Why Do you Need our Services?

Our clients benefit from the shared wisdom of our entire staff who bring expertise in all aspects of the not-for-profit and philanthropic sectors. corporate grantmakers are increasingly pressed for time. Grants budget have increased, but the size of staff has been declining, so demands on the remaining staff are greater.

With the Dow continuing to drop, sales slumping, and stock options remaining under water and the economy sputtering, chief executives have to make difficult and unpopular decisions: layoffs, downsizing, and plant closings. The issue of CEO compensation and perks is in the news like never before, and not in a positive or flattering way. And with the scandals involving the CEOs of Enron, WorldCom, Tyco International and other formerly high-flying companies, CEO reputations have been blackened with a very broad brush. A recent article in The New York Times portrayed corporate giving as just one more vehicle for CEO misbehavior and overindulgence.

In a recent meeting with leaders in the field of corporate philanthropy, business and media, one media representative noted that association at the moment with the word “corporate” is not positive: greed, dishonesty, destruction of the environment, starvation of the world’s poor? In discussing the role of the media in reporting on corporate giving, he went on to ask, “Do you want to correct the current impression that every CEO is a pig and a thief”?

A harsh indictment, to be sure. Is there anything that the corporate grantmaking field can do to change these perceptions? Yes ! two things.

1. Transparency.
2. Strategic, focused giving.

In embracing transparency, companies are open about why they give and to what, disclosing the details of their grantmaking programs to the public. They have nothing to be ashamed of and so nothing to hide.

Focusing giving in a strategic manner, in line with the company’s business interests, provides companies with a framework for allocating scarce resources and also helps the company achieve greater impact with its dollars. A strategic focus also provides a clear rationale to shareholders for the distribution of corporate dollars, and allows for linkages among employee volunteer efforts, cash and in-kind giving, and other corporate resources.

These two concepts should be part of the DNA of every corporate giving program. And if the corporate sector doesn’t voluntarily embrace these concepts, they may find themselves forced to do so. U.S. Representative Paul Gillmor of Ohio has submitted bills in Congress that would require companies to disclose their giving practices in filings with the S.E.C. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, requiring disclosure of corporate giving was dropped from the legislation that was eventually enacted, but could certainly be raised again in the next Congress.

Transparent, focused corporate giving programs are one positive step in the direction of rebuilding public trust in corporate America and its leaders, and should be embraced by all companies.