Community Investment Focus Area Trends – LBG Canada Benchmarking Highlights

The LBG Canada benchmarking data review for 2009 included $126 million of community investment. This totaled more than 14,000 individual transactions reviewed and benchmarked on a line-by-line basis.

  NUMBER OF FOCUS AREAS   As illustrated in the first image, 80% of LBG Canada companies focus their investments into 3-5 thematic areas. Fifteen percent (15%) of companies are very targeted with their investments, placing boundaries around their programs that remain within 1-2 thematic areas.   Only 5% of LBG Canada companies invested in more than 5 thematic areas, this is down from 14% in 2008. Regardless of annual revenues or overall amount of community investment expenditure, it is a challenge to differentiate a company through community investment when investments are being made in many different directions, so it is positive to see this trend of becoming more focused.  The exception to this rule occurs when a company decides that a strategic priority is to be responsive to community need, regardless of the thematic category of the need expressed.     FOCUS AREAS   In the second image, LBG Canada company total dollars invested is presented by focus area for the entire group. The results clearly show that Education (23%) is the top priority focus areas for corporate Canada.  Social Services (17%) and Children & Youth (17%) follow, with Health & Wellness (13%) and Environment (10%) closely behind.    When examined by how many companies give some form of investment to the focus area, social services is on top, with 95% of LBG Canada companies giving to social services organizations. Eighty percent (80%) of companies give to Education, whereas 75% of companies give to Arts & Culture, Health & Wellness and Environment.    SIMPACT8427