Executives from Twenty Major Corporations Collaborate to Produce Landmark Report on Global Corporate Philanthropy

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Apr 16, 2013, 10:00 ET

NEW YORK, April 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board has released Corporate Philanthropy with a Global Footprint, a comprehensive study of the practices, philosophies, and trends prevailing in global corporate philanthropy. The report is based on the meetings of a Research Working Group (RWG), first convened by The Conference Board in 2011, that consisted of executives from twenty world leaders in corporate giving, including American Express, Caterpillar, Dell, FedEx, Ford, Intel, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Toyota, UBS, and Verizon.

The team set out to produce a set of definitive roadmaps for corporate giving but, according to participants, soon found flexibility and experimentation in to be as important as strict standards. "The more comprehensive our report became," said Donald R. Greene, former director of The Coca-Cola Foundation and director of The Conference Board Contributions Council, "the more we knew it'd be impossible to reduce the landscape to a universal set of best practices or single definition of success.

"But our work was animated by the ongoing, worldwide transformation of philanthropy from a peripheral expense to a strategic investment aligning the interests of companies, shareholders, employees, and communities. Corporate Philanthropy with a Global Footprint is meant less as a roadmap than an atlas—a repository of the many paths, possibilities, and pitfalls opened up by the latest thinking on social responsibility and social investment."

Drawing on first-hand experience as practitioners and input from outside experts, RWG participants benchmarked their own organizations and others to assemble a kaleidoscopic collection of case studies for multinational firms managing philanthropy programs in diverse regions. In 2012, the same team of executives produced Corporate Philanthropy in China: A Practitioner's Guide for Foreign Donors. The new report expands on that effort to include geographic snapshots—with cultural, regulatory, and business considerations—for seven world regions: China, Latin America, Western Europe, Africa, India, Japan, and Russia.

From this wide-ranging perspective, Corporate Philanthropy with a Global Footprint examines:

Why the language and spirit of global giving is shifting from simple charity to "social investment"—thereby blurring the lines between philanthropy and business
Why corporate social investment works best when it's issues-focused, outcome/impact-oriented, and able to adapt to local conditions
How companies can leverage intermediary organizations to create successful programs outside their home countries without the need for in-country foundations
What the best methods are for ensuring compliance with charitable-giving laws and regulations in the U.S. and beyond
How employee engagement—centered on volunteerism—has become an increasingly powerful component of the social investment approach
Why a sensitivity to cultural differences and openness to local initiatives are key to successful employee engagement
Which approaches have been developed to measure the social impact and business value of philanthropic investments

For complete details:
http://www.conference-board.org/publications/publicationlistall.cfm

Report: Corporate Philanthropy with a Global Footprint

About The Conference Board
The Conference Board is a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world's leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States.
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