Goldman charitable foundation seems to be all about “agency cost”. Here is a brief summary and you can make your conclusion:

* Foundation has about $400 million in assets, and gives away only about 5% of its assets annually to comply with non-profit foundation regulations;

* Last year’s IRS filing shows that the assets of the foundation were actively traded, with the filing reporting about 200 pages of trades.

* Goldman partners have a say in which charities the foundation will contribute to, which means that the partners get a non-pecuniary tax-exempt spendable income that can be used for getting any kinds of benefits. “Goldman created a donor-advised (where donors are company’s partners) fund that it hoped would reach $1 billion over a few years. The fund allows the firm’s 400 partners to put aside money for the charities of their choice. The donor receives a taxable deduction when making the contribution, though he can choose the recipients later and give the money away over time.”

Below is the article from the NY Times.

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Boeing corporate philanthropy is all about employee matching grants. Milton Friedman would call this kind of giving wasteful. The company is engaged in something that does not bring benefits to the company, and would be better done by individual employees. But it seems that Boeing is hitting on creating employee loyalty, which can translate into firm value. The company also does most of its giving in local communities of its operation, which is another direct source of translation into firm value through customer loyalty.

The article can be found by clicking at the link below.

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http://svmn.jobamatic.com/a/jbb/find-jobs

I am fascinated by different ways companies see themselves being good corporate citizens, and think about whether it will ever be possible to assess and compare the impact these different initiatives have (will have) on those who they are targeted at.

Social Impact Exchange

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The Social Impact Exchange is a cross-sector membership forum for sharing knowledge and increasing investment in scaling effective social programs and solutions.

The Exchange serves as both an online and in-person gathering place for those who are interested in learning about, implementing and funding large-scale expansions of high-impact nonprofit initiatives, including programs, products, services, organizations, social movements and more. Members can:

• Find the knowledge you need to implement high impact scaling initiatives
  See Knowledge Center
• Collaboratively fund programs going to scale through the Investment Fair andInvestment Clearinghouse
• Build field infrastructure that enables more efficient and effective scaling of social program and solutions

The Social Impact Exchange is open to a wide spectrum of organizations and is a member driven initiative with members driving key activities through working groups. Members access a set of services and resources through The Exchange which are designed to help them achieve greater social impact. Read more

The Social Impact Exchange is a special initiative of the Growth Philanthropy Network(GPN), in partnership with Duke University - Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society (CSPCS) and its Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE). Initial funding has been provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. A Steering Committee of members will help guide overall activities.

Check the information here: #mce_temp_url#

How It Works

Do you have what it takes? It starts with an idea to make the world a better place.

In universities around the world, students like you explore countless ideas every day, including solutions to tackle social problems — and help people in need reach their fullest potential. If you have a world-changing idea, the University of Texas and Dell want you to share it by entering The Dell Social Innovation Competition.

The only limit to the range of projects eligible for the award is the ambition and imagination of each contestant; any significant social issue can be addressed in this competition

No matter what your specialty may be, or whether you work in a team or as an individual, we challenge you to unleash your energy, idealism and public-spirited thinking to affect positive change in areas of critical human need.

Competition Details

The Dell Social Innovation Competition operates like a business-plan competition, awarding seed funding directly to the student-led venture that best meets the judges’ criteria.

The competition has 4 stages:

1. College students from around the world enter the competition online, each with a brief description of his or her innovation.
2. Competition judges invite a small group of semifinalists to develop their ideas into detailed venture plans. Each semifinalist records a 3-minute video pitch of his or her plan.
3. Judges select 3 finalists to travel to Austin, Texas, to present their plans to a committee comprised of leaders from the business, non-profit and government sectors.
4. During the final event, held at The University of Texas at Austin, all finalists receives prizes, and the overall winner receives $50,000 to launch his or her venture.

Vote

You be the judge. Show your support for the ideas you like the most. Log in and press the promote button next to the ideas you want to vote to the top of the list. There is no limit to the number of ideas you can promote. The top 10 ideas in round one of the competition will automatically advance to round two.

Everyone’s talking Corporate Social Responsibility

…but what does it mean? Business sell themselves on CSR and their behaviours in their communities. A chap who knows all about it, Michael Hastings, tells us how we can use it to engage with employers when in a job interview, and how to spot a company that is truly walking the walk, not just talking the talk.