Corporate Foundations

Corporate foundations (or company-sponsored foundations) are philanthropic organizations that are created and financially supported by a corporation. The foundation is created as a separate legal entity from the corporation, but with close ties to the corporation. Corporate foundations tend to make grants in fields related to their corporate activities or in communities where the corporation operates or where their employees reside. 

We suggest that you explore funding from local businesses or corporate gving programs before approaching corporate foundations. You can refer to this support for credibility when applying to corporate foundations.

A common funding approach is to work with the local business first (for example, an insurance agent in your community). After establishing a good relationship with the agent, ask for an introduction to the regional or national corporate giving office and approach them for support. Once you have that support, you can consider applying to the corporate foundation.

According to Giving USA, in 2019, giving by corporations grew by 13.4%. If you have an ongoing relationship with a corporation, it may be wise to increase your next request by 12% to 14%.

National and international corporations are often looking for ways to reflect society’s social conscience. If you have traditionally stayed away from soliciting corporate support because you felt your mission was too radical, now may be the time to rethink your approach. This mainly applies to national and international corporations, not local businesses.

Many corporate foundations are seeking deeper impact by investing in fewer recipients but making larger grants. This speaks to the importance of collaborations. If you want to engage regional or national corporate foundations, you are likely going to need partners. More partners mean more impact.

National and international corporate foundations are often geared towards funding ideas that can make the transition from one solution or small effort to a scalable initiative that has an ongoing impact. As you strengthen the corporate foundation component of your grants portfolio, keep this in mind.

Funding from corporate foundations can be somewhat dependable year to year, so securing this funding can become a reliable source of revenue.

Go to our Charitable Giving database for the U.S. or Canada and use the Type of Grantmaker filter to select “Corporate Foundation.”

Always look on the corporation’s website to see if they have a companion foundation. Working with corporate foundations is distinctly different than working with private foundations. The money a corporate foundation uses to make grants comes from the profits of the parent corporation. This means that it’s important to work with corporate partners that are in sync with your nonprofit’s mission.

Corporate foundations are set up separately from the company and operate like any other foundation (subject to the same IRS rules that guide all foundations). They are obligated to give money away every year, and it is generally easy to find information on their application process.

Most corporate foundations will expect a final report on how the funds were spent. These reports should be very business-like. For example, it’s fine to add an overview that talks about the qualitative differences their funding has made in your community, but the body of the report should be facts and statistics and a solid financial accounting.

Be aware of all the issues! A corporate foundation usually requires nonprofits to inform the public of the grants they have received from the foundation. If the corporation that funds the foundation is not in alignment with your organization’s values, the grant award could impact your work negatively.