Corporations Donating Less, Survey Shows

Businesses are becoming less generous with contributions for education, health care and other causes, partly due to changes in corporate leadership, according to a report released Wednesday by a business information group.

The Conference Board’s Corporate Contributions Outlook Panel said corporate giving soared to a 15-year high of $4.4 billion in 1985, but a survey of companies projected a 2.5% decline for 1986. Final figures for 1986 are not yet in, the group stated.

About half of the major donors that give at least $10 million annually estimated reductions of up to 78%, the board said.

“The restructuring of corporate America is having an immediate fallout on the corporate contributions function, with 1987 the great unknown,” said Anne Klepper, director of the board’s Contributions Management Institute.

“A generation of corporate chiefs committed to social goals is passing from the scene,” she added. “Born and bred in depression and war, their views were influenced by the harsh realities that they recalled; many developed a pronounced social interest.”

But Klepper said the new generation of corporate chiefs faces different challenges, including stiffer domestic and foreign competition.

“Often there is less time or interest for social concerns,” she said.

The board’s report said it discovered three major trends:

- Oil companies are giving less to nonprofit organizations. But some major companies in five other industries--food, banking, finance, pharmaceuticals and autos--are giving more.

- More companies are linking contributions to corporate sales.

- Contribution activities are being decentralized.