Is Your Company Aligned With Your Community?

For early risers yesterday, the Council’s corporate members hosted a discussion and brainstorming around a just-released report “Increasing Impact, Enhancing Value: A Practitioner’s Guide to Leading Corporate Philanthropy” (available at www.cof.org/corporateguide).   The conclusion of the report - and the discussion - is that philanthropy is only a part of what a company can and should contribute to the communities where it does business.  This is certainly the role of the Citi Foundation, where we align our work with Citi’s company-wide assets to enhance our overall citizenship profile and to deliver more value to our communities.  The discussion was particularly rich around the rewards and challenges of collaboration – with government, competitors, NGOs and other businesses and, most importantly, with the business with which the Foundation is aligned.

Pamela Flaherty is president and CEO of the Citi Foundation, and director of citizenship for Citi