Tom Munnecke’s Eclectica

I’m giving a talk at TEDx Del Mar June 2.  This should be a great opportunity to meet folks from the area.  For those of you not physically here, you can watch the streaming or archived version… stay tuned to the web site for more info.

I’ll probably be talking on “Sustainability isn’t enough” – and the need to shoot for a flourishing civilization, (which subsumes sustainable).

James Hubbell is a most fascinating artist/philosopher/visionary/poet.  I’ve had the pleasure of knowing him for 10 years, when he was a great inspiration in helping me design my home.  Beneath a wonderful aura of quietness and wonder, he has a seething creative mind.  When he says something, it’s well worth listening to. I’ve had the pleasure of supporting his Ilan Lael Foundation as well as his efforts to build a “ring of pearls” around the Pacific with the Pacific Rim Parks .

Here is a wonderful video of an award honoring him for his lifetime achievement of art and humanitarian work through art at the Mingei International Museum in San Diego, CA on Oct. 3, 2009.

Here’s an earlier post I wrote talking about his resilience in recovering from the devastating fires that raged through his home and studio.

Updated: Mar 30 to use stockholders equity instead of Market Cap as the baseline for their 1% equity contribution, improving their grade from D- to C-.  my mistake.

I’ve researched Google Foundation’s history, as near as I can gather from public documents.   This is not a simple task, and I might well be wrong (and am very happy to be corrected.)  However, it seems to me that Google is significantly in arrears in the follow through to their promises of 2004.

Google has made a single contribution of $90 million in 2005 to its foundation.  Shareholder equity in 2005 was $9,418,957, so this met their 1% promise. Since then, their stockholder equity has increased to $28,238,862, 1% of which would indicate a total of a $282 million contribution.

Google.org states that it has committed $100 million to grants and investments.  However, 1% of their earnings amounts to $141 million, and required disbursements from their foundation amount to $15 million, bringing their promised amount to $156 million. If we deduct non-charitable use investments from their $100 million commitments to date, we end up with only 40% of their total promised contributions.

I respect the many philanthropic and better world investments that Google has made, but it has also made a promise to the public and its investors that I think needs to be carefully documented and reviewed.

I stand ready to be corrected in summaries, but until then, I have to issue Google.org a C- in their performance to date in meeting their original promises.  Below are my detailed calculations. Continue Reading »

Dear Megan,

It’s great to hear of your new role as general manager of Google.org.  I have fond memories of our chats as fellow Fellows at Stanford’s Digital Visions Program and the Uplift Academy workshops.  (I took your advice about solar cookers and moderated my enthusism for them).

I’ve been tracking Google’s philanthropic goal to devote 1% of Google’s equity and profits to philanthropy for some time now, and even blogged a bit in 2005 about it when it seemed to be lagging: What Ever Happened to Google’s 1% Better World Funding? See my current report card from my analysis of things to date)

Recall that Google’s SEC IPO filing said:

“We intend to contribute significant resources to the foundation, including employee time and approximately 1% of Google’s equity and profits in some form. We hope someday this institution may eclipse Google itself in terms of overall world impact by ambitiously applying innovation and significant resources to the largest of the world’s problems.”

Continue Reading »