How
Do We Give Back?
Great question. Four
primary ways.
But first, why do we
give back?
Quite simple. We believe
that we are blessed to build the businesses of our
dreams. We believe in the original concept that a
corporation was created to serve the people. We also
believe that the more we give, the more we create space
and time to receive.
As a result here is an
overview of the four main ways we "give back".
-
Our Cause
-
Sustainable Design
-
Sustainable
Practices
-
Strategic
Philanthropy
Each of our three brands
has partnered with a charity or non-profit. We pledge a
fixed contribution (a percentage of gross) to this
cause. The more successful we become, the more we will
contribute.
Let's look at each brand
and the cause we support.
Parmasters Golf
Training Centers
One dollar from every
paid golf lesson is contributed to Right To Play.
In addition, several
centers are currently giving away free short game
memberships with a suggested $20 donation to Right To
Play.
Right To Play is
an athlete-driven international humanitarian
organization that uses sport and play as a tool for
development of children and youth in the most
disadvantaged areas of the world.
We're proud to join many
other supporters, including athletes from around the
globe like Steve Young, Wayne Gretzky, Ian Thorpe,
Martina Hingis and many more.
For more information, or
to contribute directly,
click here.
Links Golf Cafe
Five cents from every
drink sold in our Links Golf Cafes is donated to Coffee
Kids.
Coffee Kids, Inc. is a
nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives
of coffee-farming families. Founded in 1998, they work
closely with their partners in coffee-growing
communities to create community-based programs that
respect the values, cultural integrity and ingenuity of
the communities.
They currently support economic diversification,
microcredit, education, health care and other
community-based programs in Mexico, Guatemala,
Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Peru.
To learn more or to make
a donation, please
click
here.
Quantum Business Golf
Twenty-five dollars
from each paid Quantum Business Golf Seminar attendee is
donated micro lending projects administered by Kiva.
Micro lending is a time-tested and sustainable approach to seeding
entrepreneurship in developing nations through grants of peer-guaranteed small
loans (sometimes as little as $50), often called “microloans”. “Micropreneurs”
dramatically improve their family’s standard of living and typically create 3-5
new jobs per loan. And it works. Repayment rates on microloan portfolios
generally exceed 92% within one year.
Since we believe the best way to truly help others is to give them a “hand-up”
rather than a “hand-out,” we chose micro lending as our vehicle to fulfill our
mission.
Kiva is the
world's first person-to-person micro-lending website,
empowering individuals to lend directly to unique
entrepreneurs in the developing world.
Kiva partners with
existing expert microfinance institutions. In doing so,
we gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from
impoverished communities world-wide. Kiva's partners are
experts in choosing qualified entrepreneurs.
Kiva provides a
data-rich, transparent lending platform. To do this,
they use the power of the internet to facilitate
one-to-one connection at much lower costs due to the
instant, inexpensive nature of internet delivery.
To learn more or to make
a donation, please
click
here.
return to
top
Our goal is to build
environmentally and socially sustainable businesses.
It's quite simple, we believe that bad business
practices have messed up the planet, and good business
practices can turn that around.
We don't believe it's
up to government to regulate good behavior. We do
believe however that if businesses act responsibly that
we will leave the planet better off for our
grandchildren than we received it from our grandparents.
We also believe that
"doing good" is good for the bottom line. Our customers
appreciate it, the media tells others about it, and we
attract a more committed franchise owner and team
member.
In construction, we
follow the guidelines of the US Green Building Council's
LEED Program.
The Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building
Rating System™ encourages and accelerates global
adoption of sustainable green building and development
practices through the creation and implementation of
universally understood and accepted tools and
performance criteria.
LEED is a third-party certification program and the
nationally accepted benchmark for the design,
construction and operation of high performance green
buildings. LEED gives building owners and operators the
tools they need to have an immediate and measurable
impact on their buildings’ performance.
LEED promotes a
whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing
performance in five key areas of human and environmental
health: sustainable site development, water savings,
energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor
environmental quality.
For more information
on the LEED program,
click here.
return to top
A sustainable business philosophy involves adopting
the idea that business is responsible for the products
and services they provide from inception to end
use. In our industry for example, this means
looking at everything from the materials we use to
building our facilities to the way we impact the lives
of our employees.
Not only is the planet demanding that we clean up our
act, but today's consumers are demanding that companies
be environmental responsible and offer consumers’ environmentally
friendly products. Stanford University
completed a detailed client satisfaction survey for
example, and found that sixty-six percent of clients are
willing to pay more for a company's products and
services if they believe the company is environmentally
and socially responsible.
We have adopted The Natural Step guidelines
for sustainability as our own. The Natural Step
lists four system conditions that are necessary in order
for society (and business) to be sustainable.
The Four System
Conditions...
|
. . . Reworded as The
Four Principles of Sustainability |
| In a sustainable society,
nature is not subject to systematically
increasing: |
To become a sustainable
society we must... |
| 1. concentrations of
substances extracted from the earth's crust |
1. eliminate our contribution
to the progressive buildup of substances
extracted from the Earth's crust (for example,
heavy metals and fossil fuels) |
| 2. concentrations of
substances produced by society |
2. eliminate our contribution
to the progressive buildup of chemicals and
compounds produced by society (for example,
dioxins, PCBs, and DDT ) |
| 3. degradation by physical
means |
3. eliminate our contribution
to the progressive physical degradation and
destruction of nature and natural processes (for
example, over harvesting forests and paving over
critical wildlife habitat); and |
| 4. and, in that society,
people are not subject to conditions that
systemically undermine their capacity to meet
their needs |
4. eliminate our contribution
to conditions that undermine people’s capacity
to meet their basic human needs (for example,
unsafe working conditions and not enough pay to
live on). |
For more information
on The Natural Step,
click here.
return to top
We believe a strong
community includes strong and healthy charities and
not-for-profit organizations.
To ensure that we have
a unique way to give back.
Any organization that
signs up for a “Cause Membership” (for no fee) will get
ten percent off for all their members and friends when
they come in and say they’re supporting that cause.
In addition we’ll
match that savings with an additional ten percent
contribution to the cause. We get new customers, and the
causes get new monthly revenues.
That’s we call it
“Strategic Philanthropy”
return to top
| 
