By Emily Brewer

The rap on the technology industry is that it scrimps on charity.

In fact, while data on giving by the rapidly growing industry is hard to come by, the industry is generous in donating equipment, and some observers say it eventually will follow in the footsteps of the nation's long-time philanthropic giants.

"They are a young industry," says Bill Reinhard, editor of Corporate Philanthropy Reports. "The most philanthropic industries out there have been around for a long time - some for a hundred years," he says.

"Computer companies over the past few years have been criticized for not giving enough," he says, "but I'm not sure that it's true that they're not giving as much as other industries."

Total giving by technology companies in Silicon Valley grew 69 percent, from $29 million to $49 million in the years between 1994 and 1997, according to a survey released this year and sponsored in part by the Community Foundation Silicon Valley.

The group also released a study showing that while the wealthy in Silicon Valley gave the same amount as the rest of the nation as a percentage of their income, they gave to different causes, and little of the money stayed in the area.

And a 1996 study by the Conference Board found that the computer and office-equipment industry gave 2.6 percent of its U.S. pretax income to charity, a figure that research associate Audris Tillman says is "well ahead of what other industries are giving."

Of the companies surveyed by the Conference Board, the average contribution by industry was 0.9 percent of U.S. pretax income.

But a list of America's 25 most generous companies that was published in the summer issue of American Benefactor, a New York-based magazine, includes no computer companies.

Computer companies such as Hewlett-Packard Co., Intel Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Seagate Technology Inc. all made it onto the Fortune 200 list - but not onto the list of generous givers.

In compiling its list, American Benefactor took into account not only donation totals, but also the percentage of profits given away and the innovation and effectiveness of a company's philanthropy program.

Reinhard of Corporate Philanthropy Reports says IBM Corp. is an exception to the low-giving trend in the computer industry because it is older than many computer companies.

"Some organizations are not as profitable as they look," he says. "It's just that their stock prices are high because investors see a lot of potential for the future."

He says the industry is giving more as its profits continue to grow. Tillman of the Conference Board says she is not surprised to see in-kind giving on the rise, even as cash giving remains steady.

The Taft Group's list of the top 10 corporate cash givers for 1996, published in Corporate Giving Watch in January, ranks only one industry representative - IBM - which had total cash giving of $38.3 billion. By comparison, the list of the top 10 non-monetary givers for 1996 includes IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Microsoft Corp. Clearly, the industry is giving, but primarily in the form of product donations. But critics say the value of in-kind gifts can inflate the figures - especially when using retail prices instead of wholesale prices - and can distort lists of top givers.

Corporate Giving Watch had to revise its rankings a year and a half ago when IBM complained it was lower on the list because it had supplied wholesale prices to the survey for its software donations, while Microsoft - which was higher on the list - had supplied retail prices.

And when young industries start to falter, they will cut back on philanthropic giving, says Reinhard of Corporate Philanthropy Reports. He cites Apple as a company with a once-strong philanthropic program that was put aside when the computer-maker hit hard times.

But Reinhard refers only to cash gifts.

"You can't really compare cash and in-kind giving," he says.

Paul Brainerd, founder of the desktop publishing company Aldus Corp., sold his software company in 1994 to form the nonprofit organization Social Venture Partners. He says it is hard to comment on the charitable giving of an industry as diverse as the technology industry.

"It is fair to say that the industry as a whole is very employee-driven in terms of the way giving is done," says Brainerd, whose nonprofit group encourages high-tech professionals to give back time, money and expertise to their communities. "Many high tech companies give employees the responsibility to determine community needs, develop grant guidelines and make the actual funding decisions."

While some deplore the low levels of giving by the industry, at least one organization is doing something about it.

The newly-created, Menlo Park, Calif.-based Entrepreneurs' Foundation is teaching young new entrepreneurs to give to charitable causes by helping them fund educational youth development projects.

The fledgling organization has only nine member companies, but hopes that number will mushroom to 500 in the next five years. Those projections reflect the appearance of 600 new companies a year in Silicon Valley.

The new foundation is committed to the philosophy of instilling the habits of giving in infant companies so they will practice philanthropy for a lifetime. "I think there is a maturing of this whole area," says Gib Myers, founder and chairman of Entrepreneurs' Foundation. "With the success of the companies, the number of companies cropping up each year and the individual wealth that's been generated, more people are thinking about how they can give back to the community."

Patty Burness, the new group's executive director, believes the generosity is there, but says the new entrepreneurs simply lack the time and know-how to devote to philanthropy.

"The work ethic here is quite intense," she says. "People are focused on their businesses six and seven days a week. They work hard, they're stressed out, they don't see their families much, they are young and they don't know how to get involved in their communities - and they don't have time."

By helping young companies employ community programs, food and blood drives and volunteer programs, the Entrepreneurs' Foundation gets companies involved in their communities early in their corporate lives. And they encourage companies to give some of their stock to reinvest in select community programs.

Other findings by Community Foundation Silicon Valley:

• Giving by Silicon Valley companies now exceeds national averages for corporate giving.
• Giving by medium-sized companies in Silicon Valley is lower than national averages and giving by larger Silicon Valley firms.
• Education, primarily K-12, is the top community priority of Silicon Valley firms.
• Fewer Silicon Valley companies have employees on nonprofit boards than they did in 1994.