Corporate Support for Public Affairs Nonprofits

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Corporate Support for Public Affairs Nonprofits
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Corporate Philanthropy Some Basics

• There was relatively little corporate
  philanthropy before the 1960s.
• Most large firms now make sizeable contributions
  to nonprofits.
• Corporate contributions are mostly in cash, but
  some are in-kind.
• Two channels of corporate giving to nonprofits
• Direct corporate giving
• Corporate foundations

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Motives of Corporate Philanthropy

• Boosting sales and profits coordinated with
  marketing and advertising
• Enhancing conditions for long-term economic
  returns
• Legitimation presenting an image of social
  responsibility
• Deterring and providing alternatives to
  government programs
• Coopting and building bridges to potential
  adversaries
• Reducing corporate taxes

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The Scale of Corporate Philanthropy

• Corporate foundations made grants of 4.2 billion
  in 2006.
• This constitutes 11 of all foundation grants.
• Total corporate grants (including direct giving)
  were 13.8 billion in 2005.
• If direct giving was included with foundation
  giving, corporations would account for 29 of all
  foundation grants.
• Corporations account for roughly 5 of all
  private philanthropic giving.

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Recipients of Corporate Foundation Grants in 2005

• Education 25
• Public affairs 22
• Human services 19
• Health 12
• Arts and culture 11
• International 4
• Environment and wildlife 3
• Science and technology 2
• Other 1

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Motives of Corporate Support for Public Affairs
Nonprofits

• Corporate conservatism funding pro-business,
  right-wing organizations
• Corporate pragmatism building bridges to
  liberal and moderate organizations

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Who Gives the Most? 50 Largest Corporate
Foundations (2005)

• Health and pharmaceuticals (N 11) 495
  million
• Banking and finance (N 11) 444 million
• Insurance (N 5) 114 million
• Energy, oil, chemicals, mining (N 7) 244
  million
• Motor vehicles (N 4) 169 million
• Retail, consumer non-durables (N 6) 292
  million
• Telecommunications (N 3) 152 million
• Miscellaneous (N 3) 75 million

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Who Receives the Most? The Capital Research
Center Data

• CRC was founded in 1984 to combat liberal bias
  in corporate philanthropy.
• Published Patterns of Corporate Philanthropy
  periodically through 2001.
• Rated corporations on the liberalism/conservatism
  of their public affairs grants.
• Ranked public affairs nonprofits from 1 (radical
  left) to 8 (market right).
• Weighted grants by ideology and dollar amount to
  give each corporation an overall score.
• Publicized results to CEOs in effort to influence
  corporate giving.
• CRC report for 2001 includes 90 corporations
  and 357 nonprofits for the year 1997.

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Top 50 Public Affairs Nonprofits Receiving Grants
from 90 Large Corporations (1997)

• Policy Planning and Advocacy
• 2. Council on Foreign Relations
  2,195,050
• 4. Brookings Institution 1,722,000
• 5. Chamber of Commerce 1,517,029
• 11. American Enterprise Institute
  965,000
• 15. East-West Institute 793,000
• 16. Center for Strategic International
  Studies 760,000
• 17. Economic Strategy Institute
  575,000
• 18. Committee for Economic Development
  547,500
• 20. Carter Center 480,000
• 21. Ethics Resource Center 412,500
• 30. Rand Corporation 360,000
• 32. Heritage Foundation 341,000
• 33. National Alliance of Business
  331,000
• 37. Citizens for a Sound Economy
  317,000
• 38. Institute for International Economics
  317,000
• 40. Aspen Institute 280,000
• 44. Competitive Enterprise Institute
  25,5000
• 46. Joint Center for Political Economic
  Studies 247,000

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Top 50 Public Affairs Nonprofits Receiving Grants
from 90 Large Corporations (1997)

• Civil Rights
• 1. Urban League 3,917,444
• 10. NAACP 1,052,650
• 22. Anti-Defamation League 406,800
• 25. National Council of La Raza 392,000
• 27. National Council of Negro Women
  381,667
• 42. League of United Latin American Citizens
  260,500
• 43. National Organization on Disability
  260,000
• 49. Mexican American Legal Defense
  Education Fund 221,500
• Health and Human Services
• 6. American Heart Association
  1,303,985
• 12. American Cancer Society 943,509
• 13. Families Work Institute 850,000
• 19. American Federation for Aging Research
  519,000
• 29. National Council on the Aging
  363,500
• 35. Childrens Health Fund 325,000
• 36. Child Welfare League of America
  320,000
• 39. American Council on Science Health
  299,000

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Top 50 Public Affairs Nonprofits Receiving Grants
from 90 Large Corporations (1997)

• Environment and Wildlife
• 7. Conservation International
  1,298,500
• 8. Nature Conservancy 1,285,145
• 41. Resources for the Future 280,000
• 41. Ducks Unlimited 262,500
• 45. World Wildlife Fund 250,260
• Education
• 9. National Education Association
  1,243,105
• 24. Public Education Network 394,200
• 28. Education Commission of the States
  378,900
• 31. Students in Free Enterprise
  350,500
• 34. National Head Start Association
  325,705
• Community Development
• 3. Enterprise Foundation 1,940,750
• 23. Points of Light Foundation 395,000
• 26. Assoc. of Community Organizations for
  Reform Now 385,000

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What Influences Corporate Giving to Public
Affairs Nonprofits?

• Hypotheses from research on corporate
  philanthropy
• Consumer goods industries contribute widely to
  promote image.
• Corporations tend to concentrate grants in their
  local region.
• Hypotheses from research on corporate PACs
• Traditional regulated industries are more
  pragmatic/bipartisan.
• Defense contractors are more pragmatic/bipartisan.
  
• Regulatory violators exhibit more right-wing
  partisanship.
• Firms in South and Midwest exhibit more
  right-wing partisanship.
• Hypotheses from research on policy board members
• Traditional regulated industries have closer
  links to moderates.
• Sunbelt (South and West) firms have closer links
  to right-wing.
• Hypotheses from research on corporate networks
• Firms with board interlocks exhibit similar
  political behavior.

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Industry Differences in Corporate Giving Average
CRC Rating (High Right-Wing)
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Regional Differences in Corporate Giving Average
CRC Rating (High Right-Wing)
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Percentage Overlap in Nonprofits Supported by
Dyads of Firms
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Conclusions

• Much corporate philanthropy is hidden, so any
  conclusions must be tentative.
• Corporations contribute more heavily to public
  affairs than do other private foundations.
• Corporations adopt a mixed strategy of
  conservatism and pragmatism.
• Conservative grants are concentrated in the
  policy planning area.
• Pragmatic (moderate/liberal) grants are
  concentrated in civil rights, health, and
  environment.
• Variations in corporate giving follow a similar
  pattern to other forms of corporate political
  action.
• More speculatively, corporate grants are of
  sufficient scale to have an impact on the program
  and politics of public affairs nonprofits.
• Even more speculatively, relative to other
  funding sources, corporate grants are likely pull
  both left- and right-wing nonprofits toward the
  political center.

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THE END