APRIL 2005: SPECIAL FEATURE

Fundraising for Refugee-Serving Agencies - Part 5

CORPORATION AND COMMUNITY: BUILDING ON BENEFITS FOR BOTH

Two months ago this series focused on identifying foundations that donate money to refugee and immigrant organizations in the U.S. Examples included public charities, community foundations and corporate foundations. This month’s discussion focuses on other ways that corporations contribute to their communities and, since April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month in the US, we list corporate programs that contribute to child abuse prevention.

Forms of corporate giving other than donating money are usually grouped under the term corporate direct giving, and they are usually directed toward company employees and their families or residents of the places where a given corporation conducts business, for example, the city where the company headquarters or the majority of their customers are located. The following discussion will describe various types of direct giving, along with tips on how to gain access to these resources and where to learn more.

Types of Corporate Direct Giving

Corporate direct giving initiatives may include the following forms of support:

• Corporate grants - Corporations may choose to sponsor grantmaking programs thorough mechanisms other than an official foundation. For example, a company’s community or public relations department may offer grants to community organizations that provide a type of service or product that is of potential benefit to their employees or their customers in a given geographic area.
• Matching gifts - A corporation may opt to contribute a gift on the condition that it is matched, often within a certain period of time, thereby leveraging its own funds to increase donations to a given organization. An example of a matching gift is for every dollar donated to an organization by an employee, a company will also donate a dollar, or, match it. “Characteristics of employee matching gifts include the following:
  • Companies frequently match their employees' monetary contributions to particular charities.
  • Companies may also contribute financially to match employees' volunteer efforts.
  • Many corporations offer employee matching gift programs in higher education to stimulate their employees to give to the college or university of their choice (usually their alma mater).
  • o Many foundations have matching gift programs for their officers and directors.” (From The Foundation Center Web site)
• In-kind contributions - Some companies may choose to make a contribution in the form of goods or services, not in money, such as a contribution of equipment, supplies, space or staff time. The donor may place monetary value on such a contribution for tax purposes. For more information, visit the The Foundation Center’s FAQ on in-kind gifts.
• Employee volunteers - Employees of a company may be encouraged to donate their time and expertise to a given organization, cause, benefit, etc. The company may simply participate in volunteer recruitment or add incentives such as additional leave time during the business week, paid or unpaid, for an employee to work with a given organization. Volunteer support may cover basic office tasks such as mass mailings and phone calls or it may extend into more specialized areas such as mentoring youth, providing management and systems expertise, fundraising support, etc. Organization board members and advisors often serve on a volunteer basis as well.
• Joint marketing ventures - Companies may also wish to enter into some form of marketing initiative with a non-profit. Such partnerships are possible when a company's customer base has an interest in supporting a given organization. For example, a grocery store with a large Sudanese customer base may find it good marketing policy to advertise that every bag of groceries sold provides a certain contribution to a particular Sudanese community organization.
• Other forms of corporate collaboration include those which combine several forms of giving categories:
  • Strategic alliance (also known as venture philanthropy) - “A strategic alliance between a corporation and a nonprofit or a group of nonprofits takes place when a company brings virtually all of its capabilities to a social cause.” For example, Venture Philanthropy Partners (VPP) includes a variety of corporate members who work together “to improve the lives of children from low-income communities” in the National Capital Region. They do so by strengthening the nonprofit organizations and the community leaders who serve them. Contributions include not only funding, but also direct management expertise and other human and technical resources.
  • Sectoral cooperation - “When it comes to technical capacity, outreach, distribution systems, and resources, corporations can support the program or sectoral work of nonprofits in a variety of ways, particularly when program and corporate objectives coincide….[For example, YouthNOISE involves] an exciting new web-based initiative launched by Save the Children to mobilize teens on behalf of children and youth in need. The project received collaborative support from partners in corporate technology, media, marketing, and philanthropy, including Seagate Technology, Yahoo!” and Allstate, among others.
    (Definitions of “strategic alliance” and “sectoral cooperation” come from Charles MacCoirmack, Save the Children, and were publshed jointly by VPP and Community Wealth Ventures, Inc.)

Tips to Promote Partnerships

There are a number of important ways in which you can improve the likelihood of your success in acquiring corporate contributions of any type. According to Tamara Becker, writing in onPhilanthropy.com, nonprofit organizations seeking donations should:

• Carefully research corporate prospects. “Identify and craft a compelling message for companies that possess as many of the following characteristics as possible:
  
  • a significant presence in the locations in which your organization operates;
  • an inherent business interest in your programs and services.” For example, an organization seeking support for child abuse prevention may wish to target a national toy company that markets to children and their parents or a local company that employs parents in their target population.
  • “a stated grantmaking focus on the cause that your organization addresses; and
  • record of funding organizations similar to yours.”
• Determine the unique resources that your organization can bring to the table. Decide how your organization could engage corporate employees in meaningful ways such as regular volunteer opportunities or through customized events. For example, corporations could:
  • Invite a local youth music group to perform at a company meeting
  • Display art from a local youth arts program in the company’s lobby, halls or break rooms
  • Allow students from a youth development organization to “job shadow” employees.
  Non-profits can:
  • Provide seats on their Board of Directors and Advisory Boards that allow the company’s employees to gain leadership training or to network
  • Recognize their corporate partners through creative use of their media resources such as the non-profit’s Web site, newsletters (for example, the corporation’s CEO could write a quarterly column), annual report and events.
  • Provide evidence of your impact. “If you do not already have one, consider developing a Facts Sheet that offers statistics such as the number and demographics of individuals served; market penetration; the number of offices, employees, volunteers, and board members within your network; your financial information, and other data pertaining to important outcomes.”

  Learn about the importance of telling your organization’s impact story including discussion of how to use monitoring and evaluation results, both quantitative and qualitative, to increase donor cultivation in next month's Special Feature on Fundraising.
  
  Corporate Direct Giving Programs to Address Child Abuse Prevention
  
  Albertson’s, Incorporated.  Areas of charitable giving include hunger relief, health and nutrition, and education and the development of our youth.
  
  Caterpillar, Inc. “As a global company, Caterpillar seeks to become actively involved in all of the communities where we work and live. We encourage our employees to become engaged in their communities as well, supporting organizations throughout the United States and the world. Organizations such as the United Way, Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity provide great volunteer opportunities for employees and help solve local problems by contributing to their communities' welfare and prosperity.
  
  Our responsibility as a global citizen is to enhance the lives of our neighbors around the world, both as a corporation and as individuals. Caterpillar's continued dedication to community enhancement is the right thing to do. Our communities rely on our help - and we rely on them for the resources and support they provide to keep our company stable and strong.” Caterpillar contributes through The Caterpillar Foundation, United Way, their matching gifts program and community involvement.
  
  C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc.  “C&S supports initiatives to stop hunger and to promote the health and enrichment of communities that are homes to our employees and facilities. …
  
  Our priority focus is on Hunger Eradication (fighting hunger by support to statewide or regional food banks where C&S has a presence) and Hunger Leadership (programs to inspire people in C&S communities to become new leaders in the fight against hunger).
  
  Our secondary focus is on Community Service (United Way match to employee donations, public safety), Health (community based health care and hospitals), and Children (child abuse prevention, children's literacy). …
  
  Support is directed to communities where C&S has a major presence and is therefore targeted to organizations with[in] 20 miles of C&S facilities.”
  
  Cingular.
  “Cingular supports community-based programs and organizations that address educational, cultural, and social issues affecting the quality of life in the communities in which we work and live. …
  
  Our philanthropic endeavors include:

  • Assisting victims of domestic abuse.
  • Helping in times of disaster.
  • Offering financial support to several national organizations and many local non-profits in our communities, as well as encouraging our employees to volunteer with these organizations.”

  The Target Corporation  “Target believes no one knows a community's needs better than the people who live and work there. That's why Target local grant dollars are allocated by store leaders to hometown organizations.

  Target grantmaking focuses on early childhood education, the arts and family violence prevention. …

  Family violence prevention benefits the entire community by building strong families, creating healthy environments for kids and helping parents and kids make good choices. Target supports family violence prevention including funding for parenting education, crisis nurseries, family counseling, after-school programs, support groups and abuse shelters.”

  The TJX Foundation  “Both The TJX Foundation and the Company's operating divisions focus on charities that help children and families, aid education, assist the disadvantaged and support battered women and families. We donate our time, energy and financial support in a variety of ways that include in-store donation programs, sponsored events, volunteerism and charitable contributions. …

  In addition to the numerous causes supported by Associates throughout TJX, individual divisions also dedicate substantial effort to causes that fit within our corporate philanthropic mission. For example, T.J. Maxx has been a major sponsor of Save the Children since 1984. As part of our support of Save the Children, Associates at each T.J. Maxx store, as well as home-office departments, sponsored nearly 800 children in 2003.

  Marshalls is an avid supporter of The Family Violence Prevention Fund and sponsors programs to raise awareness of domestic violence as well as funding through programs such as Shop ‘til it Stops.

  HomeGoods, similar to our other concepts, supports charitable organizations that help children and families, including the Family Violence Prevention Fund, which raises awareness about domestic violence.”

  Additional Resources to Learn More
  
  The Foundation Center recommends the following resources on corporate giving:

  • Web Sites of Corporate Grantmakers  - “Search [The Foundation Center’s] annotated links to corporate foundations by subject or geographic keyword
  • Hoover's Online  - Web-based tool for finding basic company information and news. Some content is free; detailed company information requires a subscription.
  • Information About Companies and Executives - This section of David Lamb's Prospect Research Page consists of an annotated “collection of links that may prove useful in pinpointing information on a specific corporation's charitable giving interests.”
  • Philanthropy News Digest (PND)  - “An online compendium of weekly news abstracts on foundations, corporate giving and grants. Use the PND Archives to search past issues of the Philanthropy News Digest archive, dating back to January of 1995.”
     

  This featured search provides additional resources about fundraising.

  Read more in the sixth part of BRYCS special feature on fundraising. The complete BRYCS series on fundraising is also available as a PDF.