Latest Global Research Finds Regional Differences in Corporate Societal Investment Driven Primarily by Economic and Cultural Factors

NEW YORK, NY, November 18, 2014 /3BL Media/ - A one-of-a-kind analysis of global corporate societal investment by region—Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe—analyzed data from 54 large companies representing a total of US $3.6B in cash and non-cash giving across 17 countries. From a regional cultural value on efficiency resulting in fewer employee participation programs to exclusively local giving strategies in markets with deep social issues - Giving Around the Globe provides exclusive analysis and trends of corporate societal investment around the world and insights into the key economic and cultural drivers of regional differences.

“Global business creates a critical need to drive a deeper understanding of how to successfully engage diverse communities,” stated Daryl Brewster, CEO, CECP. “CECP's Giving Around the Globe is a valuable business tool providing benchmarking and best practices to evaluate a company’s current societal investment and to inform how companies can best drive their values through future global giving strategies.”

Key Regional-Level Findings:
  Asia

• Asia had a high rate of corporate giving per employee at US $680 for 2013 and strong international giving with 70% of companies giving to foreign markets. Regionally, a strong cultural norm and corporate priority on efficiency results in fewer social investment programs that use employee time.

Europe

• Europe, with longstanding and sophisticated corporate giving, has 91% of companies investing internationally. Despite this historical giving culture, pro bono services are not largely offered with only 27% of companies domestically and 17% internationally offering these type of programs.

Latin America

• Latin American invests in large corporate giving and community support teams internally with a median team size of 32 per company. Despite this overhead investment, this region did not focus on employee matching gifts or volunteer programs, with only 17% of the companies offering those programs domestically.

Africa

• African companies have a high rate of partnerships with government and for profit business in social investment. None of the African-based companies surveyed had international social investment, which is indicative of a trend of lower international giving found in past external research in the region, due to pressing domestic societal needs.

North America (Derived from CECP research for the Giving in Numbers: 2014 Edition report)

• North American companies invested the most in education in 2013 with a long term view on the capabilities of a future workforce funding a range of programs from Early Childhood Education, K-12 Education through to Higher Education. The trend of non-cash giving continues to grow in this region with the financial sector leading the way in pro bono services with half of all surveyed companies providing this as offering as part of their giving program.

“In our second year of the Giving Around the Globe report, one of the most compelling trends we see is the move by emerging markets to mandate CSR investment by operating businesses,” stated Carmen Perez, Manager, Measurement and Standards and report author. “India, Brazil, and Indonesia have all enacted mandatory CSR investment by companies operating within their borders. These mandates create massive opportunities in the recipient countries for real societal progress, when met strategically and authentically by companies.”   Giving Around the Globe: 2014 Edition was developed from survey data collected from 54 of the world’s largest companies located outside of the United States from 17 countries, which represent USD $3.6 B of aggregated corporate giving in 2013. Coupled with the recently launched CECP report Giving in Numbers: 2014 Edition, which is predominantly based on findings from companies based in North America, these reports provide the most comprehensive global analysis of corporate societal investment available.   CECP’s focus on global giving also includes The Global Guide to What Counts, which provides the global standard for the types of organizations that are included in total giving around the world, regardless of local tax structures, and therefore, what counts when tallying and tracking impact of global corporate societal investments.
  # # #   ABOUT CECP: THE CEO FORCE FOR GOOD CECP is a coalition of CEOs united in the belief that societal improvement is an essential measure of business performance. Founded in 1999 by Paul Newman and other business leaders, CECP has grown to a movement of 150 CEOs of the world’s largest companies across all industries. Revenues of engaged companies sum to $7 trillion annually. A nonprofit organization, CECP offers participating companies one-on-one consultation, networking events, exclusive data, media support and case studies on corporate engagement. For more information, visit cecp.co.