Motivations for Establishing a Corporate Foundation in Australia

Figures & data

Table 1. Details on participants and their CFs.

Participant number	CF size	CF staff (excluding manager)	CF name same as establishing firm	CF legal structure	Establishing firm industry	Focus of CF giving	CF manager helped establish foundation	CF manager allocation to role	CF manager other role/s within firm if part-time	Role specialization before joining foundation	Years of philanthropic experience (incl. foundation)
P1	Large	.5 FTE	Yes	Discretionary investment trust – PAF	Financial Services	Social issues, community safety and resilience	Yes	.5 FTE – CF role .5 FTE – marketing role	Marketing manager	Marketing	2
P2	Large	1 FTE	Yes	Discretionary investment trust – PAF	Information media and telecommunications	Technology advancement	Yes	1 FTE	N/A	CSR	10
P3	Large	5 FTE	Yes	Discretionary investment trust – PAF	Financial Services	Education	Yes	1 FTE	N/A	Finance	5
P4	N/A	N/A	N/A	Australian proprietary company – no CF	Information media and telecommunications	Disability support	N/A	N/A	N/A	Marketing	5
P5	Medium	0	Yes	Trust – PuAF	Financial Services	Health	Yes	0.2 FTE CF role 0.8 FTE Stockbroking role	Stockbroker	Stockbroking	15
P6	Large	0	Yes	Discretionary investment trust – PAF	Professional, scientific and technical services	Legal and justice	Yes	1 FTE	N/A	Legal	12
P7	Large	.6 FTE	Yes	Trust – PuAF	Financial Services	Addressing social isolation and community enrichment	No	1 FTE	N/A	Executive management	15
P8	Large	.6 FTE	Yes	Trust – PuAF	General	Education	Yes	.6 FTE part-time in CF role only		CSR	7
P9	Large	.5 FTE	Yes	Discretionary investment trust – PAF	Healthcare and social assistance	Healthcare	No	1 FTE	N/A	Project management	6
P10	Medium	0	Yes	Discretionary investment trust – PAF	Financial Services	Open focus	Yes	1 FTE	N/A	Executive management/nonprofit sector	15
P11	Medium	0	Yes	Fixed trust – PuAF	Financial Services	Community wellbeing and education	No	.1 FTE CF role .9 FTE Assistant to the CEO	Assistant to the CEO	Accounting	3
P12	Large	2.4 FTE	Yes	Public company – non- profit	Electricity, gas, water and waste services	Education	Yes	1 FTE	N/A	Non-profit sector	7
P13	Large	.5 FTE	Yes	Trust – PuAF	Healthcare and social assistance	Healthcare	No	1 FTE	N/A	Executive management	3
P14	Medium	2 FTE	Yes	Trust – PuAF	Information media and telecommunications	Education	Yes	1 FTE	N/A	Marketing	6
P15	Large	1 FTE	Yes	Fixed trust – PAF	Financial Services	Community health and engagement	Yes	1 FTE	N/A	Marketing in nonprofit sector	9
P16	Medium	0	Yes	Discretionary investment trust– PuAF	Electricity, gas, water and waste services	Community engagement	No	1 FTE	N/A	Information technology	2

Table 2. Summary of participant agreement with motivational themes and sub-themes.

Higher- order themes	Centralizing corporate giving		Stakeholder influences			Strategic benefits to the establishing firm			Financial advantages of foundation structure
Sub-theme	Focus and formalize giving practices	Separation from business activities	Board and executives of establishing firm	Lawyer influence	Other commercial Firms (isomorphism)	Reputational benefits	Staff engagement and participation	Shared value strategy	CF corpus	Taxation benefits
Supportive	14	15	15	11	12	14	14	6	11	7
Oppose	1	1	1	2	2	2	-	4	3	2
Not identified	1	-	-	3	2	-	2	6	2	7

Table

Top-level themes	Centralizing corporate giving		Stakeholder influences			Strategic benefits to the establishing firm			Financial advantages of foundation structure
Participant number	Focus and formalization of corporate giving practices	Separation from business activities	Reputational benefits	Staff engagement and participation	Shared value strategy	Board and executives of establishing firm	Lawyer influence and other advisors	Isomorphic influences from other firms	Foundation corpus	Taxation benefits
P1	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive
P2	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive
P3	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Not raised	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive
P4	Negative	Negative	Negative	Positive	Positive	Negative	Negative	Negative	Negative	Negative
P5	Positive	Positive	Positive	Not raised	Not raised	Positive	Positive	Not raised	Negative	Not raised
P6	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Not raised	Positive	Positive	Not raised	Positive	Not raised
P7	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive
P8	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Not raised	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive
P9	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive
P10	Positive	Positive	Negative	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Negative
P11	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Not raised	Positive	Not raised	Positive	Not raised	Not raised
P12	Not raised	Positive	Positive	Positive	Negative	Positive	Not raised	Positive	Positive	Not raised
P13	Positive	Positive	Positive	Not raised	Not raised	Positive	Positive	Negative	Positive	Not raised
P14	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Negative	Positive	Negative	Positive	Negative	Not raised
P15	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Negative	Positive	Not raised	Positive	Not raised	Not raised
P16	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Negative	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive	Positive

Table

Interview Questions
1. Can you please describe your role in the foundation. Did you have any involvement with the establishment of the foundation? If so can you describe your involvement?
2. What are the foundation’s objectives? Do the foundation objectives have anything in common with the firm’s objectives? If so what are these? How do you measure if the objectives have been successful?
3. Can you please describe how your foundation operates, such as: its board structure, number of foundation staff the areas that it involves itself in, such as charitable giving, volunteering, ETC. process to determine how much money to allocate to charities each year
4. At the time your foundation was established, was specific advice sought to determine the type of structure it should operate within? For example, a public foundation operating through a trust. If so, where did this advice come from and how influential was the advice for the final decision?
5. Are there any coordinated activities between the foundation and the firm?
6. Do believe there are any advantages or disadvantages with the use of a corporate foundation over other forms of direct corporate philanthropy?
7. Which internal or external groups do you believe had the most influence in making that decision to establish your foundation?
8. Were there any objections raised about the decision to create a corporate foundation?
9. Which factors do you believe were the most important in determining whether to create a corporate foundation?
10. Which of these factors are the most important to you? And which factors are the least important to you?
11. What are your thoughts on the role of the foundation in centralizing corporate giving? Have you seen this occur due to the work of your foundation?
12. Have you found the foundation more or less able to maintain a consistent level of charitable giving year on year, as opposed to as in a direct giving model, where more could be given from the firm in good years, and possibly none in poor years?
13. Do you believe there have been any reputational changes that stakeholders may have of the founding firm due to the foundation? If so, has one stakeholder group shown this more than others? If so, do you believe the same changes to stakeholders could have resulted by other forms of corporate giving?
14. Has the foundation had any noticeable impact on staff commitment to the founding firm? If so are you able to describe these and how is this measured?