If you’re a business owner, odds are you already give back to your community. Like many charitably-minded people, your business likely sponsors events, makes in-kind donations and donates cash to favorite organizations.
Many local businesses like Whataburger, Geekdom and Valero work with the San Antonio Area Foundation to give back to the community where they built their businesses and developed lasting relationships with employees and customers.
Running your corporate philanthropy program through a community foundation offers a variety of tools and opportunities to help you build and grow your program, including:
Corporate foundation: Establishing a corporate donor-advised fund helps you organize your company’s giving in a convenient, 501(c)(3)-qualified structure.
Executive donor-advised fund: Offering this elevated employee benefit to your executive team can help activate your senior management’s community involvement. Donor-advised funds are also great vehicles for minimizing tax burdens created by windfall income such as the sale of a business or bonus.
Grant making administration and strategy: You and your colleagues likely receive dozens of requests each month from community organizations requesting sponsorships and monetary donations. The team at the community foundation can help you create and implement a strategy for responding to and evaluating those requests to align with your company’s goals for supporting and prioritizing causes.
Scholarship funds: Creating a scholarship program empowers education and workforce development, and they may be tailored to align with corporate priorities.
The Area Foundation is glad to help you deepen your business’s impact and connection to your community, customers and employees by creating a philanthropy plan that supports causes that align with the wide range of your objectives.
