Money and Morals: A Time Line

Alyssa Ford Utne magazine

Capitalism has been used to justify callousness, exploitation, even slavery. But among the greed weeds grow flowers of generosity and altruism, proof that capitalism is a human institution that can occasionally respond to our better natures.

Between A.D. 25 and 32 -- Jesus throws the money changers out of the temple.

1736 -- Philadelphia newspaper publisher Benjamin Franklin organizes the first North American volunteer fire brigade.

July 4, 1851 -- The city of Baltimore celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by releasing all debtors from jail and firing guns in their honor.

1881 -- Steel magnate Andrew Carnegie begins construction on a library in his hometown of Dunfermline, Scotland -- the first of some 2,800 libraries he will fund.

1917 -- The National Industrial Conference Board, a business organization, endorses the eight-hour workday.

1919 -- Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company starts its Industrial Assembly, a kind of model House of Representatives designed to give its 30,000 employees more say in company affairs.

1946 -- John D. Rockefeller Jr. donates $8.5 million to the United Nations for the site of its permanent headquarters in New York City.

1953 -- In his book Social Responsibilities of the Businessman, pioneer Howard Bowen makes the case for corporate social responsibility.

1978 -- The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility creates and coordinates the South African divestiture movement.

1981 -- Musician Tom Petty threatens to change his album title from Hard Promises to $8.98 when MCA tries to sell it for $9.98. Petty prevails.

1982 -- Actor Paul Newman founds Newman's Own, a for-profit food company that donates all profits to some 1,000 charities.

1985 -- Telecom Working Assets is founded with a social agenda: to support progressive causes.

1988 -- At the request of Mexican coffee farmers, the Netherlands launches Max Havelaar, the first guaranteed fair trade label.

1994 -- Rugmark Foundation, a nonprofit that works to end slavery in the rug and carpet industry, is established by rug companies and human rights organizations.

1997 -- Media mogul Ted Turner announces his intention to donate $1 billion to the United Nations over 10 years.

1999 -- Mattel launches research to find organic substitutes for plastics used in its toys.

2000 -- After widespread protests, McDonald's imposes new guidelines for its egg suppliers, banning the withholding of food and water from chickens and phasing out debeaking.

March 2001 -- Tobacco giant BAT donates $7 million to the University of Nottingham to develop the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility.

April 2001 -- Tobacco maker Philip Morris launches an ad campaign to promote its delivery of Kraft macaroni and cheese to Albanian refugees. Industry insiders estimate that the campaign costs $1 million, far more than the $125,000 the company spent on 43 tons of noodles and cheddar.

August 2001 -- Eleven major corporations, including General Motors, Monsanto, Dow Chemical, and DuPont, create the Green Power Market Development Group, a partnership designed to build profitable corporate markets for green power.

2002 -- Bainbridge Graduate Institute and Presidio School of Management launches MBA programs in sustainable business.

January 2002 -- General Motors pays $100,000 to use a Chumbawumba song in a Pontiac jingle; the anarcho band donates the entire sum to CorpWatch and IndyMedia to launch environmental campaigns against GM.

April 2002 -- U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio proposes that the Federal Bureau of Audits survey the financial statements of all publicly traded companies. The proposal fails by a vote of 39 to 381.

September 2002 -- Thanksgiving Coffee in northern California is the first U.S. company to switch to a 100 percent biodiesel truck fleet.

May 2003 -- Thirty-nine percent of shareholders in the Yum! Brands company (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell) send a symbolic message by approving a resolution requiring the company to explain how all policies will ensure economic, social, and environmental sustainability.

September 2003 -- More than two-thirds (68 percent) of Alabama voters reject legislation proposed by Republican governor Bob Riley to shift the state's tax burden to the rich; Riley cites God's mandate 'to take care of the least among us' as his motive.

February 2004 -- Atlanta-based company Fashion Victim copyrights the iconic image of revolutionary leader Che Guevara snapped by photographer Alberto Korda in 1960.

June 2004 -- Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and Unilever, with the blessings of Greenpeace and the UN Environment Programme, meet in Brussels to find alternatives to ozone-depleting refrigerants.

September 2005 -- Jefferson Parish president Aaron F. Broussard says of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, 'If the American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.'

February 2006 -- UPS orders 50 hybrid electric delivery trucks, a shipping-industry first.

March 2006 -- The International Organizationfor Standardization (ISO) announces a new ISO standard for social responsibility.