Survey Details Big-Business Ties to Local Economic Development

A significant portion of corporate America is investing money in downtrodden areas near their operations — and many plan to increase their spending.

A new Conference Board survey of 119 large corporations found that 80 per cent are involved in such economic-development work.

The Conference Board, a New York membership organization for businesses, predicts that companies will spend even more on developing poor neighborhoods in the future: Forty-six per cent of the companies in the survey that do such work said they will increase their spending on it in coming years, with an additional 51 per cent saying they will at least maintain current spending levels.

The development work being done by the companies comes in a variety of forms, including: donating money or making low-interest loans to build new local arts complexes, convention centers, or education facilities; lending corporate executives to support start-up companies; and purchasing goods from local companies, especially those owned by members of minority groups.

The study was paid for by the Ford Foundation, which makes numerous grants for economic development.

For a copy of “Building the Corporate Community Economic Development Team,” contact the Conference Board, 845 Third Avenue, New York, 10022, (212) 339-0345; fax: (212) 980-7014. The report costs $100 for non-members and $25 for members. An executive summary is $60 for non-members and $15 for members.