ABSTRACT
Corporate Philanthropy (CP), the voluntary donation of companies’ resources (e.g., through financial donations or corporate volunteering) to communities and nonprofit organizations, is an important and growing instrument of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Both nonprofit organizations and companies engage in corporate philanthropy based on four motives: descriptive (organizational values), instrumental (expected benefits), normative (right thing to do), and reactive (feeling pressured) motives. There are at least four philanthropic strategies for companies based on: (1) fit with their core values (cluster strategy), (2) employees and local communities (diffuse strategy), (3) core business or core competencies (focused strategy), or (4) a joint issue with other business stakeholders (coalition strategy). Likewise, nonprofit organizations look at their (strategic) fit with the company through looking at business, familiarity, and activity fit. More attention needs to be given to the nonprofit case for engaging in CP that needs to be based upon a multilevel and multi-stakeholder approach. It is important to understand that companies and nonprofit organizations differ in their overall approach to CP but face comparable (strategic) operational questions that need to be addressed.
