Majority of Companies Increased Giving; Adopted a More Targeted Engagement Approach

[Jessi Copeland]

Retaining their commitment to making investments in their communities, 60 percent of companies reported increased giving levels in 2011 over 2009, the year companies reported the biggest retreat in corporate giving. The Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), in association with The Conference Board, today released its annual Giving in Numbers: 2012 Edition report, the field’s leading analysis of corporate societal engagement.  All industries increased total giving, with the Consumer Staples and Health Care sectors leading the charge in total giving growth.  Median total giving of companies surveyed came in at $21.2 million. 

“Giving in Numbers is the home, year after year, for the most comprehensive account of corporate societal engagement, which comes directly from company-provided data,” said Charles Moore, Executive Director, Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy.  “Our analysis this year shows that companies are becoming more focused about their giving: from larger grants to a smaller number of organizations; to giving where they have community connections; to using the skills and expertise of the business to build their community engagement.”

Headlines:

• Issue Areas of Community Investment:  (page 18)
  
  • Two issue areas saw increases in giving:
    • Education: K-12 (from 12.4% to 15.0%) and Disaster Relief (from 1.2% to 3.2%).
  • The programmatic funding area receiving the largest proportion of a company’s grantmaking in 2011 was Heath and Social Service, at 28%, followed by Education (K-12 and Higher) at 27%.
  • Health and Social Services, Community and Economic Affairs, Education: K-12, andDisaster Relief programs received the highest percentages of non-cash giving, as these areas are conducive to product donations such as medicine and technology. (page 18)
  • Disaster Relief and Education: K-12 and Higher received the highest percentage of foundation cash, which is likely a result of employee matching gift programs. 
• Increasing Focus; Fewer Grants but Higher Grant Amounts, Lower Management Costs:
  
  • The number of grants per full-time giving staff person at a company dropped 26% from 2009 to 2011; a median of 8 staff handled 64 grants each in 2011. (page 35)
  • The median grant size has been rising sharply, growing 31% from 2009 to 2011 (from $22,943 in 2009 to $30,160 in 2011). (page 13)
  • Median management and program costs as a percentage of total giving have fallen by 0.8%, from 8.3% in 2009 to 7.5% in 2011. (page 36)
• International Giving; Investing in Communities all Over the Globe:
  
  • Companies gave on average 14% of their total giving to recipients outside of their headquarters country, but this giving trails their percentage of revenue from outside of their country.  (page 22)
    • Companies that gave more than 20% of their total contributions abroad generated, on average, 51% of their total revenue abroad.  (page 24)
• Companies as Fundraisers; Fundraising from Non-Employees, Fundraising from Employees:
  
  • Companies leveraged their expertise and resources to rally employees and others to give to a variety of causes. (page 25)
    • Companies raised a median of $1.97 million from non-employees and $2.47 million from employees –including matching gifts and payroll deductions. (page 31)
• Predictions for 2012: (page 14)
  
  • While 40% of companies expect giving to increase from 2011 to 2012, very few expect their company’s giving to rise more than 10%. 

“Measurement should be at the core of any company’s giving program,” stated Jonathan Spector, President and CEO, The Conference Board.  “To support that need, CECP and The Conference Board analyze collective corporate giving trends so that we may guide and advise companies and other cross-sector groups as they navigate effective societal engagement.”

Based on the Corporate Giving Standard (CGS), this report analyzes giving trends from 2011 data provided by an unprecedented 214 corporations, including 62 of the top 100 companies in the Fortune 500. Giving in Numbersprovides benchmarking tables and breakdowns of giving types and program areas by industry for companies to use to compare and inform their philanthropic strategies. Also widely used as a reference by nonprofit organizations seeking potential funders, Giving in Numbers offers insight into what types of partners the world’s largest companies are seeking. 

Corporate giving officers are invited to use Giving in Numbers as a starting point to measure and asses their companies’ giving programs through the report’s Tools for Benchmarking section, including a Year-Over-Year Giving Template, with a step-by-step guide and definitions of terms used in the field.  For more information aboutGiving in Numbers and CECP membership, please contact: [e-mail]. 

2012 is the first year CECP and The Conference Board have joined together to promote one survey of corporate giving.  For information on the new partnership, please read the January press release. 

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About the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP)

The Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) is the only international forum of business CEOs and chairpersons focused on raising the level and quality of corporate philanthropy. Membership includes more than 180 CEOs and chairpersons representing companies that account for more than 40 percent of reported corporate giving in the United States. For more information visit www.CorporatePhilanthropy.org. Follow CECP on twitter,facebook, You Tube, flickr, and LinkedIn.

About The Conference Board

The Conference Board is an independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world’s leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org