March 31, 2010 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Cuts to corporate giving budgets are slowing this year, as companies focus on business strategy rather than the economy when making philanthropy decisions, according to a new report by the Conference Board, in New York.
Twenty percent of the businesses surveyed by the Conference Board said they plan to reduce the amount they donate in 2010, compared with 53 percent that reported making such cuts last year. And while a majority of corporate officials in last year’s survey said their main preoccupation was financial constraints, more than three-quarters of this year’s respondents said they would make no recession-driven changes to their 2010 giving plans.
Instead, a majority of the officials said their highest priority is to better align their company’s giving with its business needs. Nearly half, for example, said they were placing more emphasis this year on tying giving to brand awareness and visibility.
“Companies have moved out of that immediate panic and reaction mode,” says Carolyn C. Cavicchio, senior research associate at the Conference Board, who wrote the report, “Is the Pressure Easing? The 2010 Philanthropy Agenda.” “They made the cuts last year that were necessary and now they are stepping back and refocusing, being more strategic.”
Fewer Events
The Conference Board, a nonprofit group that produces research on companies, surveyed 114 corporate-giving officials in December and January.
Among the other key findings:
• Nearly half the companies said they plan to increase their efforts to get employees to volunteer.
• More than one-third report intentions to cut back on event sponsorships.
• Of the causes that companies support, gifts to endowments and capital campaigns and gifts to arts and culture organizations are projected to take the biggest hits. About one third of the companies said they would decrease contributions in each of those areas.
• The areas likely to see the biggest increase from corporate donations: charities that work overseas, on science and math education, or on environmental issues.
Ms. Cavicchio points out that not only are fewer companies projecting budget cuts than in 2009, but many fewer are also cutting the number of grants, the size of grants, and the number of corporate-giving officials.
Eleven percent said they would make fewer grants in 2010, for example, compared with 35 percent that reported such cuts in last year’s survey.
Says Ms. Cavicchio: “No one is saying we are going back to 2007 giving levels. This is the new normal on which companies are building budgets, but it is looking up from last year.”
