As we look ahead to the trends in corporate philanthropy, there’s food for CSR thought in the 2014 Trend Report from The Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals (ACCP). This annual report distinguishes itself by offering forward-looking data collected by surveying corporate contribution professionals about their plans, including their budgets, for the upcoming year.
The headline takeaway is that corporate philanthropy remained relatively static in ‘14, which isn’t terribly surprising when you consider that Corporate America is still recovering from the recession. But a developing trend is that companies want more bang from their giving buck these days, looking for greater returns on the limited dollars they do have to donate. Why? Because more companies are leveraging philanthropy to solve business problems, which means they have elevated expectations for their charitable efforts.
I consider this a good thing. The less that companies silo corporate philanthropy as a nice-thing-to-do-if-you’re-in-the-mood and instead prioritize it as an essential component of their business mission and bottom line, the more investment we’ll see in this area. And following greater investment will be greater returns, especially if companies invest smartly in tools like employee volunteer and giving programs.
