Giving back

Editor's notes: In a year of natural disasters and a spreading financial crisis, the great divide between doing business and charitable giving has been blurred. Thousands of companies, even though rocked by the unfolding financial turmoil, lent their hands to aid victims of the May 12 Sichuan province earthquake.

Morgan Stanley, one of the two survivors after the fallout of the other three investment banks on Wall Street, takes corporate social responsibility (CSR) seriously in giving back to communities. Wei Sun Christianson, CEO of Morgan Stanley China, speaks with China Business Weekly about the "Heal with Love" Library that the investment firm sponsored for children in Dujiangyan city and how committed the company and its employees are to doing charitable deeds for society.

Q: When it comes to Sichuan earthquake relief, there are many ways for companies to help. Why did Morgan Stanley come up with the idea to launch a library project for Dujiangyan's students?

A: Morgan Stanley has been very active and committed to China for many years and we have benefited greatly from the economic growth. Across the firm, we are very focused on giving back to China and to society as a whole. We formed a Morgan Stanley Charity Committee for China in May, just prior to the earthquake, so our top priority quickly became figuring out a project associated with the rebuilding efforts.

Our employees globally have a very strong desire to be part of this relief effort, so we wanted to channel it into something very positive and helpful.

For practical reasons, we also wanted to find a project that is impactful and can be developed without much delay. This initiative directly benefits children. We saw on TV that many schools were impacted in the earthquake. Obviously, it's something that everybody has been watching and thinking about.

The library project appeared ideal to us because it's in the affected area, relates to children directly, and can be executed and implemented very quickly.

Most importantly, we have involved our employees. It's not just about giving money; with this project, we're getting employees to be part of the process. Most of our charity work involves participation of our employees. That's why we chose this project.

We donated $250,000 to replenish the libraries in all of the 60 kindergartens, primary and secondary schools in Dujiangyan.

Q: Does your China Charity Committee have any cooperation with Chinese charity organizations? And what's your role in it?

A: Projects are initiated by the Charity Committee. Some solely involve employees, while for other projects we work with charities and NGOs that are most effective on the ground in delivering programs with results and integrity that are sustainable, and cost-efficient.

As CEO of China, my role is to help, support and encourage the committee; but I let my colleagues lead it, and mobilize everyone. We have a committee chairperson, and many employees are sitting on the committee itself.

Q: We've noticed that Morgan Stanley's offices in other countries, like Singapore, also have similar charity committees. Are they engaged in concerted action?

A: There's a lot of cooperation among the committees, especially within the Asian region, and they share the same causes that Morgan Stanley champions globally - supporting education, children's health, protecting the environment, encouraging diversity, and supporting the arts - but each of these committees runs on its own.

Q: Through your history, Morgan Stanley has showed its commitment to support communities through employees' participation. And you have your Global Volunteer Month, what's that for?

A: We believe it's important to find a specific period of time so that our employees globally can act and focus on giving back to the community, contributing to the well-being of society, and not only thinking about making money and doing business. As such, the firm has created the Morgan Stanley "Global Volunteer Month" which takes place annually in June.

Much attention is paid at the global level, as well as on the regional and country levels. It's always in June, it is the time we want our people to act and focus on charity work.

Q: You once said that community engagement is significant for Morgan Stanley, why did you say that? And how important are charitable activities for your firm?

A: For a firm to succeed you need not only a business strategy, you also need a strong corporate culture, to make it a better and meaningful workplace for people. So you need an idea, a concept and a mission, so employees can identify with that.

At Morgan Stanley, a major part of our culture is teamwork. We want to make our company a workplace that everybody enjoys and is passionate about. We create a supportive work environment for women and have a diversity policy supportive of minorities. We have various activities and teams within the firm to channel our staff's energy, skills and desire to do something for charity towards concrete projects and programs. Morgan Stanley believes that it is very important for corporations to give back to society, and to make that giving part of our own corporate culture and part of our employees' activities.

Q: How do you perceive CSR? And what are your comments on your colleagues' performance in it?

A: This is obviously a very important topic, and it is getting increasingly important in the current environment. With over 50,000 employees around the world, we have the ability to make a difference in terms of helping out and contributing to the community.

CSR is all-embracing and goes beyond charitable giving. It means we should be an equal opportunity employer that promotes diversity - and we are - as well as an employer who looks after its employees and the community at large, be it in environmental commitment, or various community outreach programs in education and health, including the promotion of global best practices. There is a lot to do and we are playing our part - particularly in China where we are given opportunities to do business in different cities. We would like to demonstrate through our actions that our organization has a great sense of responsibility.

Our employees are very active in charitable giving and volunteering. It's touching to see their enthusiasm and generosity. Many of them are young and have junior roles in the Firm, but all are equally committed to the community.

Especially during the earthquake, I personally received e-mails from colleagues and fellow Morgan Stanley bankers around the world saying that they want to do something to help. In addition to donating money, many colleagues wanted to do something for Sichuan. Because we have business there, some of our colleagues have visited there many times. They found that the local people helped them to build business, so now they are in need and they and we want to take part in helping them.

(China Daily 10/06/2008 page8)