Corporate
Philanthropy
 20
years ago, the charitable activities of corporations
were more of an adjunct to the business moreso
than a major strategy and function.
It felt good to give. It made sense to be charitable.
Those things remain true of course, but corporate
philanthropy has matured over the years to become
more focused on intent, more results focused,
and more reflective of both aligning philanthropy
with business goals AND with the aspirations
and values of customers and employees
McKinsey Study
In recent McKinsey study, more than
700 businesses were asked this question: "In
addition to the social benefits of your corporate
philanthropy programs, which, if any, of the
following business goals does your company try
to reach with these programs?"
| 70% |
Enhance
corporate reputation and/or brand |
| 44% |
Building
employee/leadership capacities and skills |
| 40% |
Improve
employee recruitment/retention |
| 38% |
Differentiate
from competitors |
| 19% |
Manage
current or future risk |
| 16% |
Build
knowledge about potential new markets and
products |
| 15% |
Inform
areas of innovation of existing products
or services |
| 12% |
We
do not try to meet any business goals with
our philanthropy program |
Two
items of note. First, there is a growing trend
in terms of relating corporate philanthropy
it to increasing knowledge about new markets/products
and to inform innovation as it relates to existing
products or services. This emphasis is expected
to increase.
Second, when asked how successful they have
been at achieving the above business goals..
:: 14% said extremely successful
:: 57% said somewhat successful
:: 29% said not at all successful
If you consider that it is human nature to overstate
success in surveys of this kind, the results
above leave considerable room for improvement.
Source: McKinsey
Quarterly
|
|
| help
for business |
24
reasons' Mark Holmgren can help
with the "citizenship of your brand"
by engaging your leadership, employees,
customers, and suppliers in facilitated
dialog about and the journey to social innovation.
Services can include:
 |
Connecting
product and service benefits to human
aspirations and needs. |
|
Developing
a community benefit bottom line for
your company, including metrics. |
|
Exploring options with respect to
relationships to charities with whom
you have similar values, goals, and
dreams. |
|
Exploring
the pros and cons of forming a foundation
or becoming a direct funder of social
innovation. With our years of experience
as a funder, we can help you set all
of that up. |
|
Working
with your marketing people to link
your social innovation work to your
position in the market place. |
|
| help
for non-profits |
You
know more than anyone that the success of
your organization depends on forming new
partnerships. Government funding, and support
from United Way and other charitable foundations
are not enough
We can help you identify opportunities for
partnerships with business around existing
or new services, and also help with the
development of both the partnership, the
service design, the metrics to track, and
also help with the actual launch of the
service. |
|
