Friday, June 5, 2009

7. "Replenish the earth"

Genesis 1:28 ~

"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." (King James Version)

INTERPRETATION: The often overlooked blessing is that Adam and Eve were blessed with a "replenishable" earth. Yet, the original sin prohibited them from achieving the first blessing, to "be fruitful," or, as Jesus expressed in Matthew 5:48, to "be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Instead of perfection, the original sin caused them to hide from God in an emotional state of guilt and shame and to multiply a son that killed his brother. Consequently, the effects of their damaged relationship with God, which is ignorant behavior towards God's blessings, have been felt by generations til today. For example, are we really replenishing the earth by relying heavily on non-replenishable sources of energy, such as oil, which is a depleteable resource? How are we replenishing the oil for future generations of humanity? No one believes the oil will last forever (Peak of Oil in 2020). We all hope and believe that humanity will last forever, as well as our planet Earth. Logically, at some point, something has got to give. Doesn't it seem that replenishable sources of energy, such as solar, wind, geo-thermal, fuel cell, etc. are on better track to achieve the blessing to "replenish the earth?"

The Philanthropy of Two Oil Companies

Let's compare the philanthropy of two oil companies, Exxon Mobil versus Murphy Oil. As revealed in the table below, using 2008 data, Exxon Mobil is the Goliath and leader of the petroleum (integrated) industry with a market capitalization of $424 billion. Murphy Oil is the much smaller David, coming in at #13 with a market capitalization of $15 billion:

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The above table is presented graphically below, to give a visual perspective of the size of the oil companies in relation to each other:

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In the graph below, the profits of Exxon Mobil and Murphy oil are compared. Exxon experienced the largest profits ever recorded in USA history, during 2007 - 2008:

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In 2007, Exxon Mobil reported world-wide giving (philanthropy) of $173.8 million on its record profit of $40.6 billion (or a giving rate of .428%). During the same period, Murphy Oil reported philanthropic giving of $50 million on its profit of $766 million (or a giving rate of 6.53%).

Hence, Exxon Mobil gives at a rate of .428% vs 6.53% by Murphy Oil. Clearly, Murphy Oil's management has a bigger heart and "gives back" at a much higher rate than the management of Exxon Mobil.

In the video below, Murphy's CEO explains how they used their $50 million gift to create a scholarship fund so that any student who graduates from El Dorado high school has all of their college tuition automatically "paid for!" Click on the link below to see the video:


Considering that in 2007, Murphy Oil differentiated its brand in the philanthropy environment by giving $50 million to the El Dorado Promise on profit that year of $766 million (a rate of 6.53%), surely Exxon Mobil can increase its giving to a similar or higher rate. At the same 6.53% rate of Murphy Oil, Exxon Mobil's "giving" should increase from $173.8 million to $2.651 billion, based on its record profit of $40.6 billion in 2007.

If Murphy Oil can inspire and revitalize a community through its philanthropy, as shown in the above video, only our imaginations limit what Exxon Mobil can accomplish for all of its stakeholders through increased philanthropy. With $2.651 billion or more to "give", Exxon Mobil could inspire and revitalize the nation and lead the corporate world in the spirit of strategic and civil philanthropy, voluntarily easing the strains on governments and all stakeholders. Truly, such a spirit is the intent of corporate social responsibility.

Is stingy the appropriate term for Exxon's management in comparison to its peers at Murhpy Oil? Interestingly, even though it had the largest profits recorded in USA history, Exxon Mobil doesn't even make the top 10 list of "largest donations in USA" history, presented below:

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