Joshua Bekenstein Quotes

I truly believe that philanthropy and commerce can work together.

I want to work for a company that contributes to and is part of the community. I want something not just to invest in. I want something to believe in.

I feel that business leaders with their ability to create businesses, with their ability to scale, need to play an important role in social service.

I suspect that many corporations have begun to understand that they have an important role to play in the lives of their communities, and that allocating funds to support local groups helps them discharge that function and also burnish their image.

There's a lot of good that's done for society in building businesses, but it's also great to be involved in those things where you can be connected to the community, to the world, and think about how you can use what you're creating, both in terms of your personal skills as well as your products or services to do good things for others.

The thing we should all be looking for are people who want to make a difference. I'm a big believer in the Silicon Valley religion of the power of markets. But I also believe in our obligation to give back, and to give back in the way we do business, to create more value than we capture for ourselves.

It is time for corporate America to become 'the third pillar' of social change in our society, complementing the first two pillars of government and philanthropy. We need the entire private sector to begin committing itself not just to making profits, but to fulfilling higher and larger purposes by contributing to building a better world.

Over the last 15 years we've developed our brand into a global brand and we wanted our giving to follow suit.

In the same way that you're driven in your business to keep innovating - Facebook is a wonderful example of constant innovation - think about doing that in philanthropy.

Engaging in social business is beneficial to a company because it leverages on business competencies to address social issues, involves one-time investment with sustainable results, and produces other positive effects such as employee motivation and improved organizational culture.

Integrate purpose into your for-profit business model through a long term commitment to a cause that is aligned with your core values and those of your community.

It is no accident that our business, The University of Phoenix, is one of the top 50 community-minded companies in America. My father and I are strong believers in the concept of community.

I strongly believe the business of a business is to improve the world.

Corporations in communities need to be better neighbors.

My brother and I made a pact that every deal we do has to have a charitable component; otherwise, we don't do it.

When we started our foundation, I was less than 30 years old. We pledged that 10 per cent of our profits, whatever the amount, would be used for a social cause, and that we would be actively involved in that cause.

The private sector must play a role in ensuring the prosperity and health of the people who comprise its market. It is time for the private sector to become a proactive partner contributing to the efforts of governments and philanthropies.

I would never want to take TOMS or myself into an issues debate. That's not what we're about. We're about helping people.

I think all philanthropy invests in product innovation, whether in a vaccine or a new kind of product of one sort or another, and I think we'll all continue to do that.

Hamdi Ulukaya and Chobani have made the decision to feed 250,000 victims of the Somali famine. Their compassion speaks for itself, and is a shining example of how the business community can have an enormous positive impact on the world.

It's hard to be a good philanthropist in China.

Businessmen need to understand the challenges of society and contribute to solving them.

I think the way you build a company for the future has to include social impact; it has to be part of the fabric of your company. I think when you do that, you invariably end up with much better outcomes, even in the short-term.

As both a local resident and a parent with a CF-afflicted child, I'm thankful for companies like Canon, Chase and Outback who believe that giving back to the community is critical to their role as corporate citizens.

People often ask me what I consider my goal to be at TOMS. The truth is that it's changed over the years. When we first began, the goal was to create a for-profit company to help the children that I met in a small village in Argentina.