Guys, I found a great non-profit charitable corporation to support - Nike NYSE:
NKE).
finance.yahoo.com/nike_chart It does not matter what you do - buy it's stock or it's product - either way will make you feel good and help some unfortunate workers, many in third world countries.
It is pretty non-profit company - if you bough it's stock 4 years ago at $50 (or $70) you would not have made a penny of a capital gain (but could have lost a lot during that period on price dips to $25). It does pay dividends now, but only at a rate of 1% a year - much less then FDIC insured savings account or US treasury bills. It's earnings per share are abysmal for that period, compared to most other companies. So, considering inflation, you would have lost lots of money if investing was your primary objective.
The company is pretty efficient as charities go - it's upper management compensation is considerably lower then average for a company that size (not surprisingly - with it's lousy stock performance). Shareholers get almost nothing - just enough to keep them from filing lawsuits.
There are some allegations that many Nike's workers in the developing countries are paid wages that are too low. But where would money for higher salaries come from? The company was obviously not really profitable over the last few years. They would have had to raise prices for their products and american consumers would not stand for that - charity or no.
In fact the selfless directors/shareholders of Nike got some bad publicity from the media. Like, they are exploiting people real hard, paying almost nothing and selling astronomically expensive product! You would think they would all be rolling in dough. Definitely does not look like it from their balance sheet...
It may be said that Nike spent a lot of money on sport stars for their endorsements, but that is a custom in US - don't we all pay outrageos prices for game tickets or pay-per view so that our favorite stars could be paid eight-digit salaries? Anyway, it's a business expence - no shareholder or company officer profited from it. If anyone is to blame is the inept marketing company Nike hired.
<sarcasm mode off> Does it sound reasonable?
miko
