Corporate Philanthropy Newsletter—February 2018
Earlier this week, we held a webinar on tax reform and its effect on corporate foundations, an area that many corporate members have asked about since the beginning of the year. During the webinar, the Council’s Senior Counsel, Suzanne Friday, discussed a range of issues, including a provision that was recently passed in connection with the federal budget and now provides an important exception to the excess business holding rule for private foundations.
Foundations structured like Council member the Newman’s Own Foundation’s faced a 200 percent tax rate under the new tax law, due to an almost half-century-old provision seeking to keep foundations from having large stakes in private companies. Thanks to Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, foundations structured like Newman's Own now don’t have to pay that tax if the profits from the business go to charity, the foundation itself is independently operated and the business was acquired via will or trust. This is a big win for our field and for other private (and often corporate-affiliated) foundations with similar legal structures.
This week we also released the newest chapter to our Compendium of Legal Resources: Legal Considerations for Corporate Foundations. Authored by Virginia C. Gross, shareholder with Polsinelli PC, Legal Considerations for Corporate Funders is divided into five easy-to-understand sections:
- Merits of a Separate Corporate Foundation
- Formation of a Corporate Foundation
- Funding the Corporate Foundation
- Grantmaking and Scholarships by Corporate Foundations
- Transactions with or Involving the For-Profit Business
Legal Considerations for Corporate Foundations is just one of the many chapters in our Compendium—an irreplaceable resource that brings together the many legal issues foundations face written in plain language with the non-lawyer in mind. If you don’t already subscribe to this informative series, you can learn more here. Council members save $250 off the subscription price!
Finally, want to thank the following corporate foundations who have joined the Council for 2018:
- Delta Dental Community Care Foundation
- Moss Adams Foundation
- Pitney Bowes Foundation
- VF Foundation
Best,
Natalie Ross
Vice President, External Relations
WEBINAR: Diversity of Thought: Atlas Corps Fellows Program
Thursday, February 28 | 2:00PM EST
The Council is partnering with American Express and Atlas Corps to host a webinar about the Atlas Corps Fellows Program. The Council and American Express will share how participation in the Atlas Corps Fellows program helped strengthen our work and diversify our organization. Atlas Corps facilitates overseas fellowships for the best of the world's rising leaders who volunteer for 12-18 months at American organizations working on social issues. During the last 12 years, Atlas Corps placed 600 leaders from 88 different countries at many of the world's leading organizations, including AirBnB, American Red Cross, Nike Foundation, Points of Light, UN Foundation, and many more.
Register to join us for a discussion with Scott Beale, Founder and CEO of Atlas Corps; Richard Brown from American Express and their fellow, Abeer Pamuk (Syria), alongside myself and the Council’s own fellow, Maxsalia Salmon (Jamaica) to learn more.
RECENT CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY NEWS
- What This New Foundation Says About Silicon Valley Giving, Tech philanthropy is changing models of philanthropy globally and a new foundation announced this week will focus on human rights via general operating support grants.
- Wells Fargo’s Corporate Philanthropy Totals $286.5 Million for 2017, team members pledge additional $85 million to nonprofits, topping United Way Worldwide’s workplace giving campaign for ninth consecutive year.
- Global Opportunity Report 2018—Recently featured by Fast Company, the report focuses on four SDGs that need most attention and some of the boldest action: inequality, responsible consumption, climate change, and oceans management.
- IRC, Intel Foundation Launch Job-Training Effort for Refugees, The International Rescue Committee has announced a $1 million investment from Council member, the Intel Foundation to provide a thousand refugees in Germany with job skills training and employment services.
- The 2018 edition of the World's Most Innovative Companies spans more than 350 enterprises across 36 categories, from the world's most valuable firm and its continuing transformation of consumer electronics to a small outfit selling natural gum to preserve rainforests. The list features several Council members, including Walmart and the Gates Foundation.
UPCOMING COUNCIL EVENTS
Inclusive Economic Prosperity in the South | May 23-24, 2018 | Spartanburg, SC
Communities differ in their definition of economic prosperity. There isn’t a cookie-cutter approach to achieving prosperity across a diverse America. Yet, as the American economy continues to improve, the timing is right for philanthropy to define a unique leadership role for itself in regional economic development.
Join this dynamic two-day convening in the innovation centers of two prominent Southern corporations—Milliken and BMW Manufacturing—and work directly with your Foundation colleagues to explore the evolution taking shape in our economy and philanthropy’s role in ensuring everyone can benefit and prosper in their communities.
By promoting the concept of inclusive competitiveness as a central tenet in economic development, foundations of all kinds can ensure that disadvantaged populations are not left behind. Intentional strategies are needed to ensure that economically-disconnected individuals find successful connections to emerging regional economic innovation ecosystems and education institutions – the critical pathways to successful participation in the global economy.
This event will focus on strategies that foundations can utilize to promote economic inclusiveness and help communities undertake innovative capital investments and workforce investments: impact investing and public-private partnerships.
Public Policy Summit | April 11-13, 2018 | Philadelphia, PA
The Council’s inaugural Public Policy Summit promises to engage foundation leaders, policy experts, and media representatives in important conversations around the policy issues that are critical to ensuring philanthropy flourishes. Register now!
RECENT COUNCIL EVENTS
North American Community Foundations Summit
The first-ever North American Community Foundations Summit on February 5-6 was co-hosted with Comunalia and Community Foundations of Canada. With over 200 attendees, the Summit focused on achieving the SDGs and included discussions about reducing poverty, building resilient economies, ensuring diversity, equity, and inclusion, utilizing new technology platforms to accelerate action on global goals and protecting against climate change and natural disasters.
At the Summit, we released our new report, Local Leadership, Global Impact: Community Foundations and the Sustainable Development Goals. The report highlights how companies can partner with community foundations to achieve the SDGs.
Local Leadership, Global Impact is an effective and easy way to help to get the conversation about how community foundations can leverage the SDGs to improve the quality of life for all in and beyond your community. Since its release, the report has been featured by Devex, Alliance Magazine, Philanthropy News Digest, and others.
RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY IN AMERICA TODAY
On January 31, the Council on Foundations, Interfaith Youth Core and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation convened a national discussion aimed at sparking solutions for the fractured state of religious diversity in America today in Washington D.C.
The invitation-only symposium at the Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum Institute brought together more than 100 of the nation’s leading activists, foundations, and experts for a robust half-day discussion entitled “This American Moment: Bridging Religious Divides”.
Click HERE to read a summary and see video from the event.
Membership Renewal Ends April 30
The philanthropic sector has so much potential as we move into a new social and political era, and it is ever more important that we speak loudly on the issues that matter to the sector. By renewing your membership in the Council, you can have a direct impact on the sector's priorities and direction. The membership renewal period ends in just a few short weeks. Please take 90 seconds to share you intentions to renew with us. Doing so will opt you out of receiving select 2018 renewal messages.
Thank you for your membership.
