How The Chronicle’s Latest Survey of Corporate Philanthropy Was Conducted

The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual survey of corporate giving is based on data collected from the American companies that earn the most, according to the Fortune 500 rankings.

The newspaper asked the 300 largest companies on that list to complete a questionnaire about their charitable giving in 2007, 2008, and 2009. It also collected the most-recent available informational tax returns from companies with corporate foundations. Using those two methods, data on 196 companies were compiled. (Information from 105 companies that provided recent and complete data appears in print; companies that provided fewer details are included in The Chronicle‘s online database.)

Corporate foundations are legally required to publicly disclose their Forms 990-PF, the annual report grant makers file with the Internal Revenue Service. That form does not include data on corporate-giving, marketing, or other departments’ charitable activities conducted separately from the corporate foundation.

Sixty-six companies declined to answer a Chronicle survey. For some, such disclosure is against company policy; others said they lacked resources or time to respond.

Understanding the Data

Companies provided information on cash and product donations by their headquarters and affiliates, and the company foundations, to charities in the United States and overseas.

The Chronicle does not ask companies to provide the value of paid time off given to employees who volunteer, or money employees contribute to charity through United Way drives and other fund-raising efforts. Some company data reflect giving only by the corporate foundation, or headquarters, and may exclude corporate giving programs or by affiliates’ giving. Hence, comparing information among companies may be difficult and year-to-year comparisons of the same businesses can be misleading because of mergers, accounting changes, or other reasons.

Two companies that previously refused to disclose a breakdown of cash and product giving totals — Target, in Minneapolis, and the Walt Disney Company, in Burbank, Calif. — did so for the first time this year. Target awarded 66 percent of its donations in cash last year; at Disney 20 percent of donations were made in cash.

The effects of the financial crisis are clear by looking at the number of big corporate donors that no longer appear in The Chronicle’s survey pool. Among them were the banking giant Wachovia Corporation, in Charlotte, N.C., acquired by a competitor, Wells Fargo, in late 2008, and the financial-services firm Lehman Brothers, which collapsed last fall. Wachovia gave nearly $104-million in cash to charity in 2007, and Lehman donated $39-million in cash the same year. (The electronics retailer Circuit City Stores, in Richmond, Va., announced in January that it would close, but it would have been large enough to be included in The Chronicle‘s 2009 survey.)

As for the big automakers, also faring badly in the recession, General Motors, in Detroit, did not disclose charitable giving information to The Chronicle for the third consecutive year. In 2005, the last year of data it submitted to The Chronicle, the company gave more than $46-million in cash to charity. The company filed for bankruptcy in June.

Four companies — Air Products and Chemicals, in Allentown, Pa., Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, in Phoenix; Ingram Micro, in Santa Ana, Calif.; and Medco Health Solutions, in Franklin Lakes, N.J. — responded to the Chronicle survey but did not disclose financial information about their giving. At least one company, ITT, in the industrial machinery business, in New York, is just beginning to track its charitable work.

The survey was compiled by Noelle Barton and Candie Jones, with assistance from Amy Combs.