Meta-corporate foundations: Their role for corporate (charitable) giving

• In Event: Philanthropy and Foundations: Corporate Foundations as civil society institutions or corporate tool?

Abstract

Corporations may take social responsibility beyond their core business and enhance the well-being of societies with the framework of strategic philanthropy (e.g., Godfrey, 2005) For this purpose, companies oftentimes set up their own nonprofit entities which are also known as corporate foundations (Westheus & Einwiller, 2006: 146). Despite the interest in corporate philanthropy (Gautier & Pache, 2013) and Corporate Social Responsibility (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012) hitherto, research has been silent about questions related to corporate foundations. It is here where this study aims to contribute.
Corporate foundations are often linked to the founding company through their name, funding, trustees, administration and employee involvement (Westheus & Einwiller, 2006). Many scholars suggest that corporations should use their philanthropic or charitable efforts to improve their competitive context, to manage stakeholders and/or to fulfill their communal obligations (e.g. Porter and Kramer, 2002; Zadek, 2001). This implicitly implies that companies should differentiate their philanthropic endeavors from their competitors. However, there is an interesting peculiar type of a corporate foundation that is not founded and funded by one single corporation, but by multiple corporations; a “meta-corporate foundation”. This raises the intriguing question of why corporations institutionalize their charitable giving by use of a mediator such as a “meta-corporate foundation”.
As such, it is here where this study aims to contribute by addressing the following research question: What role(s) may meta-corporate foundations play in relation to their funding corporations? This study particularly looks at the role of a “meta-corporate foundation” in relation to corporate philanthropy and their funding corporations in a single cluster.
Method
The research question is addressed through an exploratory single-case study of a Dutch “meta-corporate foundation”. The foundation provides small monetary donations to non-profit organizations in the direct environment of the port- and industry area in Rotterdam (i.e., seventeen municipalities). Given the uniqueness of this phenomenon, we chose to conduct an exploratory study, asking “why” and “how” corporations organize their philanthropic activities through such an entity. Therefore, given the exploratory nature of this study, it is appropriate to use a qualitative approach (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The data used in this analysis includes fifteen in-depth interviews with a range of representatives of corporations who make charitable donations to this so-called “meta-corporate foundation”. The interviews will be conducted between December 2015 and February 2016). Summation of the responses will be based on the content analysis method (Krippendorf, 2004).
Results and potential implications
The main contribution lies in offering novel insights into the enthralling and under researched role of (meta-)corporate foundations as a bridge between corporations and civil society. Furthermore, the study will offer us more insights in why companies collectively enact their corporate philanthropy and deepen our understanding of the role and the potential of a meta-corporate foundation for charitable giving of involved corporations. Lastly, this study holds potential practical implications for corporations as an enhanced understanding may help corporations identify where they should focus their corporate philanthropy.

Authors

• Stephanie Maas, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam

• Lucas Meijs, Erasmus University Rotterdam

• Lonneke Roza