http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2011/1004/Starbucks-to-customers-Donate-5-create-jobs

Your wife didn't donate $5 or get a bracelet?

The headline should read: Starbucks Sells Indulgences to Keep the One Percenters out of Hell.

Re: "there's $ being made"

It does appear that $ is literally being made since "[e]very $5 donation will result in $35 in financing to support community businesses":

"According to the press release, OFN represents a nationwide network of 180 Community Development Financial Institutions [CDFIs] set up to provide financing to community businesses in underserved markets where accessing credit through traditional lending institutions is challenging or not available. The Create Jobs for USA Fund at OFN will be seeded with a $5 million contribution from the Starbucks Foundation.

Every $5 donation will result in $35 in financing to support community businesses, as stated in the release. The CDFI community lenders will issue $30 in financing, on average, for each $5 donation through their respective financing sources."
http://bensalem.patch.com/articles/starbucks-launches-create-jobs-for-usa-0df09f03

Perhaps Starbucks is responding to a financial inefficiency in the Seattle area described in the Seattle Times two years ago:

"In the current jobless recovery, people are running out of unemployment benefits before they find job openings. Some may look to starting a small business of their own, but who would loan them money without a track record? Certainly not banks.

For such local entrepreneurs, the answer has been non-profits like Community Capital Development. CCD has provided $26 million to more than 1,000 previously 'unbankable' local businesses, including Plum Bistro, Bedrock Industries and Utilikilts.

CCD-backed businesses create and sustain hundreds of local jobs, most of which go to people with low-to-moderate incomes. For entrepreneurs with a solid business plan and 10 percent of the capital, CCD provides a fixed-rate loan over five years plus free business counseling and subsidized accounting and marketing services. It charges 9 percent interest on loans.

But CCD ultimately relies on banks for capital to lend. In the current economy, that has dried up, and Chief Executive Jim Thomas worries about the fallout on struggling enterprises.

'They can't go to a bank,' he told me over lunch recently. 'They'll struggle along but they won't be able to grow. They'll go to the credit cards, which are at least 18 percent. they'll [sic] end up paying interest only. At interest only, you can never reduce that debt.'

Another blow was losing Washington Mutual, which was one of CCD's top lenders. The new owner, JPMorgan Chase, does not lend to CCD."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thebusinessofgiving/2010220635_when_small_business_pays_the_p.html

There has been no mention in the newspapers of the NW of anyone asking JPM's Jamie Dimon during his cheerleading tour this week whether JPM Chase has reconsidered its failure to support entrepreneurial enterprises in this region.

Better than donating money to a bank, go shop at a locally-owned independent retailer instead.

So you give them $5 bucks, they then lend out $35 to somebody. With the current lending ratio of 10-1 between reserves and amount lent, that means they can pocket $1.50 right off the top for every $5.

That's quite a profit for somebody giving you money.

I have heard of micro-lending where you decide who to fund and take your chances on getting your money back with interest, but this seems like a huge scam.

Hey Jack,

Lots of nonprofits have registered their trademarks. That little (R) is definitely NOT a sign that someone is profiting.

Ten years ago, I ran a 501c3 that obtained a registration for its trademark. Not that hard to do.

I said it was usually a pretty good indicator. Which it is.