Target gives to family causes - Dayton Hudson Corp. Target Stores charitable contributions - Staying On Target

Discount Store News, April 20, 1992 by Pete Hisey

Historically, Target, along with parent Dayton Hudson, has been noted for its dedication to a wide range of charitable causes, most of them family-oriented. The company donates 5% of its pretax income to a wide range of organizations and causes, as much as three to four times the donation level typical of the discount industry.

The United Way is the single largest recipient of Target's largesse, since the company encourages its employees to donate to the national organization and matches their contributions. But Goodwill Industries, PBS programs like Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, Toys for Tots, and a wide array of environmental groups and anti-child abuse organizations also have received substantial support.

In a little more than a decade, the company has won three DISC (Discounters in Service to the Community) awards from DSN.

Now Target seeks wider recognition of its charitable programs. "Our associates and our customers ask what we're doing to help our communities," community affairs manager Susan Anderson said. "We want to tell them."

For the first time, Target is taking the message of its corporate giving programs and philosophies to the public via a multi-million dollar; multi-media marketing program called, Target: The Family, scheduled for release on Mother's Day. (see marketing story, page 82.)

Target: The Family will highlight the chain's many charitable programs, particularly programs that benefit the family and especially children.

In the family arena, sister company Mervyn's established the Family-to-Family Child Care Initiative in 1988, and Target developed its own version in 1990. The nationwide organization develops partnerships with local non-profit agencies to recruit, train and accredit child care providers, in what is an unregulated industry rife with both incompetency and abuse, as well as a dearth of standards.

"We know from talking to our employees that the primary source of outside-the-home child care is not a daycare center, but the home of a care provider who takes in other families' kids," said Christine Benero, Target's community affairs program administrator. "While this is the most flexible and inexpensive route to follow, it is also the least supported and recognized."

The growing single-parent population exacerbates the problem, Benero said. "As single mother doesn't have the safety net of an extended family anymore, and she doesn't have the luxury to choose not to work," she said. "Family-to-Family is aimed at improving the resources she does have, the in-home care giver."

The program, now active in eight Target communities, but soon to spread to 15, budgets roughly $250,000 per community over three years. The goals are: train 4,000 caregivers for a minimum of 15 hours each; support accreditation of care centers; develop local professional caregiver associations to provide ongoing support; and create consumer demand.

"We want consumers to be aware that they can demand better care," Benero said. "Too often, parents don't know what to ask for. They are isolated, and have no real power to demand better conditions."

The 15 markets chosen by Target must meet three basic requirements. First, a Target store has to be present; second, there must be some local organization existing to administer the program; and third, and most important, the local community must actively support better childcare.

"You can't just throw money at a problem," Benero said. "You have to have the active support of the community, a sense that this is important and that the political structure will support the goals in an ongoing manner."

Family-to-Family, which made its first contributions in January of 1991, and now supports eight programs, has been recognized in a little over a year by the Kentucky State Legislature and governor, the governor of Ohio, the Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor's Award for Employer Involvement with Childcare, and most recently, the National Council of Jewish Women.

The idea for Family-to-Family arose when associates were asked what issues affected them most. Childcare was the top concern, Benero said. "We realize that our employees have another life away from the sotre," Benero noted. "And the family orientation made it a natural for our corporate giving programs."

This is in keeping with the overall philosophy of DH. The parent joined the 5% Club (donating 5% of taxable income to charity) in 1946, and each division gets to donate a pro rata share of that to programs of its choice.

About 40% of the company's overall corporate giving benefits social action programs, another 40% benefits arts programs, with the balance funding miscellaneous community charities on a special need and opportunity basis, states the Dayton Hudson Foundation Community Involvement annual report.

In addition to Family-to-Family, Target has supported anti-child abuse and family violence initiatives in several markets, most notably funding the Family Resource Center of the Children's Home Society of Florida and Battle Creek, Michigan's S.A.F.E. Place, a shelter for abused families.