Governance and Corporate Philanthropy: Restraining Robin Hood?

Professional Corporate Donation Programs in Canada: An Exploratory Study

“…Professional donation programs restrict managerial freedom by virtue of the structures that are the hallmarks of such programs. Although previous studies have found a relationship, albeit only a weak one, between ownership structure and the level of donations made by a firm (Atkinson & Galaskiewicz 1988;Bartkus, Morris, & Seifert, 2002), what is not known is how ownership structure influences the donation decision-making process. This study examines the relationships between both managerial volunteerism and ownership structure on a firm having a professional donation program.…”

Is doing good good for you? how corporate charitable contributions enhance revenue growth

“…Coffey and Fryxell (1991) report a positive association between institutional ownership and diversity, but not for institutional ownership and charitable giving. Bartkus, Morris and Seifert (2002) find that institutional owners limit corporate giving. 20 It is also possible that institutional investors are more attracted to firms with high sales growth (i.e., a clientele effect).…”

Do Markets Love Misery? Stock Prices and Corporate Philanthropic Disaster Response.

“…First, the room for "discretionary" giving (Carroll, 1999) is limited. Earlier research has noted that companies tend not to reveal information on the amount and recipients of philanthropy to stockholders, and attribute this reluctance to concern about how investors will react (Bartkus et al, 2002). The fact that donations do not automatically lead to positive stock market reactions should caution managers compelled by humanitarian motives to avoid "knee-jerk" reactions that might translate into relatively high donation amounts and/or donations that do not appear genuine.…”

“…Thus far, however, organizational research has not explored in what ways CPDR might be beneficial to the firm itself. The conventional wisdom with regard to corporate philanthropy has traditionally been that shareholders would view such donations as a "non-productive cost" (Murray and Montanari, 1986) or a misappropriation of company (shareholder) resources without any clear relevance for firm performance (Friedman, 1970;Bartkus, Morris, and Seifert, 2002). Yet a burgeoning body of literature argues that specific, clearly identifiable social behaviors such as philanthropic donations can be considered strategic "investments" that benefit both the firm and society (Godfrey, 2004).…”

“…In some cases investors have even used their voting power to successfully steer companies towards social behavior (Carleton, Nelson and Weisbach, 1998). While the relationship between philanthropy and financial performance remains inconclusive (Galaskiewicz, 1997;Griffon and Mahon, 1997), it has also been noted that stockholder pressure to provide strategic justification for giving has increased (Bartkus et al, 2002). Muller and Whiteman (2008) report that firms typically communicate their CPDR to the public through press releases or website communiqués.…”