TIPS FOR COMPANIES OR INDIVIDUALS INTERESTED IN GIVING THIS YEAR
Mission alignment “One of the things
subsequently, the two entities have created an enduring partnership. As an example, Young highlights CB&T’s support with the organization’s educational programs and its efforts to generate research and provide learnings to the non- profit community, board members, elected officials and funders. “We all have a very strong stake in having and maintaining a healthy nonprofit community, so we’ve partnered with CB&T in that regard,” she says. Young adds that, especially during the pandemic, the institute partnered with CB&T on educational outreach to nonprofits that were interested in PPP funding. “CB&T has been really committed to working with these nonprofits to ensure that first, they could apply, and second, be successful in securing PPP funding.” Young’s research bears out Herman’s philosophy of ramping up corporate and individual giving during hard times. “Particularly after a fairly rocky 2020, we saw giving increase. We also saw foundations open up their purse strings to give more and, importantly, to become more flexible in their criteria for giving,” she says. “Additionally, among community foundations,
we saw a real effort to partner with corporations and government, to pool together resources quickly for immediate COVID-19 relief.” Last October, when the institute released its annual State of Nonprofits & Philanthropy Report, it indicated that nonprofits were better off financially than they had been the prior year and that many were predicting better than average financial prospects. “Many had an unanticipated cushion from the PPP funding,” Young says. “Now that we’re looking at 2021 and the data is coming out from national studies (such as Giving USA), what we’re seeing is that giving is relatively flat, and that’s due to inflation. Any gains that were made were wiped out by the rate of inflation. “The one bright spot,” Young says, “is that giving by corporations has picked up its pace significantly in 2020 and 2021. Giving in that time period increased by 24%, which is quite a gain. “Corporate giving constitutes about 4% of all philanthropic giving,” she adds. “But it’s important to look at the vital role that corporations such as California Bank & Trust can play. It’s positive for a nonprofit community.”
that we’ve done as a company is to identify our own passions and missions, and then seek out organizations that align with our goals,” said Herman. “It helps ensure that there’s a DE&I
(diversity, equity, and inclusion) dimension to our giving.”
Charity begins at home “Another is to identify and support organizations that might be helpful to your own employees. Of course, that all depends on where you are and what you do as a business, but, when it’s possible or viable, this can be a very good approach to giving.”
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