2007 Philanthropy in Review
At the property level, our annual goal was based each hotel donating $200 per room in gift certificates, in-kind donations, fundraisers, or events. In sum, our hotels donated $1,366,371. This is over $600,000 above and beyond our goal!
Surpassing our annual goal during the second quarter, our hotels continued to support local causes throughout the year. Whether it was donating room nights to staff and volunteers during the AIDS walk or one of the many local film festivals, hosting meetings for local organizations, or donating gift certificates to local school and charity auctions, each hotel formed lasting relationships in their community.
As seen below in the breakdown by cause, Education, Family & Community, Arts & Culture, and Health were the most heavily supported causes this year. We supported the Environmental and Poverty/Homelessness causes with volunteer efforts rather than money, as you will see in our Company-Wide philanthropy section.
| Summary By Cause | % $ | % # |
| Art and Culture | 19% | 13% |
| Education | 36% | 21% |
| Environmental | 2% | 2% |
| Family and Community | 15% | 28% |
| Health | 15% | 17% |
| Industry | 5% | 8% |
| Poverty/Homelessness | 3% | 4% |
| Youth at Risk | 3% | 3% |
| Other | 3% | 5% |
The most money was donated in the form of Events, which includes hosting rooms for film festivals, hosting meetings for non-profit organizations, and sponsoring events such as the AIDS Walk, Pride, etc. Gift certificates were the most frequently given donations.
| Summary By Type | % $ | % # |
| Gift Certificates | 27% | 80% |
| Donations | 6% | 2% |
| Fund Raisers | 14% | 1% |
| Events | 53% | 17% |
Almost all of our hotels donated far above their annual goal, but the top five properties were the Phoenix Hotel (this includes money raised for TNDC through the annual Celebrity Pool Toss), the Hotel Montgomery in San Jose, the Hotel Los Gatos, Kabuki Springs & Spa, and the Acqua Hotel in Mill Valley
| Annual Goal | Annual Results | % over | |
| Phoenix Hotel | $8,800 | $292,058 | 3319% |
| Hotel Montgomery | $17,200 | $105,309 | 612% |
| Hotel Los Gatos | $14,400 | $68,557 | 476% |
| Kabuki Springs | $3,600 | $16,173 | 449% |
| Acqua Hotel | $10,000 | $43,673 | 437% |
2007 Company-wide Events
Joie de Vivre has always been very involved in the communities in which our hotels are located. Our goal is to plan volunteer activities and events where our employees can come together as a group to support local organizations. Last year, we planned four events, one per quarter, for the following causes: Environment, Youth & Education, Health & Wellness, and Arts & Culture. The turnout was overwhelming! Joie de Vivre employees long for the opportunity to give back to the community and now we have formalized a way to do that together.
Q1: The Environment – Surfrider Beach Clean Up
The Surfrider Foundation is a grass roots, non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s oceans, waves and beaches for all people, through conservation, activism, research and education. With chapters up and down the California coast, this organization is a perfect match for Joie de Vivre, as we expand up and down the coast.
On April 1st, we planned a beach cleanup on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. Although it was a cold and foggy Sunday morning, 90 Joie de Vivre employees and family members showed up to help clean up our beach. The Surfrider crew themselves were overwhelmed by our enthusiasm and even had to go out to buy more gloves. The event was such a success that we did it again the following year, this time on 4 different beaches up and down the California Coast: San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Venice Beach, and Long Beach!
Q2: Youth & Education –The Go Games benefiting Real Options for City Kids
On May 19th, 2007 Joie de Vivre employees formed three teams of eight to compete in the first annual Go for Good event benefiting ROCK. The Go Game is a high-tech version of an old-fashioned scavenger hunt. Armed with a web enabled cell phone and a digital camera, teams downloaded missions and clues on their phones, then used the cameras to capture digital proof of their accomplishments.
Everyone gathered at the end to vote on the pictures and videos to determine a champion. Joie de Vivre took home 1st, 2nd, and 5th place in the competition, but the best part was the fact that the ROCK kids were stationed along the way to join in the fun. The interaction with the kids was invaluable.
Q3: Health & Wellness – AIDS Walk
Our third quarter event was participation in the AIDS Walk on July 15th in San Francisco and in Los Angeles on October 21st.
In San Francisco, 43 JdV employees and family members walked the 6 miles through beautiful, misty Golden Gate Park along with 25,000 other dedicated walkers. The day was a lot of fun, with great bands and enthusiastic cheering squads on the sidelines helping us along. Through personal donations and a JdV match of 50 cents to the dollar, we raised a total of $16,515.
In Los Angeles, 33 of JdV’s Southern Californian employees participated in the AIDS Walk. Donations and the JdV match resulted in a total of $8000 raised.
Q4: Poverty & Homelessness – Regional Food Drives and Serving the Homeless
For the fourth quarter and around the holidays, we decided to focus on those less fortunate than us. In each of our regions, we organized a food drive, collecting canned goods and other non-perishable food items for local food banks. The results were impressive.
Between our San Francisco hotels and our Home Office, a total of 717 pounds was collected for the San Francisco Food Bank.
In the East Bay, our Hotel Durant collected an astounding total of 56 pounds of food, providing 44 meals to people in need in Alameda County.
In Silicon Valley, our hotels collected 43 pounds of food for the Second Harvest Food Bank.
Finally, our Southern California hotels collected a total of 111 pounds of food for the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank.
Joie de Vivre as a company collected 927 pounds of food this holiday season!
Serving Breakfast to the Homeless at Glide Memorial Church
On December 13 & 14, 40 Joie de Vivre employees showed up at 7:00am to put on their aprons and hair nets and serve breakfast to the hundreds of homeless people that line up outside of Glide each day. Glide serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner to the homeless 365 days a year, serving 2000 meals/day. Whether we were scooping cottage cheese onto trays, refilling coffee pitchers, or collecting dirty trays from the tables, we all felt as though we were helping to make these folks’ days just a little bit better.
The event was so popular with the JdV employees that they demanded we serve breakfast at Glide more often. In 2008, we will plan at least one shift per quarter so that others can participate.
Volunteer Day with Food on Foot’s Weekly Meal Program in Los Angeles
In Los Angeles, employees from our Southern California properties helped hand out food and clothing to the homeless and poor through Food on Foot. Serving not only adults but also children, the employees were touched and gratified to be able to give back to their community in this way. While the group was small this time, we plan to continue the relationship and organize more group volunteer days in the coming year.
Upcoming Events
Q2: San Francisco: Go for Good Games with ROCK, May 17th
Los Angeles: March of Dimes, April 26th
Q3: AIDS Walk: July 20th in San Francisco and October in Los Angeles
Q4: Arts & Culture: plans are still in the works for this event
Ongoing:
- Glide Breakfast Shifts in San Francisco – one per quarter
- Food on Foot volunteer days in Los Angeles
- American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk:
- October 18th in San Francisco and October 25th in San Jose
