Corporate philanthropy in France, Germany and the UK

Abstract

Mail questionnaires were distributed to corporate donors in France, Germany and the UK in an attempt to ascertain the extents to which European businesses applied commercial principles to the management of their philanthropic activities. Substantial commercial orientation towards the corporate philanthropy (CP) function was observed among firms in all three countries, especially France. Majorities of businesses in the three samples located responsibility for CP in a marketing or public relations department, and large majorities of French and German respondents stated that CP was considered when drafting marketing plans. Significant differences in national approaches to the management of CP emerged in a number of areas: objective setting, centralisation of CP decision taking, use of external advisors, evaluation, and the degree of integration of CP into a company’s marketing communications mix. In general, respondents reported favourable perceptions of the contributions that CP could make to marketing communications.