Canadian businesses are a growing source of support to the charitable and non-profit sector. Businesses not only have a large number of resources to offer to the community, they also have a lot of influence over the various stakeholders in the business, such as employees and suppliers. But who are businesses giving to, how are they giving it and, perhaps most importantly, why are they giving?

The Business Contributions to Community (BCTC) research initiative was launched in 2007, with generous support of the EnCana Corporate, to look into these and other questions about corporate community investment. The results from this initiative provide a board picture of the nature and scope of corporate community investment practices in Canada.

The findings for the CSBCC were drawn from a representative sample of all businesses with annual sales of $100,000 or more and at least one paid staff member. A total of 1,500 businesses were used to complete this study. Ipsos Reid was commissioned to interview representatives from the senior management of the sample.

The “large corporation” section of the study contains only businesses with revenues of $25 million or more, leading to a total of 93 businesses in this category. By doing this, you can see how “large corporations” differ in their community investment practices from “all businesses”.

Reports from the BCTC initiative

Insights for Strategic Corporate Fundraising, published in 2010, is the latest report of the BCTC study. It takes a closer look at the different industry sectors and how they differ in their community investment practices. The report examines the different organizations and types of support each industry sector is most likely to provide to help charities and non-profit organizations better prospect corporations for funding. By understanding how and where the various industry sectors focus their corporate giving programs, charities and nonprofits are better able to tailor their corporate fundraising efforts to get the specific types of support they need.

Corporate Community Investment Practices, Motivation & Challenges: Findings from the Canada Survey of Business Contributions to Community is the second report to come out of this study. This 2007 report focuses on the 93 large corporations in the study and compares their community investment practices to those of the rest of the Canadian business community. This not to be missed report is available for sale in print-form only. Click here to purchase this great resource! . The report can also be read at the Imagine Canada library 2 Carlton St. by appointment. Click here to download the executive summary.

Released in 2007, Business contributions to Canadian communities : findings from a qualitative study of current practices presents the findings of phase 1 of the study. This report on the literary review and roundtable consultations is a great base for building knowledge about Canadian corporate community investment practices.

Presentations from the BCTC initiative

Interested in learning more about how and why Canadian businesses contribute to the community but don’t have the time to read a report? These presentations, brought to you by the generous support of the EnCana Corporation, provide the answers to these, and more, questions about corporate community investment in easy-to-swallow increments.

• Corporate Community Investment Practices, Motivations and Challenges: Findings from the Canada Survey of Business Contributions to Community (2010). Learn about how corporations view charitable and non-profit organizations and what drive businesses to work with them. Understand how charities can improve their chances of receiving support from a business!
• Trends in business contributions to nonprofits (2010). Learn about the trends in business contributions to nonprofit organizations and how you can use these trends to work better with businesses.
• Nonprofit Sponsorship : a presentation for businesses! (2009) The answers to seven key questions about corporate sponsorship for the nonprofit sector, including why businesses should work with nonprofits, what the current corporate sponsorship landscape is like and how to maximize the benefits of nonprofit sponsorship.

We would like to acknowledge the EnCana Corporation for their generous support of the BCTC research initiative. Click here for the media release.

Key Findings

• 50% of all businesses agree that businesses and nonprofits can mutually benefit from a collaborative relationship to contribute to their communities
• Retail trade companies are the most likely to donate good or products (77%)
• 97% of large businesses support the community through cash donations, compared to only 76% of all businesses
• Social service and health (excluding hospital) organizations are the most likely to receive funding from any business in Canada (66% of all businesses support these types of organizations)
• Large corporations are more likely than the rest of the business community to do sponsorship and cause marketing (63% of large businesses vs. 17% of all businesses)
• Real estate and leasing companies are the most likely to make sponsorships to charities and non-profit organizations (21%)
• Wholesale trade companies are the most likely to purchase from charities and non-profit organizations (19%)
• 82% of all businesses agree that it’s very or somewhat important to contribute to the community because it’s a good thing to do, irrespective of the financial returns to the company

Additional Topics Covered by our Research

• Business support for volunteering (pdf)
• Levels of charitable giving by businesses (pdf)