Since I moved to the USA I always enjoyed getting involved and helping out. I come from a close knit community, a very family-oriented country, namely Malta - tiny island in the Mediterranean.  But I'd like to say that it all started because I met my beautiful wife volunteering as part of the REACH program at Oakland University and quickly realized the benefits of volunteering and giving back to the community Humor aside, I always felt that reaching out a hand to lift someone else up is one of the greatest gifts for my heart. When reaching out and giving back it always feels like I am receiving a gift myself.

So, how did it all start?

While working at my other Internet Marketing business I was also  trying to get involved in my local community and make a difference. As part of this process in late 2007 I founded the Young Professionals of Rochester, in 2008 I participated in the Leadership Greater Rochester program, in the meantime I also networked with various other local business and non-profit leaders.  This was where I got my calling!

As we all know, all through out 2008 and beginning of 2009 the US economy took a deep dive.  The biproduct of that was that more and more non-profit organizations where struggling to raise monies and to come up with the essential resources to support their missions.  Simultaneously, businesses were struggling to survive and still not managing to rise above the competition even though in some cases there few of them left. In fact, these were too often discussion topics of my meetings and encounters with the various local leaders. In the meantime the consumers, you and I were getting more demanding and expecting businesses to do their part to help those in need. For example, I learned that consumers continue to have high philanthropic expectations from companies struggling amid the economic crisis.  More than half (52%) of Americans feel companies should maintain their level of financial support of causes and nonprofit organizations.  Another quarter (26%) expect companies to give even more.

I also observed one major problem within this chaos; there was no one entity synchronizing these needs and efforts and bringing all the stake holders together.  Also, those businesses that were actively doing something about it were not necessarily getting the recognition that they deserve.  Hence, in August of 2009 the Philanthropic Business Bureau^TM was born!  I decided that if no one else was going to do it then I will start an organization that will manage what we call the Philanthropic Sustainable Cycle^TM.

The goal of the Philanthropic Business Bureau^TM is to manage the Philanthropic Sustainable Cycle^TM.  We do this in three simple steps:

1. We identify the needs of the non-profit organizations and the needs of the local community in general.
2. We identify companies that can and are willing to help these non-profits and their causes.
3. We build Good Will for these companies with the goal to improve their bottom line and hence give them an incentive to support the community even more next time around.

In a nut shell, this is the history and the idea behind how the Philanthropic Business Bureau^TM got started.  I am very excited to be part of this mission and I am looking forward to see what positive impact we can make by growing and managing the Philanthropic Sustainable Cycle^TM.

Cordially

Leonard Magro
Founder