How Companies are Giving to Community
Highlights from LBG Canada Community Investment Benchmarking
(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) July 19, 2010 - Companies give to community in four ways: cash, in-kind, time volunteered during working hours and program management costs. The cash portion of investment is consistently the most significant portion of investment. In the 2009, cash averaged 77% of an LBG Canada company’s portfolio. The breakdown of the types of giving can be seen in the second attached image.
IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS
Fifty-five percent (55%) of LBG Canada companies captured and valued in-kind contributions, compared to 45% who did not. Examples of in-kind investments included:
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Computer equipment such as PC, laptops, projectors
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Items for auction
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Flight vouchers
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Vehicle donations
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Advertising space
EMPLOYEE TIME DURING WORKING HOURS (DWH)
Despite the fact that 70% of LBG Canada companies reported offering programs for employees to volunteer during working hours, less than 1% of the total contribution captured and valued across the companies benchmarked represented employee time.
This is more of an indicator of an absence of effective tracking systems than it is an absence of volunteering. Of those who offer it, only 50% actually track participation. Based upon reported results, the larger the company, the less likely they are to track and value in-kind contributions or employee time. If not tracked, there is the risk of undervalue community investment activities.
Even fewer, thirty-three percent (33%), establish annual targets to mobilize a certain percentage of employee volunteers. Without targets, no evaluation of whether efforts to support employee volunteering are as effective as possible can occur.
GENERAL PROGRAM MANAGEMENT COSTS
On average, LBG Canada companies report 16% of their total contributions in the form of general program management costs. Across the LBG Canada community, these include:
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Staff salaries & overhead
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Communications & PR for department
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Memberships & subscription feeds
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Consulting fees
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Training & professional development
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Travel
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Event support
Based upon total contributions, companies with smaller budgets had a proportionally larger amount of their giving designated as program management costs. This is likely due to staff salaries being allocated against a smaller overall allocation.
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To view the Executive Summary of the report, please visit www.lbg-canada.ca.
For a copy of the Public Summary Report, please contact info@lbg-canada.ca.
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