Lunch with Legal Counsel: Motivations for Corporate Giving – Proceed with Caution!

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Suzanne Friday, Senior Legal Counsel and Vice President of Legal Affairs at the Council, discussed the goals and motivations driving corporate giving, with a particular focus on corporate foundations. Also, we took this opportunity to meet Lindsay Mason, the new Director of Corporate Philanthropy.

After a brief review of the applicable legal rules, we discussed how corporate foundations can focus giving in different ways and for different purposes. We discussed legal issues that might arise as well as recent criticism surrounding corporate giving for perceived political influence, whether it is limiting grantmaking activity to the communities or populations the corporation serves, assisting company employees in times of hardship or disaster, funding research in areas related to the company’s business, or simply generating goodwill for the company,