According to USA TODAY, a suburban Philadelphia philanthropist who believes charity is a powerful incentive thinks he can help get Americans back to work one donation at a time.
Gene Epstein, 71, is promoting a $250,000 effort called Hire Just One, with plans to make $1,000 donations to charity in the name of businesses that hire an unemployed person and keep the worker on the payroll for at least six months.
Epstein, who amassed a personal fortune through car sales and real estate investments, has set aside his money for the first 250 hires – and thinks thousands more jobs could be created if others took on his idea, too.
“It’s an encouragement to businesses to not wait,” said Epstein, who thinks the incentive may be just enough to get small businesses over the hump to make a hire in tough economic times. “This becomes like an incredible stimulus program.”
The idea came to Epstein at his sprawling home in suburban Bucks County last month. He said he hopes his program will encourage businesses in the region and beyond to make hundreds of thousands of new hires they wouldn’t have otherwise made.
More than 100 businesses have expressed interest, Epstein said, but for the most part he plans to wait until the new employees have been on the payrolls for six months before he makes the donations. Only time will tell how effective the incentive may be.
Photo by US Treasury.