Corporate Giving Down

In what should be no surprise, given the great uncertainty felt by business at the vastly increased role government has assumed in their affairs and the anxiety around future moves, the amount corporations gave to charity dropped in 2009 and appears to be remaining flat in 2010, according to this article from USA Today.

An excerpt.

“Corporate profits are on the rebound, but most big businesses say it will be some time before they can give as much cash to charities as they did before the recession, according to a survey of the nation's largest companies by the Chronicle of Philanthropy and USA TODAY.

“More than 100 answered the survey, and the Chronicle analyzed tax data for a total of 162 companies.

“A majority of companies said they expect their charitable donations in 2010 to be about the same as in 2009 — a year in which cash giving fell by 7.5%. Of the 102 firms that answered the question, 73% predicted a flat 2010.

“While that would be bad news for charities, the reality could be even worse.

“Sixty-eight companies decreased their cash giving in 2009 to $3.9 billion, the first time since 2003 that cash contributions from businesses in The Chronicle's survey have dropped. Fifty-four percent of businesses gave less cash, 30% gave more, and 16% gave roughly the same. But donations of cash and products increased by nearly 5% last year, as companies sought to compensate for the decline in cash by offering other types of assistance.

"The whole economy has to burrow itself back up before a lot of corporations are going to have the money to invest as they did prior to the recession," says Woody Dicus, manager of corporate community relations at Progress Energy, in Raleigh, N.C.”