Tools
Corporations
Abstract
Corporate gifts are different from other philanthropic gifts and therefore important to understand before developing a strategy for corporate giving in the library. As a central university facility, the library is a compelling opportunity for a corporate brand. Corporate giving occurs because of very specific business strategies, and the library can be a good place for those strategies to play out as long as they don’t infringe on the mission. The negotiation of a corporate gift is best done with the assistance of a development officer who specializes in corporate giving.
Keywords
Corporations; Brand; Marketing; Conflicts of interest; Partnership; Company; University; Library; Giving; Research; Programs
The entrance of corporate business into higher education occurred following World War I. The initial controversial nature of this new partnership still lingers today with the ongoing desire to keep corporate interests from influencing research and education. Historically, this conflict created some of the foundations that have had the greatest impact on higher education. For example, The General Education Board was initiated with an investment from John C. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil (Thelin and Trollinger, 2014, p. 75). Many of the wealthiest private foundations were formed to keep “tainted money” from getting into organizations like universities (p. 121). It was the very same money, of course, but the form of a foundation was less controversial. Between WWI and WWII, however, Congress made some allowances for business to work with public and private universities. This was achieved through an argument that corporations wanted to contribute to the missions of universities (p. 123). It allowed for corporate dollars to flow into universities, and though this area of development in higher education represents less than the amount of dollars raised from private foundations, it is expanding each year.
At our higher education institution, corporate and foundation gifts account for more than 50% of our philanthropic dollars. That's unheard of, as most nonprofits' corporate philanthropy dollars are much smaller pieces of the pie. The reality is that of the $358.38 billion given to charity in 2014, corporations gave only 5% (Giving USA, 2015 report). Even though corporate giving makes up a small fraction of philanthropic giving each year, it is becoming more significant for higher education.
According to Michael G. Pedley, J.D., Assistant Vice President for Corporate and Foundation Relations at the Purdue Research Foundation with Purdue University, the reasons corporations support universities typically fall into four main categories: to recruit students, to invest in faculty research to help solve a problem, to build the company reputation, and to impact curriculum. Corporations like to fund recruiting activities, faculty and graduate student research (both contracted and gift support), programs and centers, undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships, and facilities (Pedley, 2016). We are seeing less and less support from corporations for scholarships as they learn of more compelling ways to access students and begin building more robust relationships across the gamut of giving opportunities.
What is important to understand when setting a strategy for corporate giving in the academic library is that this kind of gift is really a partnership. A business has two goals in mind when considering a partnership with a nonprofit organization. The first is to achieve some kind of benefit from the partnership that has either an economic or social benefit. The other deciding factor for partnering is the availability and opportunity to work on a project or program that is very specific and probably short term (Burlingame, 2011, p. 141).
One of the first cases for giving for corporate support is workforce development. It relates in a unique way to promoting the company brand. The other strong case is decreasing company expenses by sponsoring the research they need in the university environment (p. 143). Libraries can take advantage of any of these opportunities as long as they can make the case that the partnership is a benefit to the corporation in some way.
12.1 Workforce development
Higher education is doing better with corporate giving than most other nonprofits, and there are several reasons for that. Companies are interested in recruiting university students to work for them. Beyond just recruitment, there are opportunities to align corporate dollars with instruction and faculty. Companies are becoming more interested in influencing the skills taught in strategic areas of study to help ensure universities are producing the type of skilled employees they are looking for. The opportunity to connect with students is a compelling case for giving for corporations, but it can serve as a gateway into more diverse partnerships.
By partnering with higher education institutions, companies can put their brands in front of strategic stakeholders. Brand placement on campus connects markets to a product or service. That is a very fine line to walk in the relationship, but one that shouldn’t be ignored.
12.2 Faculty research
Another common scenario is corporate partnerships with university faculty on research projects. When developing technology or products, it is often more cost effective for a corporation to pay to support research at a university than build a lab and hire its own researchers. This arrangement allows the corporation to take risks with research because, in the corporate setting, all funding has to be defended in terms of revenue. A university provides a place for corporations to engage in high-level research where taking risks is encouraged and failure is simply part of the process.
Sometimes corporations will go straight to development officers with funding for a project, and the appropriate faculty will be recruited to do the work. These scenarios often include opportunities for students to participate in research.
12.3 Corporate match
One of the most valuable kinds of corporate giving for libraries is the corporate match. Though it is a dying tradition (Procter and Gamble just announced the dropping of its corporate match in 2016), many large corporations have impressive matches for their employees and retirees. At the very least it is important to always remind donors to take advantage of corporate matches. Another option is to have the development research department run a scan of the donor list and identify those with match opportunities so that you may verify whether the match is being applied and, if not, use that situation as an opportunity to remind them of the opportunity.
12.4 Named spaces
In academic libraries, the best opportunity for corporate partnerships is named spaces. One thing we know about corporations is that brand is very important. There are many reasons to develop brand awareness, and we often think first of retail goals when we think of brand. In that vein, attracting corporations who sell to students is a good way to start thinking about opportunities. In libraries, it would make sense to work with tech companies wanting to get their brand in front of students, knowing that the students are early adopters interested in emerging trends and products. But with collections spanning the breadth of scholarship, brainstorming with library leadership and staff is important in order to align corporate branding with collections and choosing spaces strategically to ensure the highest exposure for the corporate brand.
Branding is important to businesses because it encourages people to want to work for them. Workforce development is a major effort in corporate business, and it is essential in the corporate sector to attract the best talent to a company. In this scenario, corporations might be interested in sole sponsorship. Here, a company is the only corporate brand represented in a space. This kind of exposure is important to a corporation, and the scenario is one they are familiar with and seek out. Sole sponsorships are an opportunity for a major gift for a library, as their value to a prospective donor company is dramatically increased by the fact that the corporate brand has no competition in the space. Obviously these opportunities need to be positioned and negotiated very carefully and in consort with the corporate giving team and legal counsel. Done properly, it not only brings funding into the library, but it can also actually enhance the library brand if aligned with a corporate entity that communicates positively with stakeholders.