corporate foundations and broader corporate giving
TRANSCRIPT
Corporate foundations and broader corporate giving
Corporate giving is not a new phenomenon
However, growth in corporate responsibility agenda has meant:
Emphasis on business practices
Less inclination for corporate philanthropy
Align charitable / community activities with core business focus
That said…
Corporate giving still considered to be important (Percent Club)
GlaxoSmithKline = £328 million in 2005 (cash, time and gifts)
Corporate donors contribute just under 3% of the UK charity income
52 new corporate foundations were set up in 1990’s
24 so far since 2000
“Revealing the Foundations”
Knowledge and understanding of corporate foundations is limited
Little previous research conducted
Views on even the basic information vary widely
Interest in knowing more and need for practical guidance
Rationale for research
how many are there?
how much income do they receive and what do they invest it in?
what activities do they support?
how integrated are they with their founder companies?
Our objectives were to use the findings to:
inform interested parties about corporate foundations
provide some practical - setting up / reviewing
open up a debate about the role of foundations in corporate giving
The aim of the research was find out more about corporate foundations in England & Wales:
Aims and objectives
Methodology
Gathered lists of foundations from relevant organisations and
directories including CAF and ACF
Cross-checked data with FTSE 100 and BITC list
Confirmed details using Charity Commission Register of Charities
Conducted 34 telephone interviews
Identified nine corporate foundations for detailed case studies
A corporate foundation is a registered charity whose primary income is derived in some way from a
corporate source
Defining a corporate foundation
Investment income on assets originally given by a company
Regular donations from a company
An endowment linked to a company’s profits
Money raised by a company’s or employees’ fundraising efforts
Gift and support in kind
Funding sources
Main findings
Based on our definition, there are 126 corporate foundations currently active in England and Wales
913
28
52
24
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Number of foundations
1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
Decade of foundation set up
Prevalence
Most foundations are set up to provide a transparent, formalised structure to corporate giving.
Other reasons include:
marking an anniversary or special event
individual philanthropy of senior person in the company
structural change, eg mergers, demutualisation
Reason for set up
Total income for corporate foundations 2004-5 amounts to approximately £208 million
1715
37
13
28
36
7
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Number of foundations
up to£50k
£50k -£100k
£100k -£500k
£500k -£1m
£1m -£5m
£5m -£10m
Over£10m
Noaccounts
Income bracket
Levels of support
Total expenditure for corporate foundations 2004-5 amounts to approximately £167 million, with approximately £148 million going on direct charitable donations, mostly in grant form
9
15
42
11
23
2 3
21
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Number of foundations
up to£50k
£50k -£100k
£100k -£500k
£500k -£1m
£1m -£5m
£5m -£10m
Over£10m
Noaccounts
Spend bracket
Majority fund through grants
Minority fund research, scholarships, secondments etc
Generally support a broad range of charitable activity
More likely to have broad funding areas than narrowly focused ones
Nature of support
Most foundations are not focusing their work on areas that link closely with the activities or focus of their founder company
Unknown, 12
No link with business focus, 78
Links with business focus, 36
Focus of support
Small number have specific regional focus, usually linked to traditional location and focus of founder company
No regional focus, 84
Regional focus, 29
Unknown, 13
Focus of support
Ability to fund more controversial areas felt to be benefit of having a foundation
Company can remain at arms length, whilst gaining reputational benefits
Foundation = legitimacy and authority
Can lead to conflict with the business
Northern Rock – exclusion and disadvantage, domestic abuse and reoffending
Nationwide – “Supporting Families” prisoners families, domestic violence, young offenders
Zurich Community Trust – “Disadvantage” drug abuse, older people, India
The issue of risk
Some foundations support the involvement of employees in charitable activities: match giving; organising volunteering events / programmes; payroll giving
No employee involvement, 79
Supports employee
involvement, 29
Unknown, 18
Employee involvement
Most giving is reactive, although some do approach specific organisations
Some feel overwhelmed with requests – don’t need to look for more causes to support
“We do not proactively seek out causes, or heavily market our foundation as it is a small foundation and we would be inundated”
“If we advertised in any way other than the website, there would be too many applications to process. The trust receives around 10,000 applications per year”
“There are many applications to the foundation each month. The trustees do examine new areas that they may be able to support, but they do not particularly seek them out.”
Identifying partners
CCI – growing focus on evaluation:
Evaluation
Inputs: Resources contributed Outputs: Quantifiable units that are direct products of
activity Outcomes: Benefits or changes for intended
beneficiaries, usually linked to objectivesImpacts: All changes arising from the programme’s
activities
Almost all monitor inputs, outputs and outcomes Evaluation varies - six monthly / annual report, withholding of funding Some starting to measure impacts Recognition of evaluation burden but also value
What next?
1) Maintaining a database of corporate foundations
2) Exploring corporate foundations from other perspectives
3) Exploring issues in more depth
4) How are corporate foundations different
The SMART Company
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London EC1M 6HE
t: 020 7864 4141
www.thesmartcompany.net