Trends in corporate philanthropy - Wal-Mart's example

A recent trend in corporate philanthropy has been for a company to be more strategic with its foundation giving by aligning it with the company’s brand and goals. Wal-Mart, one of the nation’s largest corporate donors has taken a big step in this direction. The company’s local giving has traditionally been managed by local stores, who have doled out small grants to local organizations and schools. However, in an effort to leverage its funds to achieve greater long-term impact, the foundation has set up new state-level funding pools to make gifts of $25,000 or more and has hired program officers to assess opportunities and the effectiveness of its grants. Their giving will focus on four areas: Education, Job Skills Training, Environmental Sustainability and Health, but they will fully consider grant applications for programs that do not fall into one of these categories. They have set up an online application system to receive proposals, with the first submission deadline being June 25, 2008. Check out their website for more information: http://walmartstores.com/CommunityGiving/8168.aspx