I was privileged to interview Sandy Capell, Philanthropy and Corporate Social Responsibility Manager of Subaru of America as part of the April meeting of the Women’s Leadership Initiative of Philadelphia Urban Land Institute. The meeting was held at Subaru’s newly constructed North American Corporate Headquarters in Camden, New Jersey. In keeping with our theme of “Balance” this year, Sandy talked to us about balancing business and charity at Subaru and offered her advice on bringing this balance to our jobs.

Sandy’s career at Subaru has spanned over 40 years. She began as a secretary in public relations and when the opportunity to manage the Subaru of America Foundation arose, she said, “Yes.” Under Sandy’s stewardship, the foundation has become one of the most nationally recognized corporate social responsibility programs in America. She recalls this growth as very natural. However, it was quickly evident to those in attendance that Sandy’s infectious enthusiasm, caring personality, intuition, and understanding of the leadership and business goals at Subaru have played a key part of the extraordinary ongoing success of the Subaru CSR program. Sandy will tell you though, that CSR is not the preferred term to describe Subaru’s philosophy. Subaru calls it The Love Promise, they love pets, they love the earth, they love learning, and they love to help (read all about it at the link).

During the conversation we got a chance to see how Subaru “walks the walk” of one of the pillars of the Love Promise, “Subaru Loves the Earth,” starting with their LEED Silver headquarters in Knights Crossing, developed by Brandywine Realty Trust and designed by Granum a/i. The building is linked by a pedestrian bridge to the Subaru National Service Training Center, also newly constructed on a City of Camden Brownfield Site. We heard about how Subaru tackled the problem of confusing recycling guidelines at their headquarters. Facility Manager Bernadette Szakal, recounted days of pawing through facility refuse bins to see what types of trash and recycling was being produced. She said CEO Tom Doll encouraged her to spread the trash at the front entrance and to do the sorting in plain sight to raise visibility on the issue. Through this exercise, Bernadette was able to identify where mistakes were happening which allowed her to better communicate the waste stream process. Taking it a step further, she began to identify what items could be targeted for removal from the waste stream before they hit the bins. That type of commitment doesn’t stop at the headquarters, additional programs include the partnership Subaru has forged with Terracycle, who takes items such as disposable coffee cups which would otherwise be disposed of and turns them into outdoor equipment, the work Subaru does with retailers nationally to reduce packaging, and the advertising banners which Subaru send to be upcycled into products such as lunch bags and knapsacks.

I asked Sandy about how Subaru measures the impact from their commitment to the Love Promise. She can tell stories about differences in individual lives and measurable statistics like these, but one unexpected benefit was that Subaru’s visible commitments have attracted employees who are committed and truly invested in the culture of giving. Clearly Subaru’s brand is now fundamentally intertwined with this philosophy

Today, most companies are on board with the idea of doing good, but we don’t all have the resources of Subaru and we may not know how to get started. The council members and guests at our meeting were diverse, as always. We had architects, planners, engineers, lawyers, construction professionals, developers, and a software engineer – each curious about how Subaru’s model of giving could work for our firms. Sandy’s advice was to offer a variety of options and times for service. Weekend park cleanups will only draw certain people, others may have the availability during the work day and could volunteer at a local school reading to children. Another avenue is to partner with organizations that have shared values. When selecting charitable organizations, Sandy says to “Vet, vet, vet, and really get to know them.” The charity should be an outgrowth of what the firm really believes. Talk about this issue at the firm’s strategic planning and ask the employees to step up, just like Sandy Capell did 40 years ago, to make a difference.

Philadelphia WLI meets monthly on an array of topics about business and real estate. We focus on skills building, networking, and spotlighting real estate trends and key projects. If you would like to participate in WLI or consider hosting us at your office or building, please contact Kelly Cary, [email protected]

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This article was contributed by Charlene Drake. Charlene is an Environmental Redevelopment Specialist at Langan Engineering and one of the Co-Chairs for ULI Philadelphia WLI.