Author: Lahn, Seth

Publication Year: 1979

Media Type: Report

Summary:

The growth in the importance of corporate philanthropy in recent years has left us with more information available on this topic than ever before. A large number of companies include information on their charitable contributions and activities in their annual reports; many corporations, particularly those which do their giving through company foundations, produce separate, detailed booklets for this purpose. The rising interest in corporate social responsibility during the 1960's and 1970's spawned many books which included discussions of corporate philanthropy. The Research Papers of the Commission on Private Philanthropy and Public Needs (The Filer Commission), published in 1977, include five papers on corporate philanthropy and a wealth of related information.

Abstract:

The growth in the importance of corporate philanthropy in recent years has left us with more information available on this topic than ever before. A large number of companies include information on their charitable contributions and activities in their annual reports; many corporations, particularly those which do their giving through company foundations, produce separate, detailed booklets for this purpose. The rising interest in corporate social responsibility during the 1960's and 1970's spawned many books which included discussions of corporate philanthropy. The Research Papers of the Commission on Private Philanthropy and Public Needs (The Filer Commission), published in 1977, include five papers on corporate philanthropy and a wealth of related information.

Nonetheless, there are still few works which deal directly with the questions of how corporate contributions decisions are made, how corporate objectives in giving may be changing, or what sort of an impact corporate donations have had on the third sector overall. This paper will not attempt to describe or analyze thoroughly the state of corporate philanthropy in the U. S. today. It will instead focus on the current literature concerning corporate giving and on some of the issues informing the study of this topic.

CONTENTS
Introduction.
The Rationale for corporate giving.
Purposeful giving.
Administering corporate contributions programs.
Corporate social accounting.
Corporate philanthropy and the public goods dilemma.
Company foundations.
Corporations and the United Way.
Notes.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Private Sector