Lam Research Embraces Strategy for Targeted Donations
July 24, 2009
Lam Research Corp. for years has given money to the community, but 10 years ago, there wasn’t a coherent “strategy” behind how those gifts were distributed.
When a new management came in to the Fremont-based semiconductor equipment manufacturer in 1997, meetings were held about the company’s core values and how those could be applied to giving.
“We looked at where we were giving money, and there was no rhyme or reason to who got money or where or when,” said Lisa Garber, Lam’s managing director of corporate communications and community relations.
The company set up the Lam Foundation and decided to focus its giving on math and science in primary education and at the university level through grants, scholarships and academic partnerships.
Focusing Lam’s giving helped the company get out of some strange relationships with nonprofits that didn’t seem to support its values. And forming a giving strategy through the foundation put an end to a pattern of giving only in years that profits were up.
“We needed to have a specific plan for our giving and wanted to be able to maintain and sustain giving whether or not we have an up year or a down year,” said Garber.
Lam decided to put its money with a donor-advised fund that helps manage charitable giving. It went with Community Foundation of Silicon Valley first.
In 2004, Lam hired Tamara Croyts, community relations manager, to work on the foundation and philanthropy activities full time.
Lam is particularly proud of SEMI High Tech U, a three-day workshop for 30 to 35 10th-graders from Fremont Unified School District that exposes them to a high-tech work environment. Students complete semiconductor experiments and attend workshops in microchip logic and get guidance on career planning and educational pathways.
In the past five years Lam has donated about $600,000 to the school district, about half of that in college scholarships. But Lam’s donations are especially appreciated inside the classroom, and that is even more true given the state budget cuts to education, said Parvin Ahmadi, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for Fremont Unified School District.
“Anytime there’s a new program we put in place, they need new materials that we can’t necessarily afford even before the budget crisis,” she said. “Lam has given us tons of materials that help us in the classroom.”
University of California, Berkeley, is the largest recipient of Lam’s charitable giving.
The money the university receives is divided among the College of Chemistry, the College of Engineering, the Haas School of Business and the College of Letters & Science physics department.
In an effort to make a greater impact in Alameda County, Lam switched this year to Community Foundation of the East Bay.
“We wanted to leverage their contacts and expertise on this side of the Bay,” Garber said.
Lam also supports causes other than K-12 education that are important to employees by matching their donations and paying them to volunteer with up to $600 per year per employee. This year marked “the year of employee engagement” to heighten employees’ awareness.
In total, the company gave nearly $450,000 in grants, scholarships and academic partnerships in 2008 to recipients in the Bay Area, and more than $900,000 total companywide.
“Everyone here is busy, there’s a lot going on, and finances are tight for everybody, and employees still are finding ways to help,” said Garber. “It’s really nice that they take such a personal interest in helping others and furthering Lam’s good reputation in the community.”