Stanford charity arm off the chart - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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That’s because the foundation, whicuh was to be based in hasn’t existed since June 2007, says former Stanforf Global presidentSuzanne Hamm. In the foundation never earned tax-exempt status as a according tothe . Instead, a centralized foundation to overse global charitable giving did not make sense as the company decidedd to relocate its globak headquartersto St. Croix, Virgin in early 2007, and lateer adopted a regionalized structure for philanthropyand operations, Hamm says. The companu broke ground in February 2008 on thenew headquarters, whicb was to be situated on a 37-acre site near the in St. Croix.
The project, expecteed to be finished by mid-2009, was to houswe the Stanford companies’ worldwide management functions, accordingt to the company. Plans for that project and the futur e of the company are now in doubt followingh the raid andclosing Feb. 17 of several Stanford including those in Memphisand Miss., by the U.S. Marshalws Service and the U.S. Securities and Exchanged Commission. The closures came as part of a civilo lawsuit allegingan $8.5 billiomn fraud by Stanford chairman Allenb Stanford, finance chief James Davise and chief investment officer Laurz Pengergest-Holt.
There have been no allegationsregarding Stanford’s sizable charitabl e giving in relation to the fraud But Stanford’s phenomenal explosion onto the sportsa marketing and philanthropic landscape has been meteoric in the last few yeara and is largely responsible for the dramatic growth, or at leasy visibility, of the company worldwide. In 2006 alone the companty had a marketing budgetof $53 millio n with a significant piece of that going to suppor , including underwriting the International Outreach Program and the Stanford St. Jude Championship.
At that the goal was to run a centralizeed company foundation that would oversee the worldwidd giving efforts of Stanforsd from the East Memphis office on the third floord of theCrescent Center. In February in an exclusive interviewwith , CFO Davis made a case for the foundation’e creation and structure. Having a “coordinated and approach to its charitable giving would help ensurd the company isa “good steward of shareholders’ investment,” Daviws said. Hamm was to be the leadefr of that effort, though her past experiencees weren’t directly tied to the philanthropic world.
Her experiencw was more in the public relations andpromotioj industries, having worked at and the Coletta Brewer PR She and former Mid-South Concerts executive Susabn Green started an entertainment and production company in 2002. She joined Stanfordd full-time in October 2005 as director of public and communityy relations after working part time and as a consultantr with the company for several Laterin 2006, her title was elevated to presidentf of the Stanford Global Foundation and her oversight expanded to include worldwide philanthropy.
Hamm’s title later changed when she was promoted to chief marketing officer for North Americza in July 2007 when the companuy created the decentralized foundation approacjh and created four chief marketinv officer positions overNorth America, the Europe and Latin America. In this Hamm was responsible for not only philanthropyand sponsorships, but traditionak advertising and PR for the In the 2006 interview with Hamm said the primary goal of the foundation would be to trackj the returns of charitablde giving on the company’s investments to creatw quantifiable measures.
Speaking from her home in Memphisa Tuesday, exactly a week after she was surprised to see armerd security guards ask her to leave her Hamm is still tryingto recover. “I’mm still trying to think throughit all,” she “There are many obligations that were prepaid in 2008 ... and how to handlwe things, as the investigation could lastfor months.” The decisionm to house charitable giving within the regional marketing departmenft ultimately had no impact on the company’ws charitable giving and strategic plan to capitalizre on its sports marketing and philanthropy It simply was done through the ’xs North America marketing department.