The Softer Benefits of Corporate Giving | MAPSTL

The Softer Benefits of Corporate Giving ?Veronica Fielding

Have a favorite charity or non-profit community cause to which
you contribute time and resources? Chances are your company will
be interested in supporting it, too.

According to the Giving USA 2004 study released by the Giving
USA Foundation in the summer of 2004, American individuals,
estates, foundations, and corporations gave an estimated 0.72
billion to charitable causes in 2003. In the US, during the five
years spanning 1998-2002, corporations contributed billion,
(5%) of the total 35 billion. Corporations also gave through
foundations, which contributed an addition 1 billion (11%) of
the five year total.

People tend to be aware that there are financial benefits to
corporations for donating to charities and that corporations
want to be good, forward-acting citizens. What people?and many
organizations?don?t realize yet is that there are still other
motivators and benefits for corporate giving. The fact is,
increasing numbers corporations are extending the benefits of
their corporate giving activities by leveraging them as team
building programs and employee support initiatives that increase
even further the benefits these activities bring to the company
itself.

For example, according to Marjorie Polycarpe in a December 2003
article Re-Examining Workplace Giving Programs
(http://www.onphilanthropy.com/bestpract/bp2003-12-31.html), she
quotes the manager of the employee giving campaign at American
Express, Angela Woods, who discussed how her company involved
employees early on in their planning process for corporate
giving activities to help guide their choices for charities.
Getting employee input helped American Express identify the
causes and charities that were most important to their
employees.

This approach helps organizations communicate to their employees
that they respect and support their employees? donations of
personal time and resources. It also helps companies demonstrate
that support, by forming foundations, by contributing cash,
in-kind gifts, and/or matching programs, and by encouraging
other employees to get involved in particular causes and
facilitating their involvement.

When companies form foundations, they establish organizations
focused on giving to a particular cause or which is authorized
to contribute to approved organizations.

Companies can also contribute cash gifts directly to charitable
organizations.

When companies donate non-cash resources, these are called
in-kind gifts. In-kind gifts can be products that the company
produces, moved out of its inventory, or they can be can be
other items that the charity can use, such as furniture,
computers, food, etc. When companies contribute the services for
which they normally charge clients, for example, marketing or
legal services, these in-kind gifts are called pro bono
donations.

To help support charities that their employees contribute to or
to encourage employees to contribute to charities already
supported by the organization, companies can enable donations to
come directly from the employee?s payroll check. Frequently when
such systems are in place, they are part of a company matching
program which has the company match, or exceed by some
percentage, cash donations made by the employee. So, for
example, if an employee contributes per pay period to an
authorized charity, the company would contribute 0 per pay
period in a 2:1 program. The company would be contributing in a
similar manner for all of the other employees in the program.

Companies are finding that this sort of support, in addition to
public recognition and praise of employees who donate their time
and personal resources to various causes, helps them communicate
to employees that they are valued as individuals. It also
provides a forum through which the company can show appreciation
to the employee for the benefits it receives through the
positive association with the employee.

According to Kurt Rechner, President and Chief Operating Officer
of Tejas Securities Group, Inc., ?Tejas Securities contributes
regularly to charities as a way to give back to our community
and to show support for our employees and the companies with
which we do business. For example, we?ve made contributions to
the Children?s Medical Center Foundation of Austin, Communities
in Schools, Meals on Wheels, Arthouse Texas at The Jones Center,
and The Austin Film Society, each of which provides wonderful
benefits to the people in and around our home-base of Austin,
Texas. In addition, we recently learned about the great work
being done by Big Brothers of Massachusetts, and we made
contributions to that organization as well as Love for Children.
I think it?s important for companies to openly communicate with
their employees and business partners about their corporate
giving activities. By sharing information, the employees feel
valued, the organization learns about good organizations that
need its support?and it creates a win: win all the way around.?

Companies frequently find themselves contributing around themes.
Some, for example, find their employees tend to want to support
health-related causes, such as Breast Cancer Research or
Alzheimer?s research or other causes that may have affected
families and friends. Other organizations find their employees
gravitate towards education-related initiatives, such as the TJ
Ford Foundation and Reading Is Fundamental. And many
organizations find themselves contributing to organizations that
help support children, especially organizations that provide
esteem-building like Big Brothers/Big Sisters and those helping
children with special needs, such as Special Olympics and Make a
Wish Foundation.

With good causes being a good rallying point for boosting
morale, many organizations use their corporate giving programs
as team building tools to help unite their workers around a
common charitable cause. They find that uniting workers for an
outside cause helps reinforce their ability to work together for
the companies? good as well.

So if you?re an employee who is active in a charity, consider
extending the value of your contributions by getting your
employer involved. And if you?re an employer who wants to expand
the benefits of your contributions program, explore ways to
involve your employees, too. The non-profits you support will
thank you.

For additional resources on corporate giving and other types of
philanthropy visit: www.onphilanthropy.com www.aafrc.org
www.minnesotagiving.org

- end of article -

Source: http://www.mapstl.org/the-softer-benefits-of-corporate-giving.htm

shel silverstein dont ask dont tell dont ask dont tell troy davis execution date troy davis execution date skylar grey building 7