This document discusses corporate social responsibility and corporate foundations. It provides an overview of CSR, defines corporate foundations and private foundations, and outlines the benefits to businesses of establishing a corporate foundation including tax benefits, staff recruitment and retention, and positive public relations. It also summarizes the CSR initiatives of BizCentral USA, including financial contributions, in-kind donations, and free fundraising resources for non-profits. Finally, it introduces BizCentral's "Foundation-in-a-Box" package to help companies establish their own corporate foundations.
2. Introduction to Corporate Social Responsibility Introduction to Corporate Social Responsibility Benefits of a Corporate Private Foundation BizCentral USA’s Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives “Foundation-in-a-Box” Package
3. What is Corporate Social Responsibility? Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): is a form of corporate self regulation and giving integrated into a business model. A business would embrace responsibility for the impact of their activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere. Essentially, CSR is the deliberate inclusion of public interest into corporate decision making.
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5. A private foundation is a nonprofit agency that is funded largely by an individual, family, or business.
6. To enjoy tax privileges, a private foundation must be officially recognized as a charitable organization by the IRS.
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8. Private foundations normally receive most of their contributions from relatively few sources, such as a wealthy individual or corporation, and typically offer more control over private funding and giving.
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10. Benefits of a Corporate Private Foundation Introduction to Corporate Social Responsibility Benefits of a Corporate Private Foundation BizCentral USA’s Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives “Foundation-in-a-Box” Package
11. Everyone Benefits Businesses of all sizes have reaped the benefits of market share, human resource, and public relations advantages that philanthropy offers, through programs that align community responsibility with business needs. Addressing the problems of the people in your community can—and does—stimulate business development. Better education today means a more skilled workforce tomorrow; lower inner-city unemployment means higher consumption in the inner city. Companies can share a wide range of resources with their communities, including time, money, talent, and products… plus enjoy tax relief!
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14. Tax Deductions Therefore, the IRS has established limits on how much of your charitable deduction can be used in any particular year. For a corporation, the total of contributions that may be deducted as a donation to a private foundation is an amount equal to 10% of the company’s taxable income for the year. However, excess contributions that exceed this limitation may be “carried over” and deducted in up to 5 subsequent years.
15. Staff Recruitment & Retention Staff Recruitment and Retention: A corporate foundation can help support a companies mission, enhance their bottom line and even give them a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining employees.
16. Staff Recruitment & Retention Corporate Giving: Employee Programs Donating paid time off (PTO) is a great way to encourage employees to donate because it enables them to contribute without having to provide cash out of pocket. It is also a good way for a company to reduce its liability for having too much unused PTO on the books. Group volunteer activities enable corporations to bring groups of employees together and enjoy the benefits of team building, leadership development and enhanced communication facilitation between employees and work groups. Group volunteer activities can be informal or strategic depending on the goals you set out for the activity ahead of time. Holding a fundraiser for a community-benefit organization is a great way to engage employees in that community organization's mission. Fundraisers can be creative and fun. Employee Emergency Relief Funds may be one of the most valuable and appreciated corporate giving programs that could be implemented. An Employee Emergency Relief Fund is designed to provide confidential financial assistance to employees who are experiencing economic hardship or verifiable emergency situations.
24. Our Corporate Contributions Through our Corporate Giving Program, notable organizations such as Autism Speaks and HelpNet USA have been able to better serve their constituents due to the company’s generous financial contributions. The company’s sponsorship of HelpNet USA’s unique web portal has facilitated collaboration between nonprofits and their constituents allowing for the availability of a variety of indispensable resources that assist both the individual and the organization in need.
25. In-Kind Gifts In addition to supporting organizations financially, BizCentral USA contributes to extraordinary causes through in-kind donations. The Corporation provides products and services that are vital to the administration of our nation’s charities and churches. We recognize that financial resources can sometimes be limited even for the most essential organizations; therefore, we offer in-kind donations of services to organizations with which the administration and employees have established relationships.
26. Complimentary Nonprofit Resources As a service to the nonprofit community, and in realization that successful mission fulfillment depends primarily on adequate fund development, the company has made available to nonprofits a plethora of free fundraising resources. We believe that by assisting growing organizations in generating the revenue needed to invest in their organization’s administration, we are investing in the creation of a healthy, vibrant nonprofit sector.
27. “Foundation-in-a-Box” Package Introduction to Corporate Social Responsibility Benefits of a Corporate Private Foundation BizCentral USA’s Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives “Foundation-in-a-Box” Package
28. Steps to Getting Started We begin by offering a Startup Checklist to establish a starting point. These are many commonly asked questions that a company should consider before establishing their foundation.
29. Getting Started Selling the Foundation in a Box Package: Your target market may vary when selling a corporate foundation package. Most often you will not sell this sort of package to a company with less than 20 employees. Keep in mind that your ideal sell would be to a company that is ready to make the next step in their business ventures.
