You can celebrate with me. My expert witness testimony for the Greenlining Institute resulted in two startling settlements with PG&E. The nature of the settlements are not fully public but here are two recent announcements that are connected to the settlements.
The Urban Conservation Fund has been created (out of our victory in December) and the level of funding will nearly equal the total funds offered for supporting the 140,000 acres of inappropriate land that PG&E gave to the State of California. Two superb minority leaders, friends of the Greenlining Institute, were appointed to the fund and announced by the California Public Utilities Commission.
PG&E also agreed in writing to open disclosure of executive compensation (which we will discuss again later) and had a verbal agreement on charitable contribution. This is their announcement of last week on this issue. The 1 percent of total pre-tax earnings from operations and the 60% of total giving to the poor are significant and historic models for every other corporation. Most corporate charitable giving goes to symphonies and college alumni groups.
“The core of PG&E Corporation’s new commitment is a goal to provide corporate gifts of $60 million over five years, and, on an annual basis, the higher of $12 million or 1 percent of total pre-tax earnings from operations, starting in 2005. For 2004, the company will double its charitable giving compared with 2003 levels to $7.6 million in shareholder donations.
“The company aims to target 60 percent of total giving to nonprofit groups that assist low-income and underserved communities, with a goal to grow that amount over time.”