Convinced that there were uncharted opportunities in the burgeoning virtual
space, she helped the magazine create an online presence early in 1993 by
partnering with CompuServe (AOL had already accepted Time magazine as a content
provider). The concept of online journalism and interaction between readers and
writers was indeed compelling and Kathy helped the magazine claim an even
larger stake of the web by launching their own site in 1995.
It was Kathy’s involvement on the boards while
maintaining a demanding job that showed her that it was possible to be involved
in philanthropy while having a full-time career. When she was offered the job
of AOL's chief communications officer, she jumped at the opportunity. Part of
her role now included overseeing the AOL Foundation.
The job, she admits, was a perfect fit with her ideals and a
rare chance for her to bring her dedication to social causes to a company whose
commitment ran just as strong. The Foundation altruistic motives were the basis
of the current AOLTW Foundation’s mission, striving to ensure the Internet medium
focused on helping society, improving civic engagement and alleviating the
digital divide.
“AOL
built its business by creating partnerships with organizations that brought
content and community to its members, so it was a natural step for the Foundation
to operate in partnerships as well,” she says. “We also preferred partnering
with other organizations to create programs that could effect change rather
than just making grants and donations.”
One of the more dynamic projects Kathy was involved with was
the creation of Helping.org, a philanthropy portal of more than 700,000
charities where users can check on facts about non-profits and make donations.
The site, which was created in 1999, allows users to punch in their credit card
numbers to advance cash to their favored charity, but the card companies still
need to collect their 2% processing fee. As part of the partnership, The AOL
Foundation agreed to cover the cost of all online fees, making the donations free to
both donors and charities. Kathy also created other success stories for AOL with their
involvement in the Digital
Divide Network and their Digital Heroes e-mentoring initiative, a partnership
that the company struck with the National Mentoring Partnership
(mentoring.org).
While AOLTW is a relatively new entity, Kathy is quick to
point out that both companies carry a strong legacy of commitment to social
causes. “The fit between Gerry and Steve is good,” she says, “because they’ve
always been involved with the bottom line– the REAL bottom line, not the
numbers but social impacts of companies.”
The two heads have encouraged the newly formed Foundation to
act as a unified part of the whole company, just like all the other corporate
divisions. And Kathy’s latest assignment is to work with all those entities to
see how each product in the AOLTW stable can work towards social goals. The
challenge has led her to determine what might be obvious: “There are lots of
powerful ways to bring attention to the issues of diversity, corporate
responsibility and giving, kids and social issues,” with their combined
properties.
Yet as apparent as that seems, many other well-known
companies let their opportunity to spread good karma slip them by. Kathy is
making sure that doesn’t happen. In fact, as the two sides were signing their
nuptials in January, Kathy was instrumental in the discussion of the mission
statement of the newly formed foundation. The overall gist, she says, is “to
use the power of media, communications and information technology to serve the
public interest and strengthen society.” From there, they focused more clearly
on the actual objectives: equipping kids for the 21st century,
extending Internet benefits to all, engaging communities in the arts and
empowering citizens and civic participation.
All together, the
Foundation has more than $10 million in assets not including in-kind giving, additional
corporate contributions and division giving for social causes. Employees have their pick of more than 91
programs for participation. Some of the more popular ones include Ted
Leonisis’s E-buddies, which models itself after a buddy program for retarded
people, but via email. E-mentoring is also a popular choice among employees,
since positive work can be accomplished via email. So far, she reports, about
20,000 hours per week are donated by employees to just one of their sponsor
programs, Time to Read.
For employees not sure where to donate their time, the
company created ECHO, Employees Caring and Helping Others, a site that provides
information on volunteering opportunities in the local communities and offers a
link for online donations.
Philanthropy and volunteerism online is one thing, but the
off-line experience is where major impact is more noticeable. In an effort to
improve the DC philanthropy scene, Kathy’s been visiting and investigating the
more mature New York charity arena. She has found that DC-ers are picking up
the knack quite well; “philanthropy has become a real bond for a lot of people
who wouldn’t necessary come together, and the high tech sector, in particular,
has been very responsive.” The issues that the technology industry has rallied
around, she points out, address the digital divide, housing and education.
In fact, education is one of
the ongoing initiatives for AOLTW. Spurred on by a Principal for a Day program
at the Roberto Clemente School in the Bronx, Kathy says that her short-lived
stint showed her the power schools have in children’s lives and how technology
can improve the system. “It’s important for our society to continue to provide
support for teachers, so that schools can continue to be sanctuaries of
learning and assistance for our future generations,” she says.
To accomplish that goal, AOLTW
recently launched “Bootcamp for Teachers,” a pilot program in DC in partnership
with Trinity College--a teaching university. This year-long program which
kicked off on July 9th, starts with an intensive summer program training 60
teachers and administrators from all levels of schools on incorporating
technology into their curriculum. If all goes well, they plan to take the
program to Boston and New York next year. The foundation also broadened its
commitment with the New Educators Support Team (NEST) with a $500,000
grant to accelerate new teacher development and retention in cities.
While Kathy is bringing the
philanthropic efforts of AOLTW into a whole new era, she is also hard at work
on legacy initiatives like Time Warner’s 20-year heritage of encouraging
philanthropy among its employees. On June 22nd, the Andrew Heiskell
Award for Community Service was bestowed on ten employees in a gala celebration
to recognize volunteer efforts. The award was established in 1982 to honor
staff members who serve their communities in the tradition of the former
Chairman and CEO of Time Inc., Andrew Heiskell. The winners this year were
gifted with a $2000 and a $3000 donation to the charity of their choice.
Between supporting and training
teachers, teaching adults and children to read, mentoring and numerous other
initiatives, AOLTW is not only a major contender in our world of media,
publishing, entertainment and online services, but also in community service.
With Kathy Bushkin at the foundation’s helm, the newly formed company is not
only setting a model of philanthropic giving amongst its corporate peers, but
also instilling a sense of social action amongst individuals.