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.
Due to the large number of resources on our website, we highly recommend you use the site navigation or the search feature to find what you are looking for.
Rules of Advocacy & Lobbying
Legal Compliance Guidance
It is easy to get hung up on what you think you cannot do in terms of engaging with your policymakers. The good news is, you can do more than you may think!
Though the law varies somewhat between what community and public foundations are allowed to do, versus what private foundations are allowed…
Foundation Law for Non-Lawyers
When my colleague and fellow attorney Lara Kalwinski, Senior Counsel for Policy and Compliance and Executive Director of National Standards, and I both came to the Council on Foundations in 2013, we each had extensive experience with the Council’s books, newsletters, and other legal publications.…
Council on Foundations Applauds Important Changes in Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Policy
The Council on Foundations, a member of the Global NPO Coalition on FATF, applauds the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) recent update to its counter-terrorism recommendation on NPOs, specifically grantmakers.
The Council hails the removal of the long-standing characterization of nonprofits as “…
How to Find Your Members of Congress
Fundamentals
Find your Representative(s)
Members of Congress are interested to learn about the work that you are doing in their communities. When identifying your representative(s), it is helpful to think—not only about the district in which your home office is located—but also the areas in which you fund. It…
Council Member Update: Finance and Endowment Focus
Members View the Recording
This member update will focus principally on important issues related to foundation financial management and endowment performance. We will look in depth at the Council's recent research on endowments and preview our upcoming Endowments and Finance Summit in New York…
Keep Calm and Carry On?
This post originally appeared as an op-ed in The Chronicle of Philanthropy on June 24, 2016 with the title "Brexit Vote Will Force Philanthropy to Tackle Many Tough Issues."
The vote for Britain to exit the European Union took philanthropy and the rest of the world by surprise. But it raises tough…
Month of Pride
I started this blog post earlier in the month to recognize June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ)* Pride Month, but the tragedy in Orlando rightly caused the Council and my blog post to change course. As June comes to a close, it seems fitting to celebrate the LGBTQ…
Washington Snapshot - June 24, 2016
News from the Hill
Speaker Ryan Releases Tax Blueprint
As our readers know, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) organized five task forces to draft substantive blueprints outlining policy options for a number of issue areas—including tax reform.
Chaired by Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Kevin…
Diving into the Data: Staffing & Salaries
The second chapter of the Council’s full 2015 Grantmakers Salary and Benefits Report provides extensive data on staff and salaries. In it, we offer tables on everything from the size of responding foundations to the diversity and salaries of their full-time staff and the tenure and turnover of…
Call Summary: 2016 Chinese Foreign NGO Law
On May 10, 2016, the Council on Foundations (the Council) and International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) convened over 100 organizations to discuss new Chinese legislation that may restrict the work of Hong Kong- and Taiwan-based foundations and other nonprofits in China. Members can access…
Washington Update LIVE!: Philanthropy's Voice in the Policy Process
Download the Presentation Slides
August is here, which means your Members of Congress have ventured outside of the beltway for an extended stay in their districts—otherwise known as your communities.
This is a great opportunity for you to connect with your elected officials, build and…
Washington Snapshot - June 17, 2016
In response to the horrific attacks in Orlando, Council President and CEO Vikki Spruill and Board Chair Sherry Magill penned an open letter reaffirming the Council’s commitment to advancing diversity, equality, and inclusion in and beyond the philanthropic field, and to continue serving as a…
What You Need to Know from the Giving USA 2016 Report
Giving USA 2016 was released this week and found that overall U.S. charitable giving from all sources—including individuals, bequests, foundations and corporations—reached an estimated $373.25 billion in 2015. This was an all-time high for the second consecutive year.
This increase held for both…
2016 Grantmakers Salary and Benefits Survey
The 2016 Grantmakers Salary and Benefits Survey is now open. This survey and the resultant reports are valuable benchmarking tools designed specifically to collect compensation and benefits data for positions at community, private (family and independent), and public foundations, and other staffed…
Council Message on Orlando
Editors Note. Since the publishing of this blog post, the Central Florida Foundation is no longer managing the distribution of donations to the OneOrlando Fund. The Foundation will now be administering the Better Together Fund. Read the full statement from the Foundation at www.cffound.org.…
Learning Together: Finding Shared Goals in Global Conversation
Last week, I spent a day at the Colombian Embassy with 35 foundations from Colombia. The group was comprised of corporate and family foundations, members of the Association for Family and Corporate Foundation in Colombia (AFE), who co-hosted the event with the Council on Foundations. The goal of…