Corporate Citizen of the Year: Coghlin Cos.
Worcester's Coghlin Cos. looks for ROI from business and charities
For the Coghlins - James Sr. and his sons Chris and James Jr. - raising and giving money is much more than just charity work. The company treats giving like a business and the Coghlin family puts some very business-like demands on its beneficiaries.
But the results of those high demands are hard to argue with, in both the company's business and giving ventures.
In the business arena, Worcester-based Coghlin Cos. growth has resulted in refurbished, high-tech engineering, manufacturing and assembly facilities, nearly 100 new employees and revenue growth of more than 46 percent since 2004.
Coghlin Cos. - which operates two subsidiaries, Columbia Tech and DCI Engineering - ended 2006 with revenue of $79 million, and inside its facilities, it's easy to see how.
Hi-Tech Flexibility
The assembly floor at Columbia Tech is clean, open and flexible. It can accommodate the assembly of anything a customer might ask the company to build. Recently, machines that dispense inflatable plastic packaging material and lasers used in cellulite removal were being assembled. In the next section of the plant, employees in lab coats assembled and tested a device that gives stroke patients the use of paralyzed limbs by reading brainwaves, and equipment that "sniffs" for explosives by detecting trace elements on the ground or in the air.
In a separate building that once was home to a nightclub, the circuit boards that control many of the products Columbia Tech builds are made. Like the employees in the company's other departments, the folks who build the circuit boards undergo extensive in-house training, and are able to perform tasks that can't be done by machines and can't be made at as high a standard overseas.
But the Coghlin Cos. legacy is felt far beyond the shop floor, thanks to the Coghlin family's commitment to giving. Particularly noteworthy is the strength of the annual golf tournament that Jim Coghlin Sr. has run in honor of his close friend Mark R. Ungerer, who died of cancer.
"He was my closest friend next to my wife, and we had a 19-year friendship that was amazing," Coghlin said.
In 2007 the juggernaut that is the Mark R. Ungerer Memorial Golf Tournament raised $530,000 for research at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, making it the most successful local golf tournament in terms of revenue. Coghlin has also raised $1 million for an endowed scholarship in Ungerer's name.
But the charitable efforts spearheaded by the Coghlins come with their own set of strings, guided by many of the same business principles that help make the private business a success.
Karen Albritton, director of adolescent and young adult oncology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, said Coghlin's approach to giving is a breath of fresh air. She said some organizations simply give money, but the Coghlins seem to leave organizations a stewardship.
"Their ability to combine compassion and passion for a topic with business sense could be seen as a challenge, but I see it as refreshing and appropriate," Albritton said. "There have been donors who have given, and walked away and said, 'you know best.' You still appreciate the money, but it doesn't seem as authentic and passionate."
It's easy to see how other organizations could fail to equal the Coghlins' passion for children, community service and education and giving to organizations that support those causes. Along with Dana Farber, the Coghlin Cos. gives generously to the United Way of Central Massachusetts, Nichols College and others every year.
Investment Options
But the Coghlins are selective and demanding.
"We're very focused on return on investment in our business," said Chris Coghlin. "We're also very selective in the organizations we give to, and we're focused on making sure they're maximizing the investment."
"Some organizations are doing it better than others," said Jim Coghlin Sr.
But while the personal side of Coghlin's commitment to the tournament and to Dana Farber is most apparent, it's the combination of the personal and the practical that matters. In business, the Coghlin Cos. touts their "practical approach" to meeting the demands and standards of their customers. That approach extends to Coghlin's relationship with Dana Farber.
"They've made my program better," Albritton said. "They've challenged me to say what's going to have the most impact next." And Dana Farber is in a position to tell Coghlin what will have the greatest impact next because the adolescent and young adult oncology program "has a business plan, and that's not something other organizations use" when it comes to raising money from donors, said Albritton. But like Coghlin, Dana Farber works to "plan, prioritize, check up and follow through, and sometimes in academic medicine, organizations didn't have to be so conscious of donor dollars," Albritton said. "There's more accountability, and that's better," she said.
Pay It Forward
But giving isn't just a matter of company policy at Coghlin. It's a matter of personal commitment and responsibility for the Coghlin family.
"We do things corporately and we do things personally," Jim Coghlin Sr. said.
And Albritton said the Coghlins' generous corporate and genuine personal commitments to giving are persuasive and infectious.
"Their greatest gift is not just the money that they give, but they are able to communicate to others and make them want to give," Albritton said.
Even each other.
Anyone stumped on what to get Jim Coghlin Sr. for Christmas is told, "All I want from you is for you to give back to the educational institutions that helped you become who you are, and a little bit of your time."
Coghlin Cos. gives out between 50 and 100 plaques to people in the community who have done something remarkable, Jim Coghlin Sr. said. "When they ask how they can repay us, we say 'do it for someone else.'"
Timothy J. Garvin, president and CEO of the United Way of Central Massachusetts, said Jim Coghlin Sr. is not only "an enlightened, engaged philanthropist," but a personal inspiration.
When Garvin approached Coghlin to talk about how the United Way could use his donations in ways he thought important, the two had a conversation of more than an hour about the importance of education to a community. Garvin said he's been quoting Coghlin every day since.
"When he and his sons choose to make a contribution, they want to be involved in that contribution," Garvin said. "I hope someday I can be that kind of mentor to people following me as Jim has been to me."
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