Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money[ to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
Matthew 19:21-24
When Yvon Chouinard was nine years old his French-Canadian family moved to California. Chouinard became an avid rock climber and began making his own equipment for the sport. While his first company failed, 50 years ago he began Patagonia, which improbably became one of the premier outdoor clothing retailers on the planet. While we have plenty of clothing for our outside pursuits we don't have any Patagonia gear because it's pricey.
According to Chouinard's Wikipedia page
Recognizing that the financial success of the company provided the opportunity to also achieve personal goals, Chouinard committed the company to being an outstanding place to work, and to be an important resource for environmental activism. In 1984, Patagonia opened an on-site cafeteria offering "healthy, mostly vegetarian food," and started providing on-site child care.
In 1986, Chouinard committed the company to "tithing"' for environmental activism, committing one percent of sales or ten percent of profits, whichever is the greater. The commitment included paying employees working on local environmental projects so they could commit their efforts full-time.
You may have heard this week that Chouinard and his family have decided to give away the company for the sake of the planet. This from The Guardian:
Setting a new example in environmental corporate leadership, the billionaire owner of Patagonia is giving the entire company away to fight the Earth’s climate devastation, he announced on Wednesday.
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, who turned his passion for rock climbing into one of the world’s most successful sportswear brands, is giving the entire company to a uniquely structured trust and nonprofit, designed to pump all of the company’s profits into saving the planet.
“As of now, Earth is our only shareholder,” the company announced. “ALL profits, in perpetuity, will go to our mission to ‘save our home planet’.”
Chouinard, 83, worked with his wife and two children as well as teams of company lawyers to create a structure that will allow Patagonia to continue to operate as a for-profit company whose proceeds will go to benefit environmental efforts.
“If we have any hope of a thriving planet – much less a thriving business – 50 years from now, it is going to take all of us doing what we can with the resources we have,” said Chouinard in a statement. “This is another way we’ve found to do our part.”
Regular readers will know that I have mixed feelings about the attention the very rich get for being philanthropists. They give away miniscule portions of their personal fortunes while workers in their enterprises are paid subsistence wages and often punish those employees for attempting to unionize. Often the gifts are exercises in ego and legacy building.
There are some whose initiatives result in significant advancements for people in developing countries -- think Bill Gates -- but we have to ask about the inequities of societies where a handful of people -- mostly white males -- can accumulate this sort of wealth in the first place.
Of course, I have to keep in mind that I am wealthier than billions of people on this planet.
I do admire what the Chouinards are doing, just the same. Some humans have a knack for generating wealth, so why not share it for the good of others and all living beings. And while tithing is faithful, giving it all away is divine, according to Jesus.
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