From measurement to management – at the 4th Annual Corporate Giving Standard Results Summit earlier this summer, over 70 corporate givers tied the specifics of their corporate grantmaking – how much, why, how, and to whom – to their grantmaking experiences to explore the link between the measurement and management of corporate philanthropy programs.  The initial framework for the initiative’s next phase – a tool for the assessment of philanthropy programs on the business and on society – was also unveiled.

The two-day session brought participants face-to-face with the challenges and best practices in international giving, aligning giving functions around a core strategy, and reporting giving data to internal and external audiences. Facilitated networking opportunities explored techniques for bringing the data from the online tool alive by using it to inform management practices and strategic decision-making. 

Each company arrived at the summit armed with a tailored corporate giving profile, which they created themselves using the Corporate Giving Standard’s web-based platform. The subscriber-only Corporate Giving Standard tool prompts the user to collect their own giving information, and then to benchmark it with other participating companies using slices such as industry, sector, or a self-selected peer group of companies. At any time, participants are able to log on to a secure site and pull giving reports on such pieces as management costs, volunteer programs, contribution types, and the budget which provided the giving dollars.

In 2004, these 71 companies – including 30 of Fortune Magazine’s Top 100 – were responsible for nearly $7.6 billion in giving.  Selections of other key highlights from this year’s survey include:

• Management and program costs are 5.5% of total giving.
  
• Non-cash contributions account for 28.1% of total giving; the remaining 71.9% comes in the form of cash grants.
  
• 81% of companies have domestic volunteer programs; 43% have international volunteer programs.
  
• With regard to budget source, 31.3% of giving is done by corporate foundations, 38.2% by corporate community affairs departments, and 30.5% by “all other groups” (defined as business units or branch offices).

For other selections of aggregate giving data from this group, click here.

The Corporate Giving Standard is a Center initiative in conjunction with the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy and B2B Commerce.

For more information or to view an online demonstration, please visit the Corporate Giving Standard website or contact Sapna Shah, shahsf@bc.edu.