Naturewise Apparel -- Media Policy

Naturewise Apparel -- Media Policy

Background-How Crisis Occurred/Developed

The background of this particular case study involving Naturewise Apparel is a SNAFU situation to which decentralization of the corporate giving department, likely in an attempt to reduce cost and increase efficiency, failed to perform due diligence on its philanthropic alliances with non-profit organizations. Since the company IPO in 1982, the $400,000 of profit each has been donated to charity without issue. The department was centralized to which the donations were direct to the recipient.

The strategy of Naturewise Apparel however involved a change to decentralization of its corporate giving department. After the decentralization, a major calamity in society that is linked to the organization is revealed. The $400,000 donation to charity was linked to the bombing of an abortion clinic by a pro-life organization that received funds from a non-profit organization that is linked to receiving funds from Naturewise Apparel. The fear for Naturewise Apparel is in being linked to an organization that may be linked to a violent militant group.

The crisis is really linked by two disparate areas. Naturewise Apparel did not condone in any way the bombing of the clinic and further stated Naturewise did not know the money was going to that particular group nor was aware of any political or religious motivations. Therefore, one has to assume that without further information, Naturewise Apparel had donated money to CHICARE, a charitable organization which in turn donates to a large number of needy charitable organizations in the Chicago area (Sonnenfeld, 121) and therefore did not know ultimately which specific organization the funding would bankroll.

Define the Problem/Why Crisis Occurred

The crisis occurred due to the lack of due diligence from each organization. Naturewise Apparel should not have chosen a blanket charity that has so many appendage charities to which it doe fund that monitoring the activities to remain within a framework of compliance becomes impossible. Therefore, Naturewise essentially outsourced all activity with regard to the actual charitable research to CHICARE, which in turn did not thoroughly complete a due diligence examination and assessment of Naturewise to determine whether there is a potential area of concern with the relationships CHICARE does maintain.

The problem is explicit to CHICARE. Really, Naturewise does not have all too much of a problem due to declaring no knowledge of the dealings of the associations that CHICARE maintains. The act of violence perpetrated by a small group of individuals against an abortion clinic as a political statement against an act that is against their ideological belief system does not necessitate an area of direct issue with Naturewise Apparel.

The problem became an issue of decentralization when considering the level of control the company had over the strategy and development of philanthropy. Additionally, the manager of the Midwest division mentions she should have researched CHICARE more thoroughly although her familiarity with the charitable organization is that it gives to a number of communities-based charitable services and did not suspect such an affiliation nor a problem would arise of this nature.

Key Issues

The key issues with this particular case study reside in the track record of Naturewise Apparel's philanthropic activity since the IPO in 1982 and the correlation of the decentralization of its corporate giving department to the acts of violence against the abortion clinic after the decentralization of the department. Additionally, the 3rd party relationship that Naturewise has ostensibly agreed to is also critical. Naturewise is not directly affiliated with any organization to which CHICARE has maintained alliances to.

The decentralization of the departmental activity essentially means that the organization has decided to fund non-profits like CHICARE rather than to directly deal with the communities-based charities directly. Therefore, the lack of control Naturewise Apparel has over the oversight of the activities of any organization that will receive funding from their philanthropy is subject to the ability the outsourced solution, in this case, CHICARE.

The resolution to this issue is best resolved by not hesitating with the press and to tackle the issue head on. The case study includes experts that rant about not speaking until the story is proven, etc. The resolution is to convey that, when pressed the acts of violence are deemed horrid by Naturewise Apparel and are in no way, shape, or form, condoned by our organization. Further, there is no affiliation between Naturewise Apparel and the organization linked to the attack. As further details of this incident are released, we feel our organization will be exonerated from any accusation of wrong doing.

Avoiding the Crisis

To avoid such a crisis is relatively difficult, especially when there is a commitment within the department to fund not only the larger charities but also the smaller charities as well. This is to say, due diligence can sometimes miss detecting the potential for these often irrational acts of violence. There may be no indication of the potential to act irrationally however the act of violence may be unleashed.