Corporate Philanthropy

• It is a phenomenon of these days that corporations not only offer high-quality and reliable products but also have a stance and build up socially responsible behaviour towards the public;
• It is a bilateral and equal exchange of values between a donor and a recipient, and a new form of communicating with the customer;
• Creates a strategy – from the system of “handing out” one-time random contributions to targeted, long-term and development-oriented projects;
• Support through own donorship programs;
• Is an inevitable component of a healthful business environment;

• Plays an important role in the areas that are critical to business success: employee engagement and performance; customer loyalty; perceptiveness towards the community; brand value and reputation; and development of cross-sector partnerships.

„Philanthropic activities of a company often influence the decision making process when clients choose among competitors!“

TRANSPARENCY – An audit mechanism in place
EFFECTIVENESS – No unnecessary bureaucratic procedures
INOVATINESS – Using diverse and creative approaches
FLEXIBILITY – Reacts to social situation and needs of the society
SUSTAINABILITY – Promotes projects of the long-term nature and sustainability

Financial Donorship

• Direct Financial Support – Through financial or in-kind donations;
• Employee Collections – Organized by the company or its employees
• Corporate Foundation / Foundation Trust – Established by companies themselves for their long-term donorship programs to support publicly beneficial projects;
• Charity Auctions and Exhibitions – Collections organized by companies for their employees and business partners; proceeds are used for charitable purposes.

In – Kind Donorship

• Trainings, Education, Professional Counselling – Provided free of charge to non-profit organizations;
• Providing premises – Sheltering a non-profit organization;
• Corporate volunteering – “Lending” own employees or experts for one-time events or long-term projects;
• Participation of company representatives in boards of administrators or grant committees.

• Reappeared after the revolution after 1998 when the business environment was formed and foreign donors entered;
• At the present time there still are not many companies that have a separate donorship strategy;
• Decisions on applications for support are mostly in the hands of the management or the owner;
• Donorship is often reduced to mandatory expenses (e.g. a 2% tax assignment) – this is not considered corporate philanthropy;
• Especially smaller companies often tend to mistake donorship with sponsorship;
• Only a small number of Slovak companies uses progressive forms of cooperation with the non-profit sector;
• Priority areas of support are arts and culture, sports, children and youth.

• Lack of concept;
• Non-transparent and confusing system of approving projects and entering partnerships;
• No dedicated department or expert on corporate philanthropy;
• Hardly innovative donorship programs;
• Not being familiar with issues and needs of the third sector;
• Frequent support to short-term projects with no significant social impact;
• Supported projects are not in line with the marketing strategy of the company;
• Inadequate communication of donorship activities towards the public;
• Not using all available financial resources for corporate donorship;
• Minimum use of own human resources to engage in philanthropic activities;
• Missing communication of companies with the third sector, no mutual exchange of know-how.