Master Plans for Giving

Bernard Marcus thinks big. Arthur M. Blank plans carefully. Together, they revolutionized an

industry with Home Depot, the $70-billion home-improvement chain they founded in 1978, and became billionaires.

Both of them stepped down from their jobs leading the company last year, and now are applying their wealth and business skills to philanthropy. Through their giving, they both say they seek to aid people struggling to help themselves, but their personalities have helped them create foundations that are poles apart.

Mr. Marcus, 73, is an ebullient, outgoing man. It is said that Home Depot’s new chairman, Robert L. Nardelli, had to get used to Mr. Marcus greeting him with a kiss on the head. Mr. Blank, 59, is more reserved.

At Home Depot, Mr. Marcus was known as the “people” guy, and Mr. Blank as the “numbers” guy. In their 1999 book, Built From Scratch: How a Couple of Regular Guys Grew the Home Depot From Nothing to $30 Billion, Mr. Blank says he is like the catcher and Mr. Marcus is like the pitcher: The pitcher’s the center of attention, but the catcher helps set the pace of the game.

That is not only how they made their money, but also how they give it away: Mr. Blank has been building the staff of his fund and getting his wife and children deeply involved in running the philanthropy — which focuses on youth development — so he can eventually step back from the leadership role.

Mr. Marcus, who supports medical, Jewish, and children’s causes primarily, conducts research himself on the organizations he wants to support and delegates relatively little of his foundation’s work to family or staff members. He also hopes to give away most of his fortune while he is alive so that money won’t go to causes that he hasn’t handpicked.

Drop in Stock Value

Both men have considerable wealth at their disposal: Mr. Marcus, who was the first chief executive of the company and then became its chairman, is worth about $2.3-billion, and Mr. Blank, who became chief executive in 1997, is worth about $1.3-billion, though both have seen their fortunes hammered by the downturn in Home Depot stock.

Much of their wealth is tied up in the company, whose stock has lost 46 percent of its value since January 2001.

Mr. Marcus is still frequently seen at Home Depot despite his retirement — he rents space from the company for his foundation. Mr. Blank, who has since purchased the Atlanta Falcons football team, is constructing a building to house both his foundation and his new business interests.

Both say they plan to give a considerable share of their fortunes to philanthropic causes, although neither man has yet contributed an endowment to his foundation — instead, each of them annually donates the amount the foundations give away.

Already, Mr. Marcus has contributed about $150-million to philanthropy since he started his foundation in 1990, and has pledged $200-million to build an aquarium in downtown Atlanta. Mr. Blank has given some $73-million since his foundation was created in 1995.

Hands-On Approach

As they step up the pace of their philanthropy, they are a pair to watch, say foundation and charity leaders.

Charles H. McTier, president of the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, in Atlanta, says the amount of money they have to give away is likely to make a big difference, especially in Atlanta. But in addition to the cash, the two are “hands-on” philanthropists who are very involved with their causes and help raise money as well as donate it, says Mr. McTier, whose foundation, started by a former Coca-Cola Company founder, is one of the largest in the United States.

Mr. Blank is leading a $200-million drive to raise money to construct a new hall for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. As chairman of the board of the National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until last year, Mr. Marcus not only made big donations but also brought in gifts from corporations to the foundation, met with officials from the federal agency, and talked to members of Congress on behalf of the disease-control centers.

Both men are also trying to use what they learned in business to help charities become more effective. “They are helping major organizations in the community be successful at what they do,” Mr. McTier says.

Mr. Blank says he worries that too many charities are doing the same things in the same geographic areas, running into the same problems. Solutions and new approaches don’t usually get shared with anyone other than people within a single organization, he says.

“In the capital-market world, really good ideas get supported, get capital, and get expanded very quickly,” he says. “In the nonprofit world, we need to figure out what’s keeping that from taking place.” Through his philanthropy, he is now encouraging collaboration, and gives numerous grants to help charities expand their operations, especially to spread their ideas to new locales.

Mr. Marcus says his biggest concern is that charities often don’t understand planning or budgeting.

“Most nonprofit groups are badly organized, don’t run in a businesslike fashion, don’t think through the programs the way they should,” Mr. Marcus says. “We don’t give away money unless it’s a multiyear grant, and unless people meet their goals. We check their books. Most of them are doing great stuff. The word ‘efficiency’ is not part of it.”