Philanthropic Purpose

Corporate philanthropy is designed to be an investment that  reflects company values in synergy with their customers and communities. Of many factors in considering a charitable benefactor, expectations for best practices and optimum results from the charitable programs they support should be a priority of the business in their giving.

Very large companies often have their own foundation staff to ensure this happens. Most others do not.

General Practices

Instead these corporations rely on in-house volunteers  and other personnel to help ensure that the giving from the company gets the best return on investment they can achieve. These folks are talented, genuine and usually enthusiastic about being engaged in this philanthropic business. It is a credit to our USA form of capitalism and generosity that it is such common practice for CEOs, human resource personnel, machinists, support staff, etc. to pull together on deciding how best to give back to their communities or to the world.

However, do they have the expertise or enough time to devote to this aspect of their jobs to consistently ensure the company is getting the maximum ROI? My experience says “no” in all but the exceptional environment.

Experience and Value Proposition

We have worked with thousands of companies, private and publicly traded from virtually every spectrum of our economic fabric. Giving that Matters understands both the executive offices and the shop floor. We understand the importance of growing and maintaining relationships with community leaders and other corporate donors. We deeply believe  that a company’s giving should be just as smart and impactful as the business itself.

Those making recommendations for corporate giving will be better served by not being wholly reliant on those outside the company who are advocates for a particular agency or project. An expert independent perspective will help inform and sharpen the corporate perspective on the effectiveness of the agency or program it is supporting.

Giving that Matters can further the philanthropic knowledge of the the people in the company responsible for assessing the organizations under consideration for, or already receiving corporate grants.  The company team members who are evaluating a new project or a continuing charitable gift will be delighted with the expertise we provide to ensure the greatest return on investments.

This work can include working directly on behalf of the company with the representatives from the current or potential organizational benefactor, or can be anonymous in the first phases of discovery prior to any contribution decisions.

The start-up begins with a conversation with the CEO or other company leaders, and then proceeds to the team(s) that may be designated to continue with a plan tailored to that organizations values and expectations.