This article has been revised from its original version.
Corporate philanthropy has taken on many different names — giving, community partnerships and social responsibility, to name a few. Its terminology reflects a shift by firms from simply donating money to having intentional commitments to causes.
“We really use community investment to describe the work that our corporate social responsibility team partakes in that’s done purposefully because these are investments; it really is all about partnership,” said Jennifer Lynch, senior vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility and Internal Communications at Hollywood-based Paramount Pictures Corp. “We certainly expect a return back for the funds in which we’re investing in our nonprofit partners.”
Corporate giving in the U.S. increased last year to $21.08 billion — a 3.4% increase from 2021, according to the National Philanthropic Trust. Just over 30% of consumers and 39% of employees are interested in where companies are allocating charitable funds, according to a survey by Canadian-based Benevity Inc., a leading provider of global corporate-purpose software.
The same 2022 survey noted that 84% of consumers believe that the more a business engages its consumers and employees in charitable giving decisions, the more trust consumers have in that business. More than 70% of consumers said they would be likely to use or shop with a business that seeks their input on the charitable causes it supports.
Many Los Angeles-based corporations emphasize corporate giving to their surrounding communities, both with dollars and employee volunteer time.
“We tend to have a connection and something that allows us to create a true relationship where we feel authenticity in the relationship and the partnership, and it allows our colleagues to get involved as well,” said Linda Duncombe, chief marketing, digital and data officer at City National Bank.
Last year, the downtown-based bank donated $5.7 million to nearly 500 Los Angeles County-based organizations. In addition, CNB employees donated 23,000 hours to community support and gave $1.8 million in support of their favorite charities through the company’s Workplace Giving Program; more than 70% of the company’s employees participated in the effort.
Wells Fargo & Co., which has its Los Angeles headquarters in downtown, maintains a national corporate giving program and recently provided a $2 million philanthropic donation for veteran housing under development at the Veterans Administration campus in West Los Angeles.
“We also supported it with over $200 million in financing for the construction and equity,” said Justine Gonzalez, vice president of Philanthropy and Community Impact for L.A. and Orange County at Wells Fargo. “That’s a great example of how we couple what we do through our foundation with what we’re able to do as a financial institution.”
Areas of investment
According to National Philanthropic Trust, there are more than 1.5 million charitable organizations in the United States.
Top areas of cash community investments between 2019 and 2021 include disaster relief, environment, education and community/economic development, according to a report from Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, an advisory group co-founded by the later actor Paul Newman.
Nationally, corporations investing directly in their own communities was down 20% between 2020 to 2021, as the median corporate investment dropped from $39.3 million to $31.5 million at that time, according to Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose. This was due in part to companies discontinuing large grants and product donations made in 2020 in response to the Covid pandemic.
But as Covid response donations have decreased, money given in areas such diversity, equity and inclusion, education and health care initiatives are on the rise. DEI investments made up 24% of corporations’ community investment budgets in 2021, according to Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose.
“BIPOC (Black, indigenous, people of color) organizations traditionally have received much less of their share of funding,” noted Gonzalez . “I think many foundations, ourselves included, are examining our practices and looking at how we can increase our support to those organizations.”
City National also shifted focus to DEI initiatives when Kelly Coffey became chief executive 5 years ago.
“While there was always a focus on community, she started to ask some very specific questions around diversity,” said Duncombe. “That was always something for the bank had been supporting, it definitely became far more visible conversation in the organization.”
Lynch noted that Paramount is the only studio located within a federally recognized “promise zone.” Promise Zones are high-poverty communities in which the federal government partners with local leaders to increase economic activity and improve educational opportunities, among other goals.
“That is certainly what we have outside our Lemon Grove gates at Paramount; the East Hollywood community has incredible challenges,” said Lynch. “We do look locally to see who are the nonprofits, who are our neighbors. How can we work with them to support the community that we all live in and love?”
Science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, funding has also gained traction nationwide as a strategic focus area for corporate social engagement, with the total community investment allocation to STEM up by 63% between 2020 and 2021.
Education focus
The Wonderful Co., headquartered in Sawtelle, maintains 600 employees locally, but has more than 5,000 employees in the Central Valley, where the company does most of its philanthropic work. The company has more than $550 million invested in the region, with a heavy emphasis on education.
In the past year, the company made a $3 million gift to the Wonderful College Prep Academy and a $50 million gift to UC Davis.
The company’s owners, Stewart and Lynda Resnick, pledged $750 million to Pasadena-based Caltech in 2019 to build the Resnick Sustainability Center.
The gift is the largest in Caltech’s history and the center is expected to be completed by 2024.
“One of our core missions in the Central Valley is to be the leader and change the course of poverty in the Central Valley and we believe it starts with education,” said Andy Anzaldo, chief operating officer of Corporate Social Responsibility at The Wonderful Co. The company also has a program dubbed Wonderful Agriculture Career Prep (Ag Prep) that serves 1,400 students from 9th-12th grades in seven public high schools and three community colleges. In the past year, the company made a $3 million gift to the Wonderful College Prep Academy and a $50 million gift to UC Davis.
PNC Bank, which has offices in Century City, focuses much of its attention on early-childhood education in a program it calls “Grow up Great,” a $500 million nationwide bilingual program designed to help prepare children from birth to age 5. The firm, which expanded into Los Angeles earlier this year, has donated $1 million to nonprofits in the city. Todd Wilson, PNC’s regional president, great Los Angeles area, is heavily involved in the bank’s giving programs.
Paramount, whose program largely focuses on education and teaching storytelling, just wrapped up its 13th year of its Kindergarten to Cap & Gown program, with which the company has supported more than 800 students with 10,000 employee mentoring hours during the 2022-2023 school year.
“Knowing that here in Los Angeles that one in every seven jobs is in the creative economy, we really see our ArtsMatter Initiative as a workforce readiness effort — preparing students for employment in the entertainment industry,” said Lynch. “Our approach to community investing is all about partnership and return on investment — with a goal of helping to create that next generation of great storytellers.”
In the community
Today’s corporate philanthropy isn’t simply writing a check.
Both social impact executives and company employees want to be engaged with the efforts to improve their surroundings.
The Wonderful Co. maintains a “Wonderful Neighbor” program, which encourages staffers to take time off during work hours to support a local nonprofit of choice.
“This could be something as simple as painting a school, doing a waste clean up in a park or reading in local libraries,” said Anzaldo.
At City National, the community impact team attends neighborhood programs to connect with the community.
“We show up in our local communities and when we hear of community events that are taking place, we try to be present and in person,” said Gonzalez. “Those types of events are often ways that we meet people and talk about how we can solve collective problems together.”
