We recommend taking the following steps in reviewing and reconsidering your donations:
Download your existing philanthropic donation data, and group them according to how much you have donated by the following categories (as applicable):- Geography/location
- Demographic groups or target populations
- Social impact priority area or pillar
- Relationship manager or team member
- Timing (e.g., by month, quarter)
- Do the historical distributions align with expectations?
- If not, what factors likely contributed to any unexpected or undesirable distribution trends, such as:
- External or environmental factors (e.g., COVID or natural disasters)?
- Shifting corporate priorities?
- Decision processes, such as application review and approval?
- Staffing structures?
- Other?
- Do any areas merit further inquiry?
For categories where donations appear out of balance, consider the following strategies to create a more appropriate distribution
- Distribution by Timing
- Even distribution by quarter or month
- Custom distribution each quarter or month
- Distribution by Geography
- Equal distribution among sites/facilities
- Distribution based on number of employees
- Distribution based on revenue
- Distribution by Demographics
- Target donation (% of investments or $ amount)
- Target reach (% of beneficiaries reached or aggregate # reached)
- Target impact (% of beneficiaries impacted or # impacted)
- Distribution by Social Cause
- Equal distribution among causes
- Priority issues vs non-priority issues (e.g., 80% vs 20%), with equal distribution within those categories
- Custom allocations (assign to each cause area)
- Consider who on the team or in other functional areas need to be informed
- Consider messaging tactics including sharing the WHY behind the investment redistribution approaches and how the redistribution plans align with your foundation and/or corporate priorities