TOM'S MONEY IS WHERE ITS MOUTH IS

* A company that is being managed for ``the common good,'' as Tom's of Maine proclaims, had better walk its talk.

Glenn Rudberg, brand manager at Tom's, says he thinks the company does so. For one thing, the firm encourages all employees -

about 70 at its Kennebunk corporate and manufacturing headquarters - to devote 5 percent of their paid time each week to charitable work. He helps out with a nonprofit boy's camp in neighboring New Hampshire.

Colleen Myers, vice president for community life, mentions a warehouseman, Charlie Bedirian, who has become active in a statewide skiing program for the handicapped.

Employee benefits is another example of ``intentional goodness'' - a phrase favored by company president Tom Chappell. Ms. Myers ticks off a few: one-month paid maternity and paternity leave, child-care subsidies for employees who earn less than $30,000, paid counseling services for all employees.

Not least, Tom's of Maine contributes 10 percent of its pre-tax earnings to various causes, including a $100,000 grant to the Rain Forest Alliance. Much of that grant goes to fund research on medicinal and other uses for rain-forest plants. Tom's also supports the Center for Values in Public Life at Harvard Divinity School, plus such local programs as a summer camp for the children of migrant farm workers run by the Maine Conservation School.