The General Motors Foundation will donate a $1 million grant to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is set to open in 2015 and will be contiguous to the National Monument in Washington D.C. GM Foundation President Vivian Packard presented the grant to the museum’s founding director Lonnie G. Bunch III at the auto show in Washington. Packard believes the $1 million grant allows the GM Foundation to continue supporting the Smithsonian and its efforts to bring life to African American history and culture.
Since 1998, the Smithsonian has received monetary contributions from GM that total over $11 million. Bunch III said he is honored to have the GM Foundation join the museum’s generous group of donors which include considerable foundations such as American Express, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation.
The GM Foundation has history with supporting the Smithsonian that dates back to 1954. It began when a group of GM scientists and engineers developed and donated a mechanical heart pump to the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History Division of Science and Medicine. The donation made the world’s first open heart surgery possible.
Comments
I’ve never understood why companies do this? Donating money to this cause doesn’t guarantee GM will see increased sells from the black community!
This is not a racial issue for me, I don’t care what group this is going to support I just don’t think this is money used wisely!
Are people going to walk threw the Smithsonian and see this display presented by GM and say I’m going to buy a GM car today because of this?
I think that will happen zero times!
“Are people going to walk threw the Smithsonian and see this display presented by GM and say I’m going to buy a GM car today because of this?
People are going to walk ‘threw’ the Smithsonian and learn about African American history and culture.
It’s a museum. Not a dealership lot.
As before, email them, and tell the Smithsonian how you really feel.
http://www.si.edu/Contacts
It’s about being a good corporate citizen, Brian. It’s about caring about the people and the history of the country in which you do business and call home. It’s about doing good because you can and not expecting a return. Would you not give your neighbour a boost on a cold morning and not expect payment?
That million could be used to take better care of your employees!
Like I said I have no issue with what ethnic group is being helped, I don’t believe in charity and I don’t think it helps your company in the long run sell more cars or merchandise!
As for my neighbor it’s funny you asked, he came over a few days ago and asked if he could borrow a shovel? I told him there’s a Lowes down the street, they cost about 10 bucks!
I hope that explains it!
Yep, sure does !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why don’t you explain to me how this helps GM?
I wrote a similar thing about GM giving money to a foundation for scholarships that I think is a big waste of time and money!
You give a scholarship to a kid, he gets a great job and becomes a life long Benz owner!
What good did it do for GM to give out that kind of money?
Simple it is positive PR and a tax write off while helping some kind of cause.
“You give a scholarship to a kid, he gets a great job and becomes a life long Benz owner!”
Then it’s GM’s fault for not making a compelling product.
20 years ago, would a med student want a Fleetwood or a LS? The answer is the LS because the Fleetwood was garbage and GM has yet to redeem themselves for their past crimes.
The buyer is always right. Period.
This is not about who builds a better car, it’s about weather you should donate to a cause!
Well, GM feels it’s a worthwhile cause to invest in.
And ultimately, it is about who builds a better car. GM is trying to change it’s public perception on a more human level, and they are trying to change it’s public perception on a production level.
See how they’re interrelated? I know you’ll deny it, but perception matters. Both public and product need to walk in lockstep if GM is to court that med student with a Cadillac.
This also flies in the face of your short-sighted idea that GM (and Cadillac) can redeem themselves in less than 5 years. It simply isn’t going to happen. GM will need to consistently hit home runs for the next 20 years on both the public and product fronts if they are to be taken seriously. This is GM’s mess they’ve gotten into, and GM’s to solve.
My point has always been that each car or truck should stand on it’s own for each model year! Meaning that a companies history should mean nothing in terms of how well a car sells!
This makes each car stands on it’s own, so if a car company starts to put out bad cars they can’t fall back on what they did years ago, and same can be said about car companies that went had tough time and are now putting out great cars!
Do you understand now?
I understand you perfectly. The problem is that you’re easily convinced and slightly too trusting when it comes to product perception.
7 billion other apes are more demanding and unwilling to give credit to an automaker if their history is littered with garbage and missteps. To them, perceived quality is measured in decades, not model years.
A new model doesn’t bury or conceal the mistakes of the past, and bad press can haunt an automaker for decades; consider the Cimmaron.
It’s all about long-term perception and how to properly cultivate it. Chances are the process to GM’s redemption will outlast our lives, but if that’s what needed to prove themselves of their superior product, then I suggest you invest in life-extension research.
But it should! These companies should re educate people about how they look at a car company!
People need to take control of their buying habits and stop listening to other people tell them what to buy!
Things need to change!