The Benefits of Corporate Giving

First, it’s important to keep in mind that there are several different types of corporate giving or corporate philanthropy. You also opt to issue funds to other smaller companies in your community so that the two of you can accomplish local goals together (i.e. feeding the homeless, providing more educational materials for schools). Alternatively, you can engage in corporate giving to charitable organizations that will be distributed over longer periods of time.

When you’re considering corporate giving, meet with your accounting department regularly to come up with ways to arrange your budget so that your corporate giving decisions will not put the company in a financial bind. For instance, if you are thinking about long-term corporate philanthropy, figure out how much money will be spent from your company’s budget annually and how this sum will affect your company’s overall bottom line. The last thing you want as a company is to put together a corporate philanthropy package only to see it have a negative impact on your bottom line. So, do your research before committing to corporate giving.

Now, on the other hand, yours may be a situation in which you decide that your business needs additional funding in order to take on large community or global projects. In this case, your corporate focus should be on the search for donors. You’ll need to submit a proposal to the funding sources you are considering within the donor database, complete with a cover letter, executive summary, narrative, evaluation, and budget plan. Be as detailed as possible when you’re composing this proposal in your search for donors, even if it means taking your time to fill in all the details. Put together a timeline to submit to potential corporate giving donors, so that the amount of time it will take you to complete each phase of the project will be clear. You’ll also need to be very direct about your reasons for requesting funding — percentages and proven facts are great support tools.

Searching through a national or international donor database to find out more about corporate giving is also a great idea. Additionally, partner with other corporations that have common philanthropic goals to find out which community business relationships will help to move your business forward. You may also want to inquire within your accounting department as to the tax benefits that you can incur as a company when you are involved in corporate philanthropy.

There are many benefits to be had when your company engages in corporate giving. Just be sure that you have done all of the research you need to so that your company can be educated and informed on the process of Charitable Donations.