Corporate Giving Programs and Foundations
Corporate Philanthropy refers to the investments and activities a company voluntarily undertakes to responsibly manage and account for its impact on society. It includes investments of money, donations of products, in-kind services and technical assistance, employee volunteerism, and other business transactions to advance a social cause, issue, or the work of a nonprofit organization. Corporate foundations and corporate giving programs traditionally play a major role in these areas.
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Philanthropy and Rural America
Publication
Rural America is the frontier for philanthropy to test assumptions, take risks, leverage dollars, influence public policy, and learn lessons. Building on a 2008 rural philanthropy conference, this journal captures ideas from the best minds in rural philanthropy. Learn what philanthropy is doing—or…
The Complete Guide to Grantmaking Basics: A Field Guide for Funders
Publication
The Complete Guide to Grantmaking Basics brings together and updates the information, guidance, and tips found in Grantmaking Basics I and II with more essential tools for grantmakers. This book is a practical guide to honing your grantmaking effectiveness and adapting to the changing nonprofit…
Veterans Issues Require a Thoughtful and Collaborative Approach
As the daughter of a Vietnam veteran, and a veteran myself, the challenges those who serve face when they come home are topics near and dear to my heart.
There are so many ways to lean into this conversation. We can talk about mental health issues and the suicide rate within this population.…
Alcoa Foundation Promotes Careers in Manufacturing with Returning Veterans
Today, 600,000 high-tech manufacturing jobs remain open in the United States and more than 82 percent of manufacturers report that these jobs are unfilled because they can’t find people with the necessary skills. More specifically, according to a Manufacturing Institute survey, there is a critical…
The Business of Giving
With the explosion of private enterprise in many parts of the world, there are more wealthy people looking for ways to give back to their communities. Business leaders in areas like Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and China are exploring ways to contribute to society. A new school at…
Join the Movement for Oral Health
Dental disease isn’t usually top of mind in the national conversation about health care. However, it is a serious, chronic, infectious illness—and it is preventable. Consider this:
Dental disease (cavities) is the most common chronic disease in children, more common than asthma.
Every year…
Exploring a Platform for Collaboration
As I continue to reflect on the Council’s recent publication, Increasing Impact, Enhancing Value: A Practitioner’s Guide to Corporate Philanthropy, I am reminded of author Chris Pinney’s suggestion that this is a leadership moment for corporate philanthropy. There are at least three reasons for…
Working Toward an AIDS-Free Generation
Last week, The Merck Company Foundation launched a new three-year, $3 million initiative, the HIV Care Collaborative for Underserved Populations in the United States, to help the local health departments in Atlanta, Houston, and Philadelphia connect more people living with HIV/AIDS to the care they…
A New Narrative for Corporate Philanthropy
A well-respected colleague and I recently had a troubling conversation. While we agreed that we are entering into a new era of corporate philanthropy, we found ourselves in a circular conversation with no shared platform to speak from about our differing strategies to achieve the triple…
Redefining the Roles of Corporate Foundations and Philanthropy
With input from IBM and nine other leading companies, the Council on Foundations just launched an ambitious initiative to revitalize and redefine the roles of corporate foundations and philanthropy. Increasing Impact, Enhancing Value: A Practitioner’s Guide to Corporate Philanthropy establishes a…
Let’s Open It Up to the Floor
Panels of talking heads during conferences are all well and good, especially when they are saying something of importance that we don’t know. However the audiences at Council on Foundations conferences often have knowledge and perspectives that are just as interesting as the speakers. At today’s…
A “Paradigm Shift” for Corporate Philanthropy
Last year’s Council on Foundations Annual Meeting was held before the Occupy Wall Street movement highlighted the role and power of corporate America in this nation’s wealth divide. Even then, according to Chris Pinney of the Aspen Institute, one of the researchers behind the new Council report on…
Deadline for Career Pathways Program Approaching
The application deadline for the third class of the Council on Foundations’ Career Pathways Program is March 21. Individuals with diverse backgrounds seeking career advancement in the field of philanthropy are encouraged to apply.
In two short years, the Career Pathways program has…
Acting on Opportunity
The International Youth Foundation recently released a report that looks at the growing education and social challenges facing youth around the world. Commissioned by Microsoft, it underlines the emergence of an worldwide opportunity divide among young people.
At a time when we have 1.2…
Knowing and Doing: The Wisdom of the Field
As the new year sprints forward, I am struck by the amount of new thinking and new literature surrounding the topic of corporate social responsibility, particularly philanthropy. In meteorological terms, a new weather front has arrived and continues to generate unsettling conditions.
As it is,…