By Melissa J. Anderson

According to Giving in Numbers, the latest report by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, companies are more and more often utilizing corporate giving campaigns in employee engagement efforts.

Report author Alison Poppe Rose, Manager of Standards and Measurement for the CECP explained, “The competition to attract and retain talented employees has encouraged many more [companies] to offer innovative and meaningful employee-volunteer opportunities, including paid-release time and dynamic pro bono service programs.”

In addition to an uptick in employee engagement efforts, corporate giving has changed significantly since 2007, the beginning of the economic crisis. But, according to the report, companies are employing significantly different strategies when it comes to philanthropy. About equal percentages of companies increased and decreased contributions by more than a quarter (25% and 21% respectively). Last year, more than half of the companies on the CECP’s list of matched-set companies gave more than they did in 2007.

The report was is based on a survey of CECP’s membership of 180 global CEOs and chairmen of companies, which, according to the organization, “account for more than 40% of reported corporate giving in the United States.”

By Melissa J. Anderson

Before she became CEO of Pepsico in 2007, Indra Nooyi was CFO of the company for 7 years. Even then, Nooyi’s commitment to diversity was well known. The company implemented clear and measurable diversity targets, with development programs for women and ethnic minorities as well as a push to hire local talent in the countries where Pepsico operates. The diversity efforts paid off: the company more than doubled profits in that time, and Nooyi attributed that success at least in part to the diverse workforce.

Today, the Pepsico’s Performance with Purpose mantra is often repeated when discussing the success of the company’s diversity and inclusion work.

In fact, as the business case for diversity and other so-called soft issues like sustainability are gaining recognition, these issues are increasingly falling under the purview of the CFO.

By Laura C. Steele

Times have been tough for non-profits during the recession, with at least 40% of nonprofits reporting a drop in donations during 2010. In this environment, corporations can be a vitally important source of funding for many well-established nonprofits. A workplace giving campaign can raise significant amounts of money towards a worthy cause, while increasing employee morale and encouraging team building.

Experts in charitable giving realize that simplicity, or ease of use, is the best way to ensure participation. Digital technologies are helping corporations in a variety of way, to reach both their employees, and their customers, while supporting a wide range of charitable organizations. Increasingly, donors want to be engaged digitally, and are used to multi-tasking while at work and at play. So, forward-thinking companies work to incorporate new technologies into their capital giving campaigns, to maximize participation.

Below are three ways that corporations and organizations are giving digitally.

By Melissa J. Anderson

Last week marked the Foundation for Social Change’s second annual conference, kicking off the event with a day-long Women and Girls Education Summit. For an audience composed largely of corporate responsibility professionals and other individuals in the sector, the Summit detailed the ways that corporations are contributing to and creating education and professional development initiatives for females.

Louise Guide, founder and CEO of the Foundation for Social Change opened the conference explaining that she hoped attendees took away concrete ideas for their own companies or organizations. She explained, “The reason we’re here is that we ant to show how people are taking action – they’re not thought leaders, they’re do-leaders.”

One of the key ideas that speakers discussed repeatedly was the importance of funding programs that create sustainable development. Here’s why.

By Tina Vasquez

According to the 2010 Points of Light Institute’s Employee Volunteer Program Reporting Standards, an Employee Volunteer Program (EVP) is effective in developing employees, improving public perception of the company, and enhancing business operations. Research even suggests that volunteering is good for your health [PDF] and the Institute also reports that EVPs are a sensible, efficient method of achieving general HR objectives for recruiting, retaining, and developing employees. It wasn’t until very recently, however, that corporations began to take a more focused approach to their volunteer programs.

Employee volunteer programs have come a long way in a short amount of time. In a History of Americans as Volunteers, authors Susan Ellis and Katherine Noyes trace employee volunteer programs back to the 1970’s when corporate social responsibility programs began to emerge. At the time, most programs were grassroots efforts and were small in scope, but as of 2006, over 80 percent of corporations report having or sponsoring EVPs. According to Chris Jarvis, co-founder and senior consultant for Realized Worth, a leading employee volunteering and CSR consulting firm, despite their progress over the past 40 years, having a successful employee volunteer program is still something that eludes companies large and small.

“There are many challenges in getting these programs off the ground, but the biggest is usually figuring out who to talk to,” Jarvis said. “All major companies are fragmented – there’s HR, there’s communications, there’s marketing, etc. Each department has a different stake in the company and they’re like islands; they rarely interact with each other, so figuring out who to talk to and how to get everyone on board can be difficult.”

As another challenge, Jarvis cites a common mistake made by a company’s executive leadership: the failure to make volunteering a company mandate. “It’s one thing for a company’s leadership to say it supports employee volunteering, but it’s quite another to give a managers a mandate to make them understand that volunteering is part of their corporate culture,” Jarvis said. “Sometimes there’s interpersonal reasons why this isn’t done, but often it’s that very intentional volunteer programs that go beyond philanthropy are just too new and unfamiliar for them to know how to navigate.”

By Andrea Newell

As part of its sixth annual Summer of Community Service initiative, PwC announced a new strategic relationship with classroom savior DonorsChoose, a philanthropy that connects individual donors with specific school needs using a microfinance model. PwC is offering $5 gift cards to all of its 30,000 U.S. employees, and $20 gift cards to any employee who volunteers in a firm-sponsored project during the summer program to put toward the classroom project of their choice.

In the past three years, PwC has sharpened its focus on youth education. In a speech to the MIND Research Institute, another PwC education partner, Shannon Schuyler, Corporate Responsibility Leader at PwC, talked about the firm’s migration toward education as their chosen cause area. As the world’s largest professional services firm, PwC saw youth education as a global issue that resonated with employees everywhere. It was a cause that each employee could be involved with on a local level.

“We’re focusing really on financial services, we’re focusing a lot on math, a lot on analytical thinking, and the notion that we really want to see how we can drive forward science, and math and financial literacy in our next generation of leaders is absolutely critical and is something that we take very seriously. And we believe that’s part of who we are and what we need to do as a responsible organization.”

By Melissa J. Anderson

Last Month, Matt Tonello, Director of Corporate Governance for The Conference Board, posted a detailed account of the strategic importance of Corporate Philanthropy on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation.

The in-depth article discusses the importance of corporate philanthropy in helping a company grow its reputation and its bottom line. Tonello explains that while critics of corporate philanthropy bill it as a drain on company coffers or simply a means for management to boost social cache.

Nevertheless, he says, “Corporate giving programs can provide a competitive advantage when they are well designed and carefully executed.”

The company’s reputation, the communities in which it operates, its local effectiveness, and its ability to retain staff are all improved through corporate philanthropy. He explains:

“…charitable contributions can increase the name recognition and reputation of a brand or company among consumers. In addition, corporate support of local causes improves the quality of life in communities where the company does business. These contributions help managers build relationships with government officials and community leaders and can reduce regulatory and special interest group obstacles. … A commitment to philanthropy also facilitates efforts to recruit and retain talented employees.”

Tonello adds, “Finally, contributions can stimulate innovation as grants to universities and other organizations provide companies with new ideas, access to technical expertise, and opportunities for research and development collaboration.”

Similarly, corporate philanthropy can be a key part of employee engagement strategy, helping to attract high potential talent. Additionally, he writes, “As a result of corporate-sponsored volunteer experiences, current employees report higher job satisfaction and a greater commitment to their company.”

But these benefits can only be achieved under optimal circumstances – companies have to put in significant work up front to ensure its philanthropy work is truly effective. Here are Tonello’s three key insights into running a successful corporate philanthropy program.

By Melissa J. Anderson

In July, GE released its 2010 Corporate Citizenship Report. A follow-up to last year’s report, which included a lengthy discussion of the purpose of business in today’s new complex, global context, this one features perspectives from business leaders across the corporation (and various outside experts as well), discussing GE’s strategy, successes, and challenges moving forward in the corporate citizenship space.

One of the most important developments in this year’s reports is the growing recognition that sustainability is more than a “nice to have.” The issue has become a costly concern.

According to the report, the urgency of environmental, social, and regulatory challenges have forced the company’s corporate responsibility response to “shift up a gear.” Here are a few ways that GE is responding to the material challenges represented in the new global marketplace.

By Melissa J. Anderson

According to a new paper out of Harvard Business School, it’s time to usher in a new phase of capitalism.

The paper, Creating Shared Value, says that CSR has, so far, only served as a band-aid on a broken system. It’s time, write the authors, to re-envision how how businesses make a profit as well as create broader value within their communities.

Written by Michael E. Porter, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Harvard University and Mark R. Kramer, senior fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and co-founder of consultancy FSG with Porter, the paper was published earlier this year in the Harvard Business Review.

They believe that in recent decades, companies, driven by shareholder focus on short-term gain, have grown to ignore their impact on their surrounding communities, focusing solely on creating profit – often to the detriment of their workers, the environment, and society. Not only that, they say, but we are approaching an era of resource scarcity and, given the lack of trust most people now have in big business, companies must change the way they operate.

Corporate social responsibility isn’t the answer, they say. In order for the new model to stick, the work companies engage in going forward must be profitable – not philanthropy. Otherwise, it will always come across as a soft side project. They write:

“Businesses acting as businesses, not as charitable donors, are the most powerful force for addressing the pressing issues we face. The moment for a new conception of capitalism is now; society’s needs are large and growing, while customers, employees, and a new generation of young people are asking business to step up.”

The key, Porter and Kramer write, is to create “shared value” – to engage in projects that are profitable and benefit society as a whole. They say, “The concept of shared values resets the boundaries of capitalism. By better connecting companies’ success with societal improvement, it opens up many ways to serve new needs, gain efficiency, create differentiation, and expand markets.”

According to the authors, by examining its products (from a benefits and harms standpoint), its supply chain, changing technology and environmental situations, and the unique needs of its customers, a company can identify potential opportunities for creating shared value. Additionally, they write, it may seem difficult at first, but it is an exercise that gets easier with a change in mindset.

Here are three areas in which that companies can create shared value.

By Elizabeth Bales Frank

Recently, Deloitte issued a report revealing that “millennials who frequently participate in workplace volunteer activities are far more likely to be proud, loyal and satisfied employees compared to those who rarely or never volunteer.” The Deloitte report confirms that the best way for an employer to keep this group engaged is by, quite simply, engaging — in the community and in charitable organizations.

More than half of the millennials responding to the survey said they were “likely to factor a company’s commitment to the community into their decision if choosing between two jobs with the same location, responsibilities and pay and benefits.”

Among the benefits to employers are higher employee satisfaction, greater retention and loyalty, and the opportunity to train employees in the development of a variety of skills — leadership, board membership, public speaking, fundraising, teaching, and mentoring — through hands-on experience, which at the same time provides a direct benefit to a charity or community endeavor. Savvy employers are already in: a recent survey indicates that roughly 90% of Fortune 500 companies conduct corporate volunteer programs.