How Does Your Company State It's Philanthropic Goals and Mission?

We talk a lot about mission in many of our posts. For example, companies like the House of Marley that describes theirs simply as "putting Bob's beliefs into action",  or the Feed Project that has a whole page dedicated to their stated mission.

A lot of companies miss this essential step of not having a carefully formalized and stated mission statement about their charitable giving. Too bad for them and for the causes they serve, as having a clear sense of what your business wants to achieve in its charitable giving is a tremendous advantage. 

I have been recently helping a local non-profit to build partnerships with local businesses. So I have been carefully scrutinizing a variety of business's website for their info on community giving. My impressions of these are that they go from being fairly simply stated goals on up through a well stated mission. 

Anything written down is a good start, but the clearer the mission and the more employees that are engaged in the drafting, the more impact your philanthropy can have.

Here are some of the stated goals and missions I have come across: 

 Fenwick and West:"We choose to partner with and contribute to organizations with which we can assist in achieving their goals. We believe this integrated approach offers the greatest value to the recipient organizations."

Foxhunt:"has formed collaborative relationships with targeted nonprofits to support youth educational, athletic,and performing arts programs.

Tech CU:"is proud to be a strong supporter of community initiatives that impact the neighborhoods where our members live and work."

CPP: "Consistent with its corporate vision, CPP’s philanthropic activities today focus on contributing to programs that support people, promote educational opportunities, and help under served communities."

 

Many of these do specify more clearly on their sites what kinds of projects they fund, how they involve their employees and how non-profits can apply for funding. 

There is a great advantage for every business that gives back to the community to sit down with employees and develop a mission for their philanthropy because of the following advantages:

• Gives charities a clear cut procedure to follow when submitting their requests
• Creates a review system  to process the charitable applications
• Makes charitable decisions more thoughtful and carefully chosen
• Engages the employees in the charitable giving process
• Aligns the philanthropy with the mission of your business
• Helps assess whether you have achieved your goals and purpose

How does you company state its philanthropic goals and mission? Let me know.