Some brilliant ideas just take a while to really get off the ground. Consider solar power,
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cable television programming, viable presidential candidates who aren't white men or the democratization of philanthropy. It's a tough call as to whether the long wait on the first three has been due to technological hang-ups and miscommunications or just fundamental flaws in the human character, but the funding of good causes by the people and for the people goes together like two plus two, bourbon and hangovers or Barack Obama and Harvard Law School. Anyone who's ever shopped at Buffalo Exchange and received a token to drop into the donation jar of their choice understands democratic
philanthropy. Anyone who has used the Working Assets long-distance phone company, which provides the opportunity to round up a phone bill to the nearest dollar
amount and then select from a list of charities to support with the overage, understands democratic philanthropy.
Santa Fe's own Locals Care program (
, inspired by a Boulder, Colo., program) offers a similar structure: Choose from a huge roster of local charities, which will receive a percentage of your purchases from local businesses. The bottom line is this: While the government can be relied upon for some support of nonprofits and service organizations, and private philanthropists and foundations may frequently be relied upon for significant support, doesn't it make sense that the people living in a place would decide which charitable causes are most critical to that region's health and happiness? After all, federal, state and municipal funds can shift how they're awarded with different administrations (and often not with any kind of democratic sensibility), and wealthy, powerful individuals and foundations give money to arbitrary causes inspired by the ethos of a single person, family or corporation. Plus, although rich people give lots of money, it turns out they're generally stingy.
David Graeber details in an essay on altruism for the January 2007 issue of Harper's that the poorest Americans give away far more than the wealthiest, proportionally speaking. So it makes sense that harvesting a few cents off many small transactions can generate a lot of money that can be channeled via an extremely direct democratic process toward the causes a community, or a country, most cherishes. Locals Care raised $20,000 for Santa Fe area charities in its first five months. It's conservative and then some to project that current enrollment in the program will more than double in the coming year, which would approach an extra $100,000 annually in available funds for Santa Fe's many hundreds of nonprofits. And nobody even got taxed.
Santa Fe-based Outside magazine's February 2007 issue contains an article by Andrew Tilin on a progressive and risky clothing company that's hoping to launch a major national presence and intends to donate a full 5 percent of every sale to a cause of the shopper's choice (within a list of 20 or so options). Operating out of Portland, Ore., Nau (
) plans to launch Internet sales this month and open four initial stores around the country in 2007, including one in nearby, balmy Boulder. And the product? Outdoor apparel that's made to be as fashionable as it is effective and is created entirely from recycled materials or sustainable fabrics made from things like corn. My fuzzy thought process in response, and in order: 1) Corn coats! Cool! 2) Hey, wait a minute-aren't outdoor apparel and environmental technologies two of the seven priorities laid down in the unanimously adopted City of Santa Fe economic development plan? How did Santa Fe manage to attract Outside magazine, the "it" rag for radical, middle-class athletes, before the city even had an economic development plan, but now that we have a plan tailor-made for green-tech togs, we're not even a blip on the radar screen for a company with a Lego-like fit? Nau isn't based here and they aren't planning a store here-at least not yet. This is even more depressing considering that Nau's enviro-philanthro business plan is so off-track with the current capitalist paradigm, it's not only had trouble raising venture capital, it's had a hard time just leasing retail space, something you'd think an economic development department with a like-minded goal could help facilitate. Even if a company like Nau doesn't base in Santa Fe and even if we then feel iffy about a chain retail location (regardless of their basic goodwill; just look at local reactions to REI), Santa Fe has to be on the short list for like ventures or our development plan is thinner than a recycled polyester windbreaker.
True, Portland and Boulder both have a larger demographic of outdoor enthusiasts than Santa Fe; but it's not strictly due to population, geography or proximity to even larger metro regions (like Denver), it's part of a broader and more complex dynamic that attracts technology, eco-entrepreneurs, organic farming, innovative food and plant products, compelling architecture and lots and lots of young people. On the surface, Santa Fe would look like a contender with high marks in similar categories, but we're missing a couple of core ingredients, without which we're all spice and no meat. The recipe is a little bit of a mystical stew, but the very bottom line is schools and beer. Our schools need the edu-street cred to attract bright young thangs both from here and from hither, and those bright young things, eventually, need sustenance in the form of beer.
On the schools front, the Thaw Charitable Trust is doing its nondemocratic, but effective, bit by recently funding a professorship for Khristaan D Villela as director of the art history program at the College of Santa Fe. And in fairness to the oft-slighted (at least in this column) Santa Fe Economic Development Department, it has been aggressive, responsive and generally impressive in pursuing partnership and pushing new programs at the Santa Fe Community College; but, let's face it, an associate's degree isn't upper-level education's sexiest carrot. So, there's movement, but not enough, and it doesn't amount to much without-seriously-beer. I know it seems, uh, sophomoric, but tune in next week to find out why, if the City of Santa Fe really cares about its economic future, it needs to be lobbying the state for a whole new flavor of liquor laws.
