With the help of our friends at Foundation Source, we created this complete Corporate Foundations and Grantmaking toolkit to help you understand the benefits of adding foundations and grants to your corporate philanthropic efforts, along with the operational requirements necessary to implement these programs.

Companies of all sizes engage in corporate philanthropy as a means of giving back to the communities in which they operate. This includes financial contributions, product donations, in-kind services, and employee matching and volunteering. Our latest Industry Report showed that the companies run grant programs of all sizes, starting as low as $1000 awarded. A fraction of companies take advantage of the additional benefits that come from adding a corporate foundation to their philanthropic efforts.

Technically, a corporate foundation is classified by the Internal Revenue Service as a type of 501(c)(3) public charity called a “private non-operating foundation.” The Internal Revenue Code does not distinguish corporate foundations from family foundations. Both are subject to the same regulations. From a practical stand point, however, there are differences in funding and governance. A corporate foundation is funded by a company, instead of an individual or family. And the board members of a corporate foundation are typically company executives.

• Why setup a corporate foundation?
• Establishing a Foundation and Resources Needed
• Organizational Basics
• Governance and Policies
• Grantmaking Basics
• IRS Requirements
• Compliance Concerns