A Spike In Giving Gives Credence To Community Investment
Research from the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy released early last week shows that corporate philanthropy (aka community investment aka insert acronym or clever moniker here) continued to rise in 2006, up 4.7 per cent for top companies who participated in their survey.
Researchers expected donation amounts and strategies to be shelved after 2005 – a year when many companies anteed-up in support of Katrina, the SEA Tsunami and other natural disasters. Of $10.6 billion in philanthropy data from 113 companies tracked in the research (including 44 Fortune 100 companies) last year, giving continued to spike above 2005 levels.
Last month, we committed to giving away $7.4 million over the next three years to community investment programs deemed important by people crucial to the success of our business – you. Companies are beginning to pay closer attention to their philanthropic initiatives and are getting better at measuring and capturing data on dollars that go out the door.
Not to toot our own horn, but we’re approaching philanthropy much like the companies detailed in this report – setting in place a rigid set of standards that will make donations dollars count and easy to count at the same time.
Will community investment become as important for business as, say, accounting? One thing is certain – both require a new level of transparency and strategy. We’re proud of the fact that in Canada, Molson will be known as a leader in this field.
