Three Sector Summit Opening Remarks

July 15, 2003

Thank you Scott (Shuster of Business Week) for that warm introduction. Good morning ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the United States Chamber of Commerce.

This marks the third year that the Chamber—along with the Council on Foundations and Independent Sector—has hosted the Three-Sector Conference on public, private, and community partnerships.

We're really on to something because there are few opportunities where leaders from the private sector, the public sector, and non-profit community can get together to discuss timely and cutting edge issues that affect us all.

I'd like to begin by thanking a few partners that made this event possible.

We're very grateful to KPMG for serving as the lead conference sponsor, and for working with us to build up the Center for Corporate Citizenship over the past three years.

I'd also like to acknowledge the support of General Motors and Glaxo Smith Kline, and tonight's reception sponsor, the Rockefeller Institute.

A special thanks goes out to today's program sponsor, Capital One, and to the Center for Corporate Citizenship program sponsors Cargill, CVS Pharmacy, and Pfizer.

We'd also like to thank the Department of Commerce, the Points of Light Foundation, and Wall Street Without Walls for their assistance in developing the program and agenda.

Last, but not least, we'd like to thank our co-presenters, the Council on Foundations and Independent Sector, for teaming up with us again to produce this timely event.

Over the course of the next two days, we will discuss key issues that are bringing the private sector, the public sector, and the community together with greater urgency to explore new ways to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate with each other.

Before we hear from the first panel, I'd like to briefly share with you my perspective on the challenges and opportunities we face in trying to improve our society, and how they affect the way the three sectors relate to one another.

The Reason for the Conference

First of all, I think it's important to note why we're here.

An increasing number of companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations recognize that they each have a vital role to play in improving our communities.

The results of a survey released by the Chamber just yesterday shows that companies—regardless of size— are involved in their communities and care about making a difference in public health, education and community safety.
As former Cargill CEO Ernie Micek said at the first CCC conference in 1999, "Companies are increasingly interested in learning how to do well and do good at the same time."

This event also provides evidence that a growing number of companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations are interested in working with one another to achieve our shared goals for the community.

None of us—not even the government—has all of the resources needed to meet the economic and community development objectives that we all believe in.

And we are beginning to better recognize that we can have a bigger impact if we work with each other, rather than against each other.

Challenges to Three-Sector Partnerships

However, there are three major obstacles that can prevent us from working closer together and achieving our shared vision of a better society.

The first is a language problem. We use terms such as "three sector," "capacity building," and "social return on investment"—terms that are uncommon and hard to define for many people outside of this room.

It would be helpful if we could develop common definitions for words used in the fields of corporate citizenship, community economic development, and public-private-nonprofit partnerships so that we can better understand each other—and so that those outside our community can better understand us.

The second major challenge we face is the erosion of public trust in all three sectors.

From the New York Times to the United Way, from Arthur Andersen to Worldcom, our media, nonprofit, governance, and business institutions have been hurt by scandals.

I don't think anyone in this room believes that these incidents are representative of our institutions as a whole.

However, they have had an undeniable effect on all of us. Many investors have kept money away from the stock market. For the first time in recent history, there has been a drop in private donations to the nonprofit sector. The public is a little less willing to give any of us the benefit of the doubt.

With a decline in trust, the cost of running our organizations and meeting our financial goals becomes a greater challenge.

We have to spend more money to raise money. We need more lawyers to scrutinize and enforce contracts and to interpret new accounting and corporate governance rules.

More money is channeled into preserving our existing relationships, and less is dedicated to new ventures, new jobs, and new community investment.

Turning this equation around and building trust and confidence in our institutions has to be one of the central tasks of our time.

A third major challenge is doing more with limited resources. To some degree, this is a perennial challenge, but it's even more difficult today given the financial and economic environments we find ourselves in.

Corporations are struggling to improve their earnings, state and local governments are facing their biggest fiscal crisis in more than half a century, and non-profits are suffering from a reduction in charitable giving.

A large plurality – almost half – of the companies we surveyed said their biggest obstacle for doing more for their communities was a lack of resources.

Given the clear and obvious connections between economic growth and community development, it is up to us to develop public policies and ideas for partnerships that will promote increased growth and prosperity in our communities.

Conference Objectives

We hope this conference will be a starting point for building better relations between the sectors.

By identifying common challenges and opportunities, we can set in motion partnerships that will make a difference in our communities for generations to come.

Today's program will focus on how to build trust and better relationships between the public, private, and community sectors.

Department of Commerce Secretary Don Evans will fill us in on his department's programs to promote economic development, and today's other keynote speaker, State Farm CEO Ed Rust, will discuss his company's approach to community engagement.

Tomorrow we will focus on how to generate more resources in a time of constrained budgets. Community development financial institutions and systematic volunteer programs are two ways to tap new financial and human resources.

Throughout the conference, we will search for the best public policy solutions and explore ways in which to strengthen public, private, and community partnerships.

It's an exciting program—one the Chamber is very proud to be part of. Thank you for your interest, your participation, and your commitment to strengthening our communities.