Calling on Company Leaders

Corporate leaders who recognize the positive impact of a strategic corporate philanthropy program integrate it into their business models.

In a letter written to the editor of the Wall Street Journal, published on April 10, 2006, Paul Newman, Academy Award-Winning Actor and Founding Co-Chair of the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), clearly identified the societal and business benefits companies realize when they have a strategic philanthropy program in place. 

Newman explained: “All significant stakeholders in a company’s success – shareholders, employees and customers – are positively impacted by structured and focused corporate philanthropy initiatives.  An engaged workforce which takes pride in their company creates a corporate culture that improves recruiting and retention, extends brand reputation, strengthens inter-employee relationships, and reinforces leadership and teamwork skills.”

In addition, Newman said, corporate philanthropy enhances “consumer, government and media perceptions, which can encourage customer loyalty, grow business development efforts and provide a buffer against potentially negative news, respectively.  Furthermore, helping to build a strong and stable social and economic infrastructure considerably strengthens a company’s business in the communities in which it operates.”

Why align your company’s philanthropy with the arts?

 “Every culture depends on philanthropy and nonprofit organizations to provide essential elements of a civil society,” according to The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.  The nonprofit arts and cultural sector, in particular, is critical to the character, strength, and development of a region. 

The 11-county Greater Philadelphia region is larger and perhaps more diverse than you may realize. There are 1,000 arts and cultural organizations representing the performing and fine arts, and also film making, community arts centers, historic preservation, and more. There are opportunities abounding for your company, regardless of its size, to align your corporate philanthropy with the arts.

The Arts & Business Council, a Chamber affiliate, encourages you to consider establishing a relationship with the arts expressly tailored to your business development strategy, for example The Advanta Small Arts Support Program. In describing Advanta’s rationale for establishing the fund, Dennis Alter, chairman and CEO of Advanta, indicated, “Similar to the small businesses we serve, the diverse and vibrant small cultural organizations help strengthen our region’s economy and are important to the rich artistic community we all enjoy.”

To learn more about how your company can also put corporate philanthropy and the arts on your agenda, contact Virginia M. Maroun at the Arts & Business Council at 215-790-3674 or vmaroun@artsandbusinessphila.org.