Corporate Philanthropy
Discretionary Grants by Corporate Foundations
Legal Compliance Guidance
Question:May a corporate foundation allow corporate board members who do not sit on the foundation’s board to designate grants from the corporate foundation?
Answer:No. All grants from the corporate foundation must be approved by the corporate foundation’s board of directors. No individual—…
Corporate Disclosure and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
Legal Compliance Guidance
What is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act?
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was designed to rebuild public trust in the corporate community in the wake of the Enron scandal and other corporate and accounting scandals. Sarbanes-Oxley requires publicly traded companies to adhere to governance standards that…
Section 4947(a)(2) Split-Interest Trust Reporting
Legal Compliance Guidance
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) has introduced filing requirements for split-interest trusts such as charitable remainder trusts and pooled income funds.
Which returns are affected?
These requirements apply to returns for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2006.
What are the…
Grants to New Charities
Legal Compliance Guidance
Question: May a private corporate foundation or corporate giving program make a grant to a newly-established charity that has not yet received its IRS tax exemption letter?
Answer: Yes, but when making a grant to a charity whose application for exempt status is pending before the IRS, a private…
Dos and Don'ts of Contact Between Company Foundation Employees and Legislators
Legal Compliance Guidance
Companies and their private foundations must carefully navigate the dos and don’ts of contact between foundation employees and legislators.
How should the company foundation's grants and activities fit into the sponsoring company's efforts to develop strong relationships with government officials…
Three Important Concepts for Corporate Philanthropy
Evolving the narrative. Leadership imperative. Our path forward.
Three simple, but important concepts discussed in yesterday morning’s corporate pre-conference forum at the Council on Foundations Annual Conference. Or as my friend, colleague, and recently retired IBM executive, Ann Cramer, said, “…
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…
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…
Communicating Corporate Responsibility
At ING, we have developed a strong corporate responsibility (CR) program that is enhanced through engagement in all levels of our company. What have we learned? Buy-in and communications are important on a variety of levels. Tying CR directly to the CEO is critical. A CR program with strong…
What Really Counts: Measuring RoI
Corporate philanthropy functions are increasingly emphasizing return on investment (RoI) in their grantmaking. Understandably, corporate foundations want to use their funding, energy, and time as effectively as possible. But for the Pfizer Foundation, evaluation is a tool to help refine our…
“Reinventing” Corporate Philanthropy
The Council on Foundations’ Corporate Philanthropy 2012 project calls for a “reinvention” of corporate philanthropy, in part through a core group of leaders/practitioners who are willing to “guide, adopt, test, and validate new management approaches.”
So often our ability to transform established…
Corporate Philanthropy as a Profession
Major societal challenges-poverty, hunger, inconsistent access to high-quality education and health care-adversely affect hundreds of millions of people on our planet. The business community can play a vital role in addressing these complex problems. To make a meaningful contribution, businesses…
Corporate Philanthropy 2012: The Conversation Is Just Beginning
As the Council on Foundations plans for 2012, we’re looking for opportunities to partner with others to find effective ways to address the profound social and environmental challenges we all face. In addition, the Corporate Committee has been discussing the changing role of…
Corporate Philanthropy and Citizenship Leaders Need a New Script
Earlier this month, a group of corporate citizenship leaders representing a range of industries assembled in New York to answer this question: What must we do to transform the corporate philanthropy and corporate citizenship fields?
The context of the question comes at a time when business’ role in…