Summer 2006

E-mail news Covering Corporate Foundation and Corporate Giving Interests

Mark Your Calendars for the Next SDG Corporate Program

Viva La Volunteer: Corporate Employee Engagement
Connecting Corporate Values to Community Needs - Engaging Employee Volunteers
September 7, 2006, 8:30-10:30am
Location:  AMN Healthcare, 12400 High Bluff Drive, San Diego
Sponsors: 

Hosted by

One of the top areas of interest identified at our March Corporate Contributions Roundtable was how to best deploy and involve employees in volunteer programs and community relations efforts. We are partnering with Volunteer San Diego to create a forum where you can learn about nationwide best practices and models in employee engagement and volunteerism and share your own local success stories. Please join us on September 7, to focus on how to make the most of what we all know is your biggest and best asset for community outreach - your people!

Topics will include how to:

• engage employees in service including recruiting, motivating, and recognizing volunteers
• coordinate an effective employee volunteer program highlighting incentives for involvement
• successfully partner with nonprofit organizations
• partner with Volunteer San Diego to enhance your existing program or develop a new program

RSVP today to programs@sdgrantmakers.org.

Corporate Giving Up Strongly in 2005: But Giving Down as Share of Profits

Foundation Center Report on Corporate Foundations
Charitable giving by corporate foundations reached a record high last year, and a majority of surveyed foundation leaders project continued growth in 2006, a new summary report from the Foundation Center finds. According to Key Facts on Corporate Foundations, nearly 2,600 corporate foundations awarded grants totaling $3.6 billion in 2005, although the growth of corporate giving still lags that of independent and community foundations. In addition, although corporate foundation giving comprises 11 percent of all giving, that's down from 17 percent in 1987. The report also found that, in terms of funding priorities, corporate foundations targeted half of their giving to education (26 percent) or public affairs/social benefit (24 percent) - which includes support for community development, federated funds and other philanthropy, and civil rights - and that more than half of the corporate foundations surveyed expect to increase their giving in 2006.

The report's findings come from the Foundation Center's tracking of fiscal and programmatic information on more than eighty thousand foundations, corporations, and public charities; annual surveys of leading grantmakers; and analyses of the giving patterns of the nation's nearly 1,200 largest foundations. To read or download the complete report (5 pages, PDF), click here. The report’s release coincides with the launch of the Foundation Center's new Corporate Giving Online, a searchable database that enables grantseekers to easily access a wealth of timely information on corporations, their giving vehicles, grants, and in-kind gifts. Updated weekly, Corporate Giving Online contains over 4,100 in-depth profiles, with a unique database of nearly 2,700 company-sponsored foundations and more than 1,400 corporate giving programs. Click here for more information.

Center to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy Report
From The Financial Times (registration required for full article): Corporate giving among the biggest US companies declined last year as a percentage of pre-tax profits, in spite of the well-publicized corporate response to Hurricane Katrina and the Asian tsunami. Overall, the amount given by 67 leading companies, including Wal-Mart, AIG, Citigroup and Halliburton, rose 14 percent last year to $8.56 billion. But the study, by the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy, found donations as a percentage of pre-tax profits declined to 0.9 per cent from 1.1 per cent in 2004. Charlie Moore, executive director of CECP, said the decline was not unexpected, given recent profit growth. "When the denominator goes up it makes it more difficult for the total giving to keep up," he said. Two-thirds of the donations from companies were in kind, with the proportion between cash and in kind donations unchanged. This year, 91 companies submitted $10 billion in 2005 giving data, the most ever received by CECP. CECP estimates this is over 50% of total corporate philanthropy in America. 44 of the responding companies are in the Fortune or Global 100, while 87 meet the revenue level of the Fortune 1000 or Global 500. Click here for a pdf about the report. For a summary report by AFP, click here; and for a Reuters story on the report, click here.

CSR and Financial Performance: Cause & Effect?
By Jessica Stannard-Friel, Editor of Inside Corporate Philanthropy, and a Director in the Philanthropy Division of Changing Our World, Inc.

Hewson Baltzell, President of Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, seemed to offer up the Holy Grail of the CSR world. With one slide in his presentation at the Conference Board's Leadership Conference on Global Corporate Citizenship, he demonstrated empirically that doing well is, in fact, a function of doing good. Or did he show that doing good is instead a product of doing well? Or that both are caused by a hidden third factor? What Baltzell showed was a slide demonstrating the financial performance of the 2006 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World. He compared that performance against the MSCI World Index, an equity index aggregating data from around the world to create a full picture of global performance. From 2000-2005, the Global 100 consistently outperformed the MSCI World Index; at the end of the five-year period, it had outperformed the World Index by 7.11%.

The Global 100 list was created in 2005 by Corporate Knights, Inc., a media company based in Canada, and Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, an investment research company that focuses on "non-traditional" factors impacting shareholder value and risk, including environmental, social, and governance factors. According to Corporate Knights and Innovest, the companies on the list, relative to other companies in their industries, are the best equipped to responsibly address the risks and opportunities associated with social, environmental, and governance matters. To be considered for inclusion, companies must be publicly-traded and included in the MSCI World Index. To study the relative performance of the two groups, Innovest examined the stock performance of the companies on the 2006 Global 100 list, looking back over each company's data from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2005. The findings were then compared to the performance of the MSCI World Index over the same period of time.

Based on their inclusion on the Global 100, the companies in question are certainly doing good. And as a group, their out-performance of the market indicates that they are also doing well. So what is the relationship between these two outcomes? Does a company's strong CSR performance lead to its strong financial performance? Is the strength of its CSR program made possible by previous financial success? Or does a third, unknown factor lead to excellence in both the CSR and the financial arenas?

Click here for Part 2 of this article.

Corporate Conscience Survey Says Workers Should Come First

From the New York Times (subscription required for full article): Far more American consumers consider the way companies treat their employees a good indicator of their social conscience than their philanthropy, according to a survey by the National Consumers League and Fleishman-Hillard, the public relations company. Asked to define "corporate social responsibility" in their own words, 27 percent of the 800 adults interviewed for the survey identified it as a demonstrated commitment to the well-being of employees. Only 3 percent identified charitable donations as the chief determinant of a company's social responsibility. "It's not that charitable work and philanthropy are not relevant, but relative to other issues, it just doesn't rank as highly," a senior vice president at Fleishman-Hillard, Sue Jolly, said.

The Stanford Social Innovation Review Blog, by Albert Ruesga of White Courtesy Telephone, also took up this topic, noting that many companies devote substantial resources to their philanthropy, and they work hard to publicize their giving. Some give generously because it’s simply the right thing to do, but many corporations also use their giving programs to enhance their bottom lines. But a new survey from the National Consumers League and Fleishman-Hillard calls into question the bottom-line effects of corporate philanthropy. The survey found that 76 percent of American consumers agree that to be socially responsible, companies should place employee salary and wage increases above making charitable contributions.  Similarly, the survey found that 76 percent believe that a company's treatment of its employees plays a big role in consumer purchasing decisions. Click here for the complete post.

Border Philanthropy Partnership Study of Corporate Giving Trends

Companies Align Giving with Business Goals

From Philanthropy Journal: Over the past five years, companies have been working to align their corporate giving programs with their overall business goals, a new study says. Almost half the companies surveyed by The Conference Board say such alignment is the biggest change in their corporate giving programs over the last five years. The study, "Philanthropy and Business: The Changing Agenda," is based on an analysis of the corporate giving activities of 77 multinational companies. Two in three companies surveyed say volunteerism will grow in importance as a management priority, the study says, and one in three say their biggest challenge in the coming year will measuring outcomes of their giving efforts. More than four in 10 say diversity will be the highest-priority program area this year. Within the diversity area, almost a quarter of respondents say Latino programs will be more important, while 17 percent cite African-American groups. Four in 10 businesses say they determine the geography of their international corporate giving based on countries in which their employees work, while three in 10 say humanitarian need is the driver, and one in four cite opportunities for business growth. Companies surveyed say Asia and India are becoming more important as recipients of corporate gifts, the study says, while Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East are less important.

Online Corporate Grant Applications

Interested in online grant applications? MicroEdge offers a two-part document series (called "What companies like Alcoa, Barclays Bank and The Home Depot know about online applications that you don't") that explores the challenges and benefits of taking the applications process online with examples of how corporate funders are implementing online grantmaking, and the impact it has had on their organizations. Click here for a link to request the downloadable white papers.

Business Leaders in the Nonprofit Sector

The summer 2006 Stanford Social Innovation Review highlights leadership in the nonprofit sector. Les Silverman and Lynn Taliento explain the roles of business leaders in the sector in “What Business Execs Don’t know—but Should—About Nonprofits.” Through interviews with "crossover leaders," 11 nonprofit executives who have also held senior positions in the for-profit world, the article attempts to bridge the gaps between the business and nonprofit worlds. "Business executives need to understand the leadership challenges faced by their nonprofit counterparts if they are to cross the border between the two worlds gracefully. And nonprofit leaders, for their part, need to have a firm grasp of these issues so that they can help the business leaders they work with be more effective." Click here for links to the article.

Resources from NCG Corporate Philanthropy Institute

What’s the logic behind a corporate community partnership, and what can we learn from previous efforts to strengthen new partnership opportunities?  Northern California Grantmakers' 2006 Corporate Philanthropy Institute, held June 13, focused on “Building and Sustaining Corporate Community Partnerships.” Here are some of the resources from the event:  

Business-NGO Partnerships, by Ben Schiller, Ethical Corporation

Collaboration Handbook: Creating, Sustaining and Enjoying the Journey, by Michael Winer and Karen Ray

Enduring Partnerships: Resilience, Innovation, Success, A Research Report and Toolkit by The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College

The Global Alliance for Workers and Communities: Lessons Learned about Partnership Governance and Accountability from a Multi-Stakeholder Initiative, by Accountability

Institutionalizing Partnerships: Lessons from the Front Line, by Ros Tennyson, Partnership Specialist and Director of Learning Programmes, International Business Leaders Forum

Partnering for Success: Business Perspectives on Multistakeholder Partnerships, from The World Economic Forum’s Global Corporate Citizenship Initiative in cooperation with Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the International Business Leaders Forum

Partnership Matters: Current Issues in Cross-Sector Collaboration, Issue 3:2005, published on behalf of The Partnering Initiative by The University of Cambridge

Upcoming Programs

Keeping San Diego’s Children and Teens HEALTHY
Laura Spiegel, First 5; Sandra McBrayer, The Children’s Initiative; Roseann Myers, The Commission for Children, Youth and Families; Dr. Pradeep Gidwani, Project Manager for the First 5 Commission's Health and Developmental Services Project and Vice President of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
July 13, 2006, 8:30am – 10:30am
Location: UCSD Preuss School
Breakfast

Funder Discussion on Nonprofit Leadership Development
July 24, 2006, 12:00-2:00pm
Location: Fieldstone, 5465 Morehouse Drive, Suite 250, San Diego
Lunch

Funding Education: Round 2
Dr. Carl Cohn, Superintendent San Diego City Schools; Dr. Paula Cordeiro, Dean of the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, USD; Richard Thome, Assistant Superintendent, San Diego County Schools
August 3, 2006, 8:30-10:30am
Location: San Diego Foundation, 1420 Kettner Blvd, San Diego, 1st floor community room
Breakfast

Child Welfare Funders Session
August 7, 2006, 12:00 - 1:30pm
Location:  California Endowment, 600 West Broadway, Suite 1250, SD, CA 92101
Lunch Included
This meeting of the Child Welfare Funders group will feature Judge James R. Milliken, the former presiding judge of juvenile court in San Diego. Presentation and Q and A format.

N2: Networking at Northern Trust
A FEW 4th WEDNESDAYS
August 23, 12 - 1:30pm
September 27, 4 - 5:30pm Special Member Panel: Grants Review & Decisions
October 25, 12 - 1:30pm
Location: Northern Trust, 4370 La Jolla Village Drive, 10th Floor, San Diego

Network with and learn from your SDG member colleagues! September 27 will have a special focus on reviewing grant applications with Tim McCarthy from the McCarthy Family Foundation, Ruth Riedel from the Alliance Healthcare Foundation and Cindy Olmstead, Chair of the San Diego Women's Foundation Grants Committee.

Viva La Volunteer: Corporate Employee Engagement
September 7, 2006, 8:30-10:30am
Location:  AMN Healthcare, 12400 High Bluff Drive, San Diego
Sponsors: 
Hosted by

San Diego Grantmakers Annual Conference: 
Grantmakers as Change Makers
October 4, 2006, 8am-3pm
Location: NTC Promenade, 2875 Dewey Road, San Diego
$100 for SDG members, $150 non-member grantmakers
Breakfast and Lunch

Distinguished Speaker Series: Mayor Jerry Sanders
A Philanthropic Lens for San Diego’s Future
November 1, 2006, 11:30am-1:00pm
Location: Aboard Holland America Lines ms Zaandam (in port), 1140 N. Harbor Drive, San Diego
Lunch
Fee

All programs are free for SDG members except where indicated. To RSVP, please call (619) 744-2180 or email programs@sdgrantmakers.org.

Corporate Link is a quarterly brief by San Diego Grantmakers dedicated to supporting corporate giving and corporate foundation members of the San Diego Grantmakers Corporate Contributions Roundtable. For questions or comments about SDGrantmakers or our online updates, visit www.SDGrantmakers.org or contact Nancy Jamison, 619/744.2180 or Nancy@sdgrantmakers.org

Submit news items, suggestions and comments to Nancy@SDGrantmakers.org