10 Companies That Gave Most Cash To Charity In 2011: Chronicle Of

These days, most companies claim to also be in the business of giving. But which corporations really put their money where their mouths are?

Donations by the largest U.S. businesses grew by 4 percent last year, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. The publication points out it?s far less than the 13-percent increase from 2009 to 2010, when corporate giving rebounded post-recession.

Recent trends in corporate charity include a focus on impact investing, skills-based volunteering, turning social media engagement into action and more, highlighted by The Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy conference held last month in New York.

And when it comes to quality vs. quantity, corporations are focusing more efforts on organizations that align with their DNA, according to Margaret Coady, HuffPost blogger and director of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy.

?Companies are making fewer grants, grant amounts are increasing, and companies are selecting social causes that tie to the company?s expertise rather than spreading funding across many issue areas,? she writes.

Five companies surveyed by the Chronicle increased their giving by more than 50 percent to causes they deemed important, with Starbucks growing its giving by nearly 197 percent.

Still, the median donation share in company profits was 1 percent, according to the Chronicle. And corporate giving made up just 5 percent of last year?s giving total, while individual giving amounted to 73 percent of the total, according to Giving USA Foundation and its research partner, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Some leaders in the world of charitable giving haven?t been so impressed.

Paul Clolery, The NonProfit Times publisher and editorial director, called on corporate foundations to be required to give more:

?Here?s something to legislate, mandate that corporate foundations pay out at least 15 percent each year, instead of the paltry 5 percent of the value of the foundation?s net investment assets that is currently required,? he writes. ?It?s time for Corporate America to stand up and do more. The charitable sector needs to demand more participation from its corporate supporters.?

Click through the slideshow below to see which major companies gave the most last year.

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• No. 10

  a href=?http://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/132991/? target=?_hplink?emThe Chronicle of Philanthropy/em/a reports that Citigroup donated a total of $121,910,534 in cash in 2011 ? $4.1 million of which comprised grants to Junior Achievement, which spreads financial and entrepreneurial knowledge to youth in over 50 countries.

• No. 9

  According to a href=?http://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/132991/? target=?_hplink?emThe Chronicle of Philanthropy,/em/a General Electric Company gave $144,100,000 in cash and $1,900,000 in products in 2011 ? notably including $17.5 million in grants to support 72 health clinics in areas that lack sufficient medical services.

• No. 8

  According to a href=?http://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/132991/? target=?_hplink?emThe Chronicle of Philanthropy,/em/a Target Corporation donated $12 million to improve school libraries nationwide, and $1.5 million in grants to promote reading at libraries that it has supported in the past. Its 2011 donations totaled a href=?http://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/132991/? target=?_hplink?$146,119,380 in cash/a, and $63,155,311 in products.

• No. 7

  a href=?http://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/132991/? target=?_hplink?emThe Chronicle of Philanthropy/em/a reports that JPMorgan Chase Company donated $202,961,667 in cash and $70,473,269 in material gifts in 2011. $10 million was directed toward a href=?http://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/132991/? target=?_hplink?fixing the problem of poverty/a in New York via the Robin Hood Foundation, and $50 million in grants supported nonprofits that promote education for the poor.

• No. 6

  According to a href=?http://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/132991/? target=?_hplink?emThe Chronicle of Philanthropy/em/a, Bank of America gave $208,425,075 in cash donations ? $100 million of which it committed to lowering carbon emissions as part of their 10-year, $50 billion, plan to support the environment. Additionally, it raised $3.5 million when a href=?http://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/132991/? target=?_hplink?they matched customer donations/a to local food banks and pantries.

• No. 5

  Chevron Corporation spread its efforts across the board, as a href=?http://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/132991/? target=?_hplink?emThe Chronicle of Philanthropy/em/a reports $17.5 million in donations to Project Lead the Way, which spreads engineering programs to middle and high schools nationwide, and $8 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Its generosity totalled a href=?http://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/132991/? target=?_hplink?$209,280,000/a in cash donations.

• No. 4

  Totaling $213,481,849 in cash donations, a href=?http://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/132991/? target=?_hplink?emThe Chronicle of Philanthropy/em/a reports that Wells Fargo Company committed itself to providing access to housing in low-income communities. In 2011, it gave $3.4 million to Opportunity Finance Network, which works to a href=?http://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/132991/? target=?_hplink?make banking services accessible/a to these communities.

• No. 3

  According to a href=?http://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/132991/? target=?_hplink?emThe Chronicle of Philanthropy,/em/a ExxonMobil Corporation?s charitable cash donations in 2011 totalled $232,658,037, with an additional $2,007,943 in products. Notably, it directed $27 million of these efforts toward supporting the National Science and Math Initiative, which is a href=?http://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/132991/? target=?_hplink?dedicated to helping/a AP Training and Incentive and UTeach programs.

• No. 2

  a href=?http://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/132991/? target=?_hplink?emThe Chronicle of Philanthropy/em/a reports that Goldman Sachs Group donated $337,077,886 in cash ? just about $19 million of which can be attributed to individual employees, as the group promises to match up to $20,000 for each employee?s donations annually.

• No. 1

  Donating a total of $342,350,438 in cash and $616,591,031 in products in 2011, a href=?http://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/132991/? target=?_hplink?emThe Chronicle of Philanthropy/em/a reports that Wal-Mart demonstrated a big time commitment to supporting antihunger groups, to which it donated $60 million in money and 338 million pounds of food, and jobs and education for veterans, to which it committed $20 million over the next five years.

Article source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/24/companies-gave-most-charity-2011_n_1699157.html

Source: http://caregiverschristianministry.org/news/archives/21681

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