Community Concerns: Corporate charitable giving lags behind other sources

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A series of round table discussions has been going on in Springfield about our good community and its overall well-being, sponsored by the Good Community Committee. They are sessions in which "a number of informed citizens carry on conversations regarding the Springfield economy, and how well we are doing in achieving our goals," according to a news release from the Good Community Committee.|ret||ret||tab|

Goals means a set of 10 indicators adopted by the Good Community Committee last year as barometers of community health.|ret||ret||tab|

I served on the April 6 panel, and the discussion was lively. The central question was, "How well do we support our schools, local government and other public institutions?"|ret||ret||tab|

Encouraging things were said! Sen. Roseann Bentley told us that the state legislature is now discussing alternative methods of financing schools. This would shift the emphasis from property taxes to one or more other forms, such as earnings taxes, sales tax, etc., and would also make increases in funding possible. |ret||ret||tab|

City Manager Tom Finnie spoke of the ongoing process in his administration to solicit input from residents and to tailor city services to the expressed needs of the people.|ret||ret||tab|

My role on the panel was to be a spokesperson for the charitable giving sector, and I reported that, while there has never been an official study of charitable giving in Springfield, many signs point to a healthy climate for funding for charitable institutions.|ret||ret||tab|

We all know that times are good for all but the lowest income individuals. Personal income is rising, wealth is being accumulated, and unemployment is at a 29-year low. Nevertheless, charitable giving, as a percent of household income, has remained flat at 2 percent for the past 10 years, and this figure is somewhat skewed by a small group of big givers, such as Ted Turner and Bill Gates, whose gifts artificially raise that average. Corporate giving is up only slightly, despite rising corporate pre-tax profits.|ret||ret||tab|

So, I think we can agree that charitable giving could and should be higher in this climate. But to increase charitable giving overall in this country, one must understand the dynamics. Giving USA reports that in 1998 the most recent compilation of these statistics 8 percent of all charitable gifts came from bequest giving (giving at death) and 77 percent came from living individuals. |ret||ret||tab|

That means 85 percent of all giving comes from individuals. Foundation giving accounts for 10 percent, up 10 percent over the previous year. The remaining 5 percent comes from corporations.|ret||ret||tab|

An encouraging program to stimulate giving in the corporate sector was recently launched when actor Paul Newman and some of the nation's top chief executive officers launched the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy. |ret||ret||tab|

The rationale for this effort is that, because contributions as a percentage of corporate pre-tax income declined in the past 12 years, and 75 percent of corporations have no corporate giving program at all, the corporate sector needs to step up to the plate and "be a standard bearer for social and civic responsibility," Newman said, whose food products company, Newman's Own, gives all profits to charity. The goal is to raise corporate giving from $9 billion last year to $15 billion in 2004.|ret||ret||tab|

With foundations, particularly community foundations, enjoying their status as the fastest growing segment of organized philanthropy, continued growth is predicted in that category.|ret||ret||tab|

But it is truly individual giving that is the force that can elevate our society into the good community category. And the encouraging signs in that sector are a new emphasis at the White House on tax reform to stimulate giving, the hope that a portion of the predicted $12 trillion intergenerational transfer of wealth which will occur by 2020 will go to charity, and the expectation that programs being offered by charities will produce results.|ret||ret||tab|

"To acquire wealth is difficult, to preserve it more difficult, but to spend it wisely, most difficult of all." Edward Parsons Day|ret||ret||tab|

I hope I have given you an idea about how to spend it wisely.|ret||ret||tab|

|bold_on|(Jan Horton is president and CEO of Community Foundation of the Ozarks.) |ret||ret||tab|

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