CORPORATIONS

CONTENTS:

• Chronicle of Philanthropy: Corporate Giving Survey
• SEC: Faster Access to Corporate News
• KAPLAN

CHRONICLE OF PHILANTHROPY: CORPORATE GIVING SURVEY

Despite the title of an article, "Big Business Doing More for Charity," the message is mixed (Ian Wilhelm, 8/4/04). Cash donations at 86 corporations dropped by a median of 11 percent in 2003, but the ten corporations that provided the most in cash, products and services grew by a median of almost 19 percent in 2003. After adjusting for inflation, corporations as a group increased their philanthropy in 2003 by less than 2 percent.

Trends influencing corporate giving programs:

• An increasing connection between giving and marketing strategies
• More companies encouraging their employees to volunteer
• Companies revamping giving programs after mergers or acquisitions
• A small increase in unrestricted giving, even though most, by far, give for specific programs

Due to a downturn in the local economy or cuts in government funding for nonprofit organizations, some of corporate givers interviewed cited a marked increase in requests for corporate funding.

http://philanthropy.com/free/articles/v16/i20/20000701.htm

Links to the guidelines of some of the most generous corporate funders in the article are found here. For the others, try Googling the name of the company and the words "foundation" or "philanthropy" or "grant" or "community."

Washington Mutual, Inc. (Seattle)
http://www.wamu.com/about/community/support/communitysupport.htm

Bank of America Corporate Foundation (Charlotte, NC)
http://www.bankofamerica.com/foundation/index.cfm?template=fd_funding

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (New York)
http://www.bms.com/sr/philanthropy/data/introx.html

Verizon Communications (New York)
http://foundation.verizon.com/

SBC Communications (San Antonio)
http://www.sbc.com/gen/corporate-citizenship?pid=2560

SEC: FASTER ACCESS TO CORPORATE NEWS

Beginning August 23, 2004, a new SEC rule went into effect. It means faster access to all kinds of corporate news and transactions. Companies now must make this information available within four business days. This includes any changes in directors or senior officers, any bank loans, contracts, transactions or asset write-downs that have a significant impact on operations.

Search for the information on many financial news sites or go straight to the source -- the SEC site -- to search the EDGAR database. In addition to the latest filings, historical filings are available, too. Be sure to check the Quick EDGAR Tutorial for more effective searching.

http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm

KAPLAN

Kaplan, the test preparatory giant, has a number of outreach programs to help students realize their educational and career objectives. Among the programs: test-prep scholarships, mentoring guides and after-school learning programs for kids in grades K-12. In addition, there are special targeted programs for students in Texas, Los Angeles and New York City .

Beverly Goodwin

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