Corporate giving diversifying and reviving according to Crain’s

I recently wrote at length about the overall health of corporate giving according to a recent poll and that the news especially in light of the economic times was fairly buoyant and reflected that the market itself along with giving from the corporate sector both bottomed out in 2009. There were indications in that survey and poll that some companies were even looking to increase their corporate giving plans while others were re-tailoring their strategy to provide more volunteer resources or goods versus just capital which had been a tradition to a certain degree in the corporate sector. I therefore read with great interest a strong article from the noted Chicago business publication Crain’s about the nonprofit sector, in fact the most recent edition is dedicated to nonprofits and is certainly worth a look.

An exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago

If anything the article paints a much brighter picture than other viewpoints I’ve read recently and while charities have definitely been impacted negatively by reduced donations from the public sector according to Crain’s corporate philanthropy is up quite significantly. What it does really re-iterate is that not all nonprofits are seeing the benefit equally from the changing approach by many corporations. What the article does spell out is that the type of nonprofit has a serious impact on the level of support being received in the current environment. Organizations that are receiving more support from the corporate sector are often aligned to human services, health care, international aid, and environmental causes. Those who are seeing less support include groups that work to better arts and culture, religious and educational groups. One example is that  very significant growth has been noted in programs that support food distribution and helping those in hunger which not coincidentally has seen a giant spike in need domestically during the recession. Conversely corporate giving to the Museum of contemporary Art (Chicago) has not just fallen but almost dropped into a canyon down from $1.3 million in 2008 to less than $600,000 for the fiscal year ending in 2010.

The article quite reasonably infers that corporations are looking to get the most ‘social bang’ per donated dollar and at times of social strife the attention seems to have moved towards causes that can provide what is perceived as more immediate and humanitarian relief rather than long-term grants or foundation type support, it’s a very interesting prognosis and does make quite a lot of sense in terms of new alignments of funding from the corporate sector. Whether the same thing has been happening from the public sector is something worth investigating, I suggest it probably has been not at such a pronounced rate of change. The article also looks in depth at the continued growth of the donation of skills and human capital via volunteerism and private sponsorship which involves having employees donate time and talent to causes that are in need. While there are differing opinions to the overall merits of volunteerism versus actual funding my feeling is that the value is equitable and just as generous. After reading the article it struck me that as more and more people are involved supporting charities via their workplace it may result in less public giving as a byproduct. Whether an official study has been made along those lines I’m not sure and have not seen one but the logic suggests it might not be an unreasonable concept.

To read the entire article from Crain’s business weekly please visit their site.