While many would question whether it is appropriate to include corporate philanthropy in a corporate social responsibility blog (I am one such person), responses to the Haiti disaster have been sufficiently high-profile in CSR-specific publications that I thought it would make sense to dedicate a post to exploring how companies recognized as CSR leaders have responded to the earthquake. So here it comes: another mini-study, this time tracking philanthropic contributions to Haiti made by the sixteen companies recognized by all three of the CSR rankings I discussed in a previous post.
Before jumping ahead to the results, I want to make a few points to keep in mind as you examine these donations (I was a fundraiser for eight years, so I feel qualified to offer these suggestions). First, size isn't everything--- even a very generous gift is useless if a company does not choose a recipient capable of absorbing the donation (I think the stories about Wyclef Jean's charity are a good illustration of this problem). If a recipient does not have capacity to use a gift for the purpose designated by the donor, the gift is useless. Second, it is conceivable that companies that have not (yet?) announced contributions have actually made donations quietly (unlikely I think) or may be cautiously waiting to see where the need actually is before jumping on a very admirable bandwagon (slightly more likely). Third--- and this goes hand in hand with the first two points--- companies may prefer making unrestricted gifts, keeping in mind that organizations like the American Red Cross and UNICEF can better serve their intended recipients if given the flexibility to make decisions about which of their priority populations throughout the world are most in need.
Keeping these caveats in mind, the list is nevertheless interesting, if for no reason other than the sheer creativity companies have demonstrated in structuring their corporate philanthropy. Although the list I compiled is far from an apples-to-apples comparison (some companies count employee donations, some count customer contributions, and some count in-kind donations at their market value instead of the cost of manufacturing), I do think it sheds some light on how corporate philanthropy staff think about their company mandates in times of need. Beyond this observation, I will let you draw your own conclusions, both about which companies are being most responsible with their shareholder dollars and about whether any of these gifts belong in a CSR article in the first place.
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