Celebrate Ohio’s Corporate Philanthropy

Today is International Corporate Philanthropy Day,  a day set aside to celebrate the corporate-community partnerships that address critical issues in our state, country and world. This year, as we struggle to emerge from a recession economy, we recognize the Ohio businesses that have continued to support their communities with grants, in-kind contributions of products and services and thousands of volunteers who give blood, tutor children and serve on nonprofit boards.

One way that businesses engage in philanthropy is through their corporate foundations. Most of Ohio’s 139 corporate foundations are of modest size, when ranked by their assets, as nearly half of them have assets under $1 million and three-quarters have assets under $10 million. Nevertheless, Ohio has a number of large corporate foundations headquartered here, many of which fund inside the state’s boundaries, across the US and internationally. The giving from these foundations in 2009 (latest data available from the IRS), totaled $173 million.

The grant dollars these companies award through their foundations is only a partial picture of corporate philanthropy, though, as most companies don’t have foundations but have corporate giving programs. And, we have no way of counting the thousands of examples of other contributions that businesses large and small make: purchasing tickets to fundraising events, donating products to charity auctions, supporting high school sports teams, giving scholarships and so many, many more ways they demonstrate their commitment to their local communities.

 So, thank you, OGF corporate foundation and giving program members, for all you do!
Abbott Nutrition, American Electric Power, The Andersons Charitable Foundation, ArcelorMittal, Battelle Bricker & Eckler, Cardinal Health, Inc, CareSource, Charter One Foundation, Dayton Power and Light Company Foundation, Dominion, Duke Energy, Eaton Corporation, Bob Evans Farms, Fifth Third Foundation, First Energy Foundation, First Financial Bank, Forest City Enterprises Charitable Foundation, Grange Insurance Companies, Honda of America Mfg., Inc, Huntington Bank, Hyland Software, Jones Day, JPMorgan Chase, Kaiser Permanente, KeyBank Foundation, Limited Brands Foundation, The Lubrizol Foundation, Materion Corporation, Nationwide Foundation, Nordson Corporation Foundation, OMNOVA Solutions Foundation, Owen Corning Foundation, PNC Foundation, The Plain Dealer, The Procter & Gamble Fund, RPM International, Inc., The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, The Sherwin-Williams Foundation, Third Federal Foundation and Westfield Insurance.