Planned Philanthropy  A well-planned giving program makes it
easier to refuse unwanted charity solicitation. By Inc.
staff | Oct 1, 1988   Charity solicitation, especially those
requests by the typically endless roster of local organizations,
is troublesome for many growth-company CEOs. You want to be
generous (you may even fear your business's reputation will be
harmed if you're not), but you can't afford to give to
everybody.  Until two years ago, that was the case at Mona,
Meyer & McGrath (MMM), a Minneapolis public-relations firm.
Then, says CEO David Mona, the company found what it thinks is a
solution: a well-planned, well-stated program for giving.  MMM
gives specified portions of pretax earnings to a few selected
organizations, and makes its largest single contribution by
taking on one major pro bono account each year.  Now, when MMM's
managers are pitched by other programs, they can politely say no
-- citing their policy of committing themselves heavily to one
account per year. "It cuts out all the h