‘Tis the season for giving number nerds. The Chronicle of Philanthropy just published its corporate giving list, and the 2012 edition of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy’s Giving in Numbers is due out shortly.
We get asked a lot about “typical” giving level or “typical” giving programs for a company. In this, the “other” season of giving, we thought we’d take a look at the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s top 10 biggest givers and see what was typical for them.
Note that the below numbers are for those companies that reported to the Chronicle only. And this is only measured by the sheer dollar amount of giving – not giving relative to revenue or profit.
Average Giving as a Percentage of Pre-Tax Profit: 1.8%
For those companies that had pre-tax profits (9/10), they gave an average 1.8 percent. Most of the time 1 percent is considered “typical,” so the 800-pound gorillas are probably coming in on the high end.
Average Percent of Giving that is Noncash: 12.2%
This number is tricky. By the Chronicle’s definition, it includes only products and services, not pro bono service. So it is very highly driven by industry. For the top 10, the companies pulling that number up are the retailers, and the ones pushing it down are the financial and energy companies. No technology or pharma companies made the top 10 this year, but if they had, the average would have gone way up.
Matching Gift Programs: 8/10 offer
This is a highly standard employee benefit. Not surprising 80 percent of the top 10 offer it. For those that reported having a cap on this benefit, the average was $178,000 matched per employee. This is hugely skewed by Walmart, which says it will match up to $1 million per employee. Without Walmart in the mix, the average is $13,700 per employee for year.
Average Participation in Matching Gift Programs: 12%
Employee participation in matching gift programs is notoriously low. Only 5 of the top 10 reported on participation, but 12 percent isn’t too shabby.
Dollars for Doers Programs: 5/10 offer
A little less common, dollars for doers was a 50/50 split. These programs have been increasing in recent years, so we may see that tick up in the top 10 over time.
Average Participation in Volunteer Program: 12%
Interesting – the same number that participated in the matching gift program. Very few (only three) of the top 10 reported on this. Almost all companies have a hard time measuring this.
Even though these are our nation’s biggest givers, this probably is a fairly decent snapshot of what’s a “typical” showing for acorporate giver today.
Looking forward to what the CECP study will have to say on the subject this fall!
One Comment
Thanks for the post! It is always interesting to look at stats…