What the Dickens?

'I gave at the office' --
and gave and gave

With Ann Humphries, ETICON

"At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen, "it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir. ... What shall I put you down for?"

(CNN) -- As far back as 1843, when "A Christmas Carol" was published, Charles Dickens already had laid some groundwork for our column today. A scene in his story had businessman Ebenezer Scrooge visited by charity collectors.

Scrooge -- this being before his epiphany, of course -- sends them packing without a coin for their trouble. "I can't afford to make idle people merry," he tells them. And not a reader in the world, as Dickens knew, is on Scrooge's side in that unhappy stance.

But our topic here is less clear-cut.

No one will suggest that we shouldn't all do as much as we can to support those less fortunate than we are -- "to buy the Poor some meat and drink," as Dickens' "portly gentleman" goes on to say to Scrooge, "and means of warmth."

EXTRA INFORMATION Like charity, many of our best ideas for Corporate Class come from home base -- our readers. Have a workplace issue you'd like to see addressed? Not sure what to do about a situation you see coming in your career? Let us know and we'll consider taking it on here in the column.Just use our handy submission form to talk to us -- and gift us with your best thoughts. We'll be much obliged.

And the holiday season is a time in which thoughts and efforts naturally turn in this direction. "We choose this time," says Dickens' charity worker, "because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices."

All true.

But the question raised by some of our readers is how much charitable solicitation is appropriate at work by colleagues?

You're at your desk, someone clears her throat, you look up and it's your three-cubes-away cohort standing there with a collection box for some worthy neighborhood holiday effort. Or at another time of the year, it's the guy across the hall with his daughter's Girl Scout cookie appeal. Or yet another co-worker's bid to raise money in a summertime walk-a-thon.

The question is how appropriate is it -- in fact, how charitable is it -- to ask your career associates to contribute to the causes you want to support? How appropriate is it for them to solicit donations from you for their favorite programs and outfits?

CNN:To get the answer, we decided to hit up etiquette specialist Ann Humphries of ETICON. Always generous, she quickly donated her wisdom on the subject.

Ann Humphries: You're always torn in these situations. There are so many worthy causes. But the real question is whether soliciting your co-workers can be done without hounding them.

To begin with, each of us has to make a decision whether to try to focus our giving on one or two things -- and trying to have some substantial impact in those -- or supporting a lot of causes with smaller contributions.

Now, I'll buy from the neighbors' children if they're doing something good for the community, of course, and I know them. But on other things, I've learned to say, "You know, we really think you have a good cause, but I'm focusing on a couple of major ones."

If you feel you don't want to give when someone at work asks you, you should be able to do that without snippy comments afterward: "She could afford to give something."

If you hear that, I think you intervene and say, "We're going to assume that people give what they can." And if they're paying off their Lear jet or BMW or whatever, that's just the way it is.

Let's look at it for a moment from two standpoints -- management and workers.

•   If you're in a management position, you might want to help your employees feel less vulnerable to in-house solicitations by simply ruling them out. Or if your staffers want to be involved in something together, organize it that way as the one thing the company will do -- meaning no free-lance solicitations for other causes in the office.

Along these lines, I ran into a plant manager at a holiday party and he said he was getting requests to help with the needs of many smaller charities. So his employees formed a committee, auditioned groups that wanted support, raised $20,000 as a little unofficial foundation to work with and channeled their efforts that way.

Something that was important to those employees in that case was a feeling of having a real impact. They wanted to see where their work was making a difference. And in many cases, you may find that an important criterion is acknowledgment -- does the charity involved make a clear statement of having received and appreciated your help?

Be aware that your employees can become over-extended in volunteer work, too. I've been in the position at times of being absolutely tapped out by volunteer groups. The end result was that I resented them because they weren't responsible in how they used their volunteers. Even many teens these days are finding they get burned out on volunteer duties.

•   As an employee, if you're approached by another employee and asked for a charitable donation, you have three basic options.

First, you might decide it's worth just making a small donation to keep the peace. Maybe that's better than risking the possible negative reputation from the snippy people who complain that you didn't contribute.

Second, you might budget your time and say, "I'd like to donate to everything, but I've had to focus my efforts -- catch me next time." And, by the way, if your co-workers seem to be going in all directions on this, try asking in a staff meeting, "You know, I wonder if we could just get some focus to all this."

And your third option, then, is to decline very gracefully - or try alternating. Say, "OK, this year I'm giving to BooBoo's work with that family group, so next year I'll make it your turn and donate to your project with the elderly home."

The big thing to watch here is that you don't want workers getting manic on it. That's when the hounding starts. It becomes too big a project, everybody gets too many memos asking for donations, it starts to come under the label of social harassment. That's when to stop it.

Because what you can't afford to give away is the energy of giving. Don't give away your generous spirit.

South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges has named Ann Humphries, founder and president of ETICON Inc., one of seven South Carolina Women of Achievement. Humphries, who's based in Columbia, is a Certified Professional Consultant to Management. Her clients have included several Fortune 500 companies. She's been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fortune and Money, and on CNN, CBS and Lifetime TV. You can contact her at www.eticon.com.

-- Interview, Porter Anderson