Company’s ‘Stock Tithe’ Benefits Charity

Company: Civicom, a telecommunications company in Greenwich, Conn., that employs 50 people.

How it gives: Civicom’s founders and initial investors decided from the start to give 10 percent of the company’s stock to World Vision. Because the charity will not receive the money until Civicom goes public or is sold — which is not expected to happen anytime soon — the company has developed other ways to give over the shorter term. (The charity’s portion of the stock is currently valued at $350,000.)

Civicom has given World Vision between 10 and 15 percent of the money it has earned from customers who have chosen to participate in a revenue-sharing program it developed.

The company is considering replacing that program with one that donates child sponsorships to benefit the international organization, “on behalf of some of our most loyal and largest customers,” says David W. West, the company’s founder.

David Mitchell, World Vision’s senior area director for the New York and New England region, appreciates the pledge by Civicom, but says the charity isn’t counting on the money from the stock, noting that it is similar to “a donor stating that they will put a charity in their will.”

How it got the idea: Mr. West based the idea on the principle of tithing. He chose World Vision because of the group’s global reach and because it is “faith-based but has a policy of not proselytizing.”

How much the business has contributed: Since 2002, Civicom has donated $50,000 to World Vision through its revenue-sharing program program and raised another $75,000 through a fund-raising event.

How the business benefits: Mr. West says the company’s “stock tithe” helps recruit employees as well as nonprofit clients. “It gives people a third option between purely commercial and purely nonprofit,” he says. “We’re primarily a commercial enterprise, but we have this nonprofit nugget within us that makes us almost a third option for people trying to decide between the two extremes.”

Why it works: Mr. West promotes the charity among friends and colleagues and speaks about his business’s commitment to giving at events, such as one that World Vision held at Grand Central Station. Several donors have approached the charity as a result, says Mr. Mitchell of World Vision.

“There’s a tremendous opportunity for small businesses to be real leaders in corporate-social responsibility,” he says.