Corporate Philanthropy In Emeryville: A Great Hill of Beans

Emeryville's Businesses Care About Money,
Not Our Schools

What Kind of Businesses Does Emeryville Attract?

Greedy Ones

News Analysis
Emeryville is well known throughout the Bay Area as being foremost a business friendly town, a reputation that's been well earned over the years.  But civic boosters here, concerned about the optics of that lopsided message, have often attempted to draw a distinction between how well we've been able to leverage our businesses for community benefits received versus whatever virtues that may be garnered simply providing a good location for a host of corporate headquarters.  In this way, much has been made of the philanthropic generosity of Emeryville's business community, especially where monetary donations to our local public schools are concerned.

Sad:
Last year once again, Pixar gave nothing to
the schools in Emeryville, their hometown.
$1.2 billion 2015 box office receipts = zero
for Emeryville's schools.  

Here at the Tattler, we have shown how this meme is not represented by reality and is more fiction postulated by the businesses themselves than fact.  Readers may remember our 2014 story about Pixar's miserly lack of corporate donations to our schools after a very public campaign of claims to the contrary in the lead up to and running concomitant with their major corporate campus expansion, begun in 2004.
In fact, that's been a repeating theme here in Emeryville; business will conspicuously donate to the schools when there is public exposure, especially when they are engaging in large and consequential building projects and need public support but when the need for that support ebbs, the philanthropy likewise ebbs albeit quietly.

A quick look at Emeryville top ten largest businesses is revealing.  Based on gross receipts, the metric the City uses for taxing purposes, the combined top 10 businesses monetary donations to Emeryville's schools last year amounted to zero.  The only Emeryville corporation that gave any money at all to our schools was Wareham Development, a business not in the top ten.  Wareham it should be noted, is exposed and in the public eye while they prepare to build the contentious 'Transit Center' on Horton Street.  Tellingly, Wareham last year gave the Emery School District $25,000 while they sought permission to build their project; a gift very much needed and appreciated by our schools.

The List of  Corporate Shame- What's in their eye is not about what they provide to the community, it's about what they extract from the community.  The following Emeryville corporations, our ten largest and most preeminent businesses, gave no money at all to Emeryville schools last year:

1. Disney/Pixar, 1200 Park Avenue:   Zip to Emeryville Schools
2. Berkeley Research, 2200 Powell Street:   Nil to Emeryville Schools
3. Ikea, 4400 Shellmound Street:    Nada to Emeryville Schools
4. Tubemogul, 1250 53rd Street:    Zilch to Emeryville Schools
5. Home Depot, 3838 Hollis Street:   Scratch to Emeryville Schools
6.  Plum Inc, 1485 Park Avenue:    Naught to Emeryville Schools
7.  Griffols Diagnostics, 4510 Horton Street:  Nix to Emeryville Schools
8. Gracenote Inc,  2000 Powell Street,   Shutout to Emeryville Schools
9. Fantasy Junction, 1145 Park Avenue,  Nothing to Emeryville Schools
10. Novartis Institute,  5300 Chiron Way,  Ought to Emeryville Schools

Don't Listen to the Hype
Look at the Hill
Here's how much Emeryville's business community 
cares about the children in our community.