![]() ![]() But when the ranks of the hungry increased tenfold in the 1980s, contributions managers in companies such as General Mills, Grand Metropolitan, Kraft General Foods, and Sara Lee decided to play a larger role and establish a rallying point around which disparate units of their companies could come together. Before the new approach to corporate philanthropy, the foundations of food companies gave cash donations to antihunger organizations. As a result, many fringe causes, including the following, have become national movements. companies are adopting strategic philanthropy, they are assuming an activist stance on social issues. How Corporate Philanthropy Promotes Causes In the process, companies are forming strategic alliances with nonprofits and emerging as important partners in movements for social change while advancing their business goals. And they are funding those initiatives not only from philanthropy budgets but also from business units, such as marketing and human resources. In addition to cash, they are providing nonprofits with managerial advice, technological and communications support, and teams of employee volunteers. (See the insert “How Corporate Philanthropy Promotes Causes.”) For the first time, businesses are backing philanthropic initiatives with real corporate muscle. But the new paradigm encourages corporations to play a leadership role in social problem solving by funding long-term initiatives, like school reform and AIDS awareness, that incorporate the best thinking of governments and nonprofit institutions. True, there is no shortage of self-serving philanthropic initiatives that lend themselves to photo opportunities without effecting real change. The outcome of this new model is not, as many had feared, an array of programs that benefit only business. In short, the strategic use of philanthropy has begun to give companies a powerful competitive edge. ![]() In those and other companies, philanthropic and business units have joined forces to develop giving strategies that increase their name recognition among consumers, boost employee productivity, reduce R&D costs, overcome regulatory obstacles, and foster synergy among business units. Forced to explain why businesses should give away money while laying off workers, contributions managers at hundreds of companies, including AT&T, IBM, and Levi Strauss, have come up with an approach that ties corporate giving directly to strategy. Downsizing has transformed the management of corporate philanthropy in the United States.
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