IN THE BEGINING...

The Amcham Foundations was born in the midst of great changes in the Philippines. The early 80's were turbulent years for the Philippines. Martial Law was just lifted in 1981 and a new presidential election was held. President Marcos won and was sworn to office for his second term. When former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., a political opponent of President Ferdinand Marcos came back from exile in 1983, he was assassinated a the airport that now bore his name. The assassination galvanized the opposition and the population to hold political demonstration against the administration.

The country's economy was in a decline and the economic gains posted in the 70's began to be eroded. The situation was aggravated by increasing price of oil which was imported by he Philippines and the lower prices of commodities exported by the Philippines. There was also a lower turnout of tourist due to the political rallies,a decline in direct foreign investments, refusal of foreign banks to grant loans, closure of some factories for lack of imported raw materials, and higher unemployment.

It was during this period that the ultra nationalist elements began to question the presence of MNCs in the Philippines. They would like to know what the MNCs contributed to the economy of the Philippines. A small group of people composed of Robert Sears (Merrill Lynch), Atty, Jun Sison (A/M Sison Jr. & Associates), Bobby Romulo (IBM), Leo Larkin (International Executive Service Corporation), Roy Navarro (SGV), and Tom Minette (Philippine Geothermal) saw the need to communicate what the American MNCs are doing to contribute to the economy of the Philippines. They created the Public Relations Committee in the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines to gather annual information about the salaries and benefits American companies pay the local employees, the taxes that they pay, and other social activities of the American business community. The result of this annual survey was published and shared with the media.

A committee coordinator was assigned the task of handling the day to day work of the committee and was given a desk in the Amcham Library. Some of the early activities of the Public Relations Committee was on relief work to victims of disasters like typhoons, floods, landslides, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions which is not uncommon in the Philippines.

Late in 1985, the Public Relations Committee was named the American Chamber Foundation of the Philippines, Inc. and registered with the Security and Exchange Commission, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the City of Makati, Philippines.

That is how the American Chamber Foundation was formed.

We had been discussing the branding of the Amcham Foundation for the past several days.

As a start we discussed what the Amcham Foundation does.

1. The scope of our work: Socio civic arm of the American Chamber of Commerce of
the Philippines (Corporate Social Responsibility)
2. The attributes of the organization
a. Established in 1985
b. Professional and licensed social workers
c. Own the facilities used in providing services to the Amcham scholars
d. Certified by the DSWD and PCNC
3. We provide the following functional benefits
a. Tax deduction certificates for donors
b. Provide a forum for CSR discussion, annual CSR photo exhibit, and recognition
for excellent CSR programs by member companies
4. Quality of work
a. 80% of donor contribution goes directly to projects
b. Donors are provided regular updates on the progress of projects
c. Conform to DSWD rules and regulation especially in case management
d. Excellent events management
5. Utility of the organization and its services
a. Provide the screening and selection of scholars for the donors
b. Monitoring of the progress of scholars
c. Monthly school and home visits to monitor closely the progress of each
scholar

We have loyal sponsors and donors who had been supporting the youth development and disaster relief operations of the foundation. The question is how do we maintain this community of loyal supporters.

1. What is our brand personality to the donors and sponsors?
-Are we seen as an effective and efficient organization?
2. What is our customer-brand relationship?
-Are we seen as credible?
3. What are the emotional benefits gained by our community?
-Joy of giving?
4. What is the self-expressive benefit to the sponsors and donors?
-What community value do we satisfy?
5. What is the user imagery of the foundation?
-Professionals?
6. What symbol represent the foundation to its community?
-Eagle?
7. To what organization are we associated with in the minds of our community
-Don Bosco?

I think we still need to do a lot of reflection to gain insight into the Amcham Foundation "brand"