The New Corporate Philanthropy
Research Abstract
Title:
The New Corporate Philanthropy
Author:
Smith, C.
Date:
May/June 1994
Source:
Harvard Business Review, 72: 105-116.
Abstract:
Since the seventeenth century, business leaders have been in the top ranks of donors in the United States, and traditionally, the gifts of those prominent individuals were never meant to serve business purposes. Today, forced to explain why businesses should continue to give money away while laying off workers, contributions managers in hundreds of companies have come up with an approach that ties corporate giving directly to strategy. In those companies, Craig Smith explains, philanthropic and business units have joined forces to develop philanthropic strategies that give their companies a powerful competitive edge. True, there is no shortage of social initiatives that lend themselves to photo opportunities without effecting real changes. But the new corporate philanthropy encourages companies to play a leadership role in social problem solving by funding initiatives that incorporate the best thinking of governments and nonprofit institutions. The new approach to philanthropy is best illustrated by the pathbreaking AT&T
Foundation, which has set up a dynamic relationship with the company's business units to support social causes while, at the same time, advancing
AT&T's business goals. Already powerful in the United States, the new model of strategic philanthropy promises to be most effective for U.S. companies internationally, particularly in emerging markets, where even small grant programs can have a large impact. But other countries, including Japan, are studying the model carefully. The window of opportunity is still open for U.S. companies to export their philanthropy, but they must act now or risk missing out on the benefits of a model they helped create.
Link:
http://hbr.org/1994/05/the-new-corporate-philanthropy/ar/1
The Institute of Fundraising
Title:
The New Corporate Philanthropy
Author:
Smith, C.
Date:
May/June 1994
Source:
Harvard Business Review, 72: 105-116.
Abstract:
Since the seventeenth century, business leaders have been in the top ranks of donors in the United States, and traditionally, the gifts of those prominent individuals were never meant to serve business purposes. Today, forced to explain why businesses should continue to give money away while laying off workers, contributions managers in hundreds of companies have come up with an approach that ties corporate giving directly to strategy. In those companies, Craig Smith explains, philanthropic and business units have joined forces to develop philanthropic strategies that give their companies a powerful competitive edge. True, there is no shortage of social initiatives that lend themselves to photo opportunities without effecting real changes. But the new corporate philanthropy encourages companies to play a leadership role in social problem solving by funding initiatives that incorporate the best thinking of governments and nonprofit institutions. The new approach to philanthropy is best illustrated by the pathbreaking AT&T
Foundation, which has set up a dynamic relationship with the company's business units to support social causes while, at the same time, advancing
AT&T's business goals. Already powerful in the United States, the new model of strategic philanthropy promises to be most effective for U.S. companies internationally, particularly in emerging markets, where even small grant programs can have a large impact. But other countries, including Japan, are studying the model carefully. The window of opportunity is still open for U.S. companies to export their philanthropy, but they must act now or risk missing out on the benefits of a model they helped create.
Link:
http://hbr.org/1994/05/the-new-corporate-philanthropy/ar/1
The Institute of Fundraising