Is your business looking to become more mission-driven and focus more on charitable giving? You’re in good company, as corporate giving totaled $21.08 billion in 2021, a 23.8% increase from 2020.
The first step to corporate philanthropy is developing a charitable giving strategy that resonates with your employees, community, and customers. Your business will then have a starting point to decide which strategic cause areas to support.
Once you have a philanthropic game plan, it’s time to think of ways to give back. We have compiled examples from diverse corporations creatively donating to their chosen strategic causes.
- Muncey Group’s “Welcome Home” fund
- Mama Bears’ Giving Circle
- St. James’ Corporate Games
- Akamai Technologies’ public matching gift campaign
- GolfNow’s Employee Compassion Funds
Muncey Group's "Welcome Home" Fund
Muncey Group, a Boston-based real estate firm, strives to provide clients with a seamless real estate experience while cultivating vibrant communities. A strategic cause area that aligns with their core business is reducing inequality and narrowing the racial and economic divides in American homeownership and wealth.
Why is closing the gap important? The median homeowner has 40x the household wealth of a renter. Through homeownership, families can build assets to create economic opportunities and escape generational poverty. However, homeownership in America has historically belonged to the White majority. When looking at the top one hundred cities with the largest populations of Black households, ZERO have closed the homeownership gap between Black and White Americans.
Teaming up with Compass Working Capital, Muncey Group started a “Welcome Home” fund powered by Givinga’s Philantech® platform to provide grants for first-generation homeowners. The grants funded by Muncey Group and local community members have no strings attached. Over $150,000 has already been donated to help low-income families pay for a downpayment on a home.
Mama Bears’ Giving Circle
Mama Bears, an online community advocating for LGBTQ+ causes, launched a giving circle with Legacy Collective. Establishing or joining a giving circle is a creative way for businesses to strengthen and give back to a marginalized community. When more companies and individuals join a giving circle, the circle’s grantmaking pool increases and the larger the social impact the circle has on communities.
Each month, Mama Bears’ giving circle members nominate and vote for nonprofits working to reduce inequality due to sexual orientation and ensure inclusive educational opportunities for LGBTQ+ youth to receive grants. The first round of grants went to The Trevor Project, Gender Spectrum, Tyler Clementi Foundation, and GLSEN.
St. James’ Corporate Games
St. James, a wellness platform, has launched a yearly competition called the Corporate Games to help end hunger in the Greater Washington area while showcasing its core values of fun, competition, and health. Creative branded corporate giving events are becoming more popular, with some companies even live streaming their ticketed events to maximize donations.
Employees of St. James and other businesses and nonprofits will partake in a day of friendly sporting and team-building events, from flag football to nutrition quiz bowls, in the name of social impact. Proceeds from the Corporate Games will support the Capital Area Food Bank to help those facing food insecurities. Participants will also be able to earn rewards based on their engagement with the food bank’s work.
Akamai Technologies’ Public Matching Gift Campaign
Akamai Technologies, a tech company based in Boston, witnessed the impact of the pandemic on global operations and wanted to provide direct relief to support their community’s well-being and quickly help those who needed it during a disaster.
Partnering with WeSpire, their charitable giving foundation launched a public matching gift campaign powered by Givinga’s Philantech® platform. By opening the campaign to all donors and inviting their community to participate, they creatively expanded their impact and network while increasing employee engagement. Donors worldwide helped fund a list of health and social justice charitable organizations curated by Akamai’s employees and employee resource groups. The donations were matched by Akamai and raised over $400,000 in just two weeks.
GolfNow’s Employee Compassion Funds
Sometimes the communities that need support are closer than you think. Your business can engage your local and global community to give back to your employees. Providing Employee Compassion Funds help support your employees and promote a full and productive workplace. These funds allow companies to proactively take care of their team and ease the stress of financial hardship.
In partnership with Givinga, GolfNow gave their network of thousands of golf courses access to set up Employee Compassion Funds for their country club employees. With most clubs forced to close or restrict hours and services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these funds helped golf courses provide financial relief for their staff. For example, by using Givinga’s Philantech® platform, Del Paso Country Club’s community members donated $85,000 in tax-free funds to their employees.
Givinga Can Help Your Brand Give Back to Your Community
Our mission at Givinga is to make it easy for companies to creatively and impactfully give back to their communities. Whether you want to set up a Corporate Giving Fund to direct donations to qualified organizations, implement Employee Compassion Funds to financially support employees, or create a public matching gift program to engage your community in specific cause areas, we’ll provide the platform and technology to stand up your program and ensure funds are distributed and approved quickly, safely, and transparently.
We take care of your company’s philanthropic infrastructure to proactively support the strategic cause areas close to the hearts of your employees, customers, and community. Learn more about us in Why Givinga? and fill out the contact form below to schedule a demo.
