Corporate philanthropy: who gives and why?

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. This chapter considers what we know, and what we might like to know about corporate philanthropy and community engagement. It does so particularly through a nonprofit marketing lens, that is, from the perspective of the nonprofit organization seeking mission revenue and resources from the corporate market. This concern for corporate support cannot be underestimated. Overall giving may be increasing in many countries, but so too are the numbers of nonprofits seeking donations. Add changes to traditional government funding and corporate involvement becomes even more vital for nonprofits, along with the marketing skills to win such support. At the moment, corporate giving represents only a small measure of the funds feeding the nonprofit sector as the various comprehensive giving studies undertaken in countries such as Australia, the USA, the Netherlands., Korea and South Africa attest. This situation must change: as Andreasen (2006) observes, developing explicit ties with business is needed if nonprofit organizations are to survive. However, it is not just ties that nonprofits will need. A clear understanding of the motivations, pressures and options of businesses in considering community engagement, as well as nonprofits' own requirements, is also critical to practice and scholarship alike. Thus, while written using a nonprofit marketing lens, this chapter takes the bifocal view and charts what research and commentary reveal about issues for corporate givers. Just as academic research relating to individual giving has fruitfully investigated the donor perspective, so it must do in the corporate market. Parallels between individual and corporate also guide potential future research directions.