RESEARCH NOTE Professional Corporate Donation Programs in Canada: An Exploratory Study

This article reports the results of an exploratory study on corporate philanthropy using a sample of 206 Canadian companies. The results show that a corporation is more likely to have a professional donation program if it is large, privately owned, and the manager of the corporation acts as a volunteer fundraiser for a charitable organization. The second part of the study finds that the level of contributions made is positively related to the size of the organization and whether it has a professional donation program. However, economic constraints, imposed by debt covenant restrictions, reduce the amount donated. Finally, the results indicate a reciprocal relationship between the existence of a professional donation program and the level of philanthropic contributions. Organizations in the United States are developing a more professional approach to corporate philanthropy as they attempt to rationalize the donation decision-making process by institutionalizing formal structures for determining which charities to support. These include establishing a donation committee, installing formal policies and procedures that must be followed, carefully screening applicants, and evaluating the effectiveness of the donation after the grant is made also find that organizations with professional donation programs tend to donate more to charities. On the other hand, organizations are reporting that economic factors are limiting the amounts that they can donate (Lewin, 2001), and academics find that Note: I would like to thank three anonymous reviewers of this journal as well as participants at the 2001 International Association of Business and Society conference and at the 2001 annual meeting of the Academy of Management. Financial support by the Faculty of Business, Brock University, is gratefully acknowledged. charitable contributions are influenced by such economic factors as special tax Although we know much about the consequences of having a professional approach to corporate philanthropy, especially in terms of the pattern of the donations and amount contributed, we know less about the factors that contribute to this increase in professionalism. This article reports the results of an exploratory study into corporate philanthropy in Canada. Two interrelated questions are investigated: What are some of the antecedents that contribute to a firm developing a professional donation program, and what is the relationship between a professional donation program and the level of donations made by the firm? To answer these questions, this article examines (a) the relationship between managerial volunteerism and ownership structures on the existence of a professional donation program within an organization …