Company Web Sites Offer a Plethora of Information About Grant Making

A growing number of companies are using the Internet to distribute information about their giving programs.

Of the 111 big companies that provided data for the Chronicle‘s survey of corporate giving, 46 have put on their World-Wide Web sites detailed information about the kinds of grants the companies make and how charities may apply for the money.

Only a handful of companies allow non-profit groups to fill out their applications on line. They include two telecommunications companies — Bell Atlantic Corporation, in New York, and BellSouth Corporation, in Atlanta — and Hewlett-Packard Company, the Palo Alto, Cal., computer maker.

Hewlett-Packard accepted its first on-line grant applications this spring in a test program that was open to colleges and universities only. By the end of the year, the company, which received 27 electronic applications from higher-education institutions, plans to allow all kinds of charities to apply for grants through its Web site.

Hewlett-Packard officials say that having applications on line makes it easier for the proposals to be read and considered by the employees around the country who help make grant decisions.

BellSouth’s corporate foundation put its grant application on the company’s Web site two years ago. The foundation receives about 130 on-line applications each year.

Salin Geevarghese, an associate director at the foundation, says that BellSouth’s decision to accept proposals through its Web site was in keeping with the company’s reputation as a high-tech business. He adds that charities that apply for grants on line may have a leg up in the selection process.

“On-line submissions of education grant proposals are viewed as impressive,” Mr. Geevarghese says, “especially when dealing with school districts and teachers, groups that are traditionally viewed as being behind the curve when it comes to technology.”

Most other companies still require charities to fill out paper applications or to submit other paperwork when seeking grants. Their Web sites may include guidelines and information about where and how to apply for money.

But having such information on line, company officials agree, is a cheap and efficient way to get the word out about the company’s philanthropy, both to charities and to members of the public.

Officials also say that making their grant criteria easily accessible keeps down the number of requests for money from organizations or for causes that the company is unlikely to support.

That is a benefit to both the grant makers and the grant seekers, says Ronald Dabney, communications manager at AT&T Corporation’s charitable foundation. Charity officials that have read the grant criteria carefully, he says, will not be “wasting their time by submitting unqualified proposals.”

Among the corporations that have just recently added their charitable-giving guidelines to their Web sites are Freddie Mac, a company in McLean, Va., that underwrites mortgages, and Weyerhaeuser Company, a paper company in Federal Way, Wash.

A spokeswoman at Weyerhaeuser, which first made its grant-making guidelines available via the Internet last month, said the company may also post a grant application and allow charities to request money on line. Before it decides whether to proceed with the on-line application, the spokeswoman said, the company wants to determine how much it will cost to manage an on-line application process.

The following is a list of all World-Wide Web sites that offer detailed information on giving by the companies that responded to the Chronicle‘s survey:

Abbott Laboratories: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://abbott.com/community/fundbrkout.htm#apply; product-contribution guidelines: http://www.abbott.com/community/product.htm

Aetna: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.aetna.com/foundation/guidelin.htm

Aluminum Company of America: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.alcoa.com/grant.html

Ashland: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.ashland.com/community/foundation

AT&T Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.att.com/foundation/guide.html

BankAmerica Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.bankamerica.com/community

Bell Atlantic Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and on-line application form:http://nynexfoundation.com/guidelines.htm

BellSouth Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and on-line application form: http://www.bellsouth.com/bsf/grantguide

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.bms.com/profile

Chevron Corporation: Grant-making guidelines: http://www.chevron.com/community

CIGNA Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.cigna.com/corp/contributions/application.html

Coca-Cola Company: Guidelines for Coca-Cola Scholarships: http://www.cocacola.com/co/scholars/index.html

ConAgra: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.conagra.com/commun.html

Deere & Company: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.deere.com/aboutus/general/support.htm

Digital Equipment Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.digital.com/community/corporatecontributions.htm

Dow Chemical Company: Grant-making guidelines: http://www.dow.com/about/charitable/charity.html

Eastman Kodak Company: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/community.shtml

Electronic Data Systems Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.eds.com/

Exxon Corporation: Guidelines and application information: http://www.exxon.com/exxoncorp/world/working_with_others.html

Fannie Mae: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/CommunityGrants/grant.html;

Freddie Mac: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.freddiemacfoundation.org

General Electric Company: Grant-making guidelines: http://www.ge.com/fund; application information: http://www.ge.com/fund/ibfuna32.htm

Hewlett-Packard Company: Grant-making guidelines, application information, and on-line application for University Grants program: http://www.corp.hp.com/Publish/UG

Intel Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.intel.com/intel/community/grants.htm

International Business Machines Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.ibm.com/IBM/IBMGives

Lucent Technologies: Grant-making guidelines: http://www.lucent.com/what/community

McDonald’s Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.mcdonalds.com/community/rmhc/grants

McKesson Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.mckesson.com

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.metlife.com/Companyinfo/Community

Microsoft Corporation: Grant-making guidelines: http://www.microsoft.com/giving

J. P. Morgan & Company: Grant-making guidelines: http://www.jpmorgan.com/CorpInfo/CRA/CommunityDevel.html

J. C. Penney Company: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.jcpenney.com/commrel/content/guidelin.htm

Pfizer: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.pfizer.com/pfizerinc/philanthropy

PG&E Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.pge.com/about_us/communities/contributions.html

Phillips Petroleum: Grant-making guidelines: http://www.phillips66.com/citiif.html

Prudential Insurance Company of America: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.prudential.com/community/corporate/cmczz1004.html; information on program-related investments, such as loans to charities: http://www.prudential.com/community/corporate/cmczz1005.html

Sara Lee Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.saraleefoundation.org/funding/index.htm

Sprint Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.sprint.com/sprint/overview/commun.html#4

State Farm Insurance Companies: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www2.statefarm.com/foundati/found.htm

Texaco: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.texaco.com/corporate/foundation/guidelines_home.htm

Texas Instruments: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/foundation/guidelines.htm

US West: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.uswest.com/com/communities/foundation/html/outreachsub.html

UAL Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and application information can be found under the “Our Company” section labeled “Commmunity Support”: http://www.ual.com/airline

USX Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.usx.com/grant.htm

United Technologies Corporation: Grant-making guidelines and application information: http://www.utc.com/commun.htm

Weyerhaeuser Company: Grant-making guidelines: http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/who/; application information: http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/who/foundation/application.htm