Corporations
| The Greater Houston Community Foundation can help your company develop and administer a strategic corporate giving plan that makes an impact in the community, furthers your corporate objectives, and supports employees’ philanthropic efforts, making them feel valued and ultimately increasing job performance and morale. Your organization’s giving plan will be customized to enrich and streamline your philanthropic experience; it can include any of the following options: Corporate Giving Fund Establishing a Corporate Giving Fund will increase the visibility of your company’s charitable strategies in the community, as well as connect your organization to charitable causes you care about in a mutually beneficial way. A corporate “foundation” through the Community Foundation allows you to maximize the tax and budget aspects of your company’s giving and also works with you to ensure that your charitable investments provide the greatest emotional, civic and financial benefit possible. Corporate Scholarship Funds Through one of the fastest growing types of funds at the Foundation, you can support worthy students entering or continuing their college education by creating your company’s own scholarship fund. You define the eligibility requirements and establish the criteria for selecting the candidates, set the number of awards to be given, and the dollar amount for the rewards. The Community Foundation handles the evaluation process and the paperwork to ensure the scholarships are distributed according to IRS rules and regulations. Individual Employee Funds As a means of showing your appreciation to your employees and teaching them the joy of philanthropy, the Greater Houston Community Foundation can help you establish and fund a plan for each of your employees as an addition to the rest of the benefit package. Employees designate where they want their philanthropic dollars to go, and can choose to add their own funds via payroll deduction. GHCF can offer training to help the employees become strategic givers. Matching Gifts Program In a matching gifts program, you can show your support for employees who are giving back to their communities and add to employee donations designated for nonprofit organizations, colleges or universities. A matching gifts program encourages charitable giving and is an excellent way to demonstrate appreciation for employees. The Community Foundation can minimize the work required to administer your matching gifts program by taking care of all the details (with the assistance of an outside vendor for large groups). You continue to enjoy the visibility and recognition, while the Community Foundation handles all of the back office processing and verification of grant recipient charitable status. Your matching gifts fund at the Community Foundation allows you to set aside necessary resources for a comprehensive program and we professionally manage the fund’s assets to earn a competitive rate of return. Executive Donor Advised Funds Some corporations encourage their executives to establish donor advised funds, which are personal charitable investment accounts that can be opened with a gift of cash, stock, real estate, life insurance policy or almost any hard-to-value asset. They can suggest grants or add to their funds at any time. As an incentive for executives, some corporations elect to pay the administrative fee for a certain period of time. Contact KC Eynatten at keynatten@ghcf.org to learn how we can work together to enhance your corporate giving strategy. |