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Giving by corporations

Corporate giving is estimated to be $14.5 billion in 2008.

This is a decline of 4. 5 percent (- 8.0 percent adjusted for inflation).

Corporate giving is 5 percent of total giving.

Corporate giving includes cash and in-kind donations that corporations take as charitable deductions on their tax returns. However, Giving USA removes the donations made to corporate foundations and counts, instead, the amount that corporate foundations donate to charities. For 2008, the corporate foundation estimate is approximately 30 percent of total estimated corporate giving.

 

Giving USA findings The U.S. economy entered a recession in December 2007, which persisted throughout 2008 and beyond. The finance and home-building sectors were the most negatively affected by this economic crisis, which was catalyzed by increasing numbers of people who had borrowed money, whether to purchase homes or for other expenses, not being able to meet payments. Several financial firms collapsed in 2008. One example is Lehman Brothers, which, at over $600 billion in debt, was the largest bankruptcy in history, dwarfing the prior record set in 2002 by Enron.

In fall 2008, banks, car manufacturers, and other firms received significant cash support through either transfers or through guarantees from the federal government. However, with reduced new credit for homebuyers and businesses; lower consumer spending; and growing lay-offs, there was a ripple effect throughout the economy. By late 2008, major companies in most key sectors of the economy saw losses instead of profits for the year. 1

Charitable giving by corporations has
historically been linked to corporate
profits and to overall national Gross
Domestic Product (GDP). In 2008,
corporate profits decreased nearly
18 percent, adjusted for inflation,
according to the Bureau of Economic
Analysis. The change in GDP was
1. 1 percent compared with growth
of 2.0 percent in 2007 and 2. 8 percent
in 2006. Not surprisingly, with such
a difficult year for corporate profits,
charitable giving by most companies
stayed flat or fell. 2

Corporate giving estimates from surveys also show declines The Giving USA estimate is supported by survey results collected independently. In a survey of 345 corporate CFOs, conducted by Financial Executives International and Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business in early December 2008, half of the respondents whose companies have historically given to charity reported a decrease in their charitable giving during 2008, and 33 percent cited a shift in their giving towards strategies that align philanthropy with business goals. 3