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Giving a Little to Many or a Lot to a Few? The Returns to Variety in Corporate Philanthropy

SSRN, ISSN: 1556-5068
2018
  • 0
    Citations
  • 3,100
    Usage
  • 3
    Captures
  • 0
    Mentions
  • 0
    Social Media
Metric Options:   Counts1 Year3 Year

Metrics Details

  • Usage
    3,100
    • Abstract Views
      2,638
    • Downloads
      462
  • Captures
    3
  • Ratings
    • Download Rank
      124,993

Article Description

We examine the returns to specialization versus variety in corporate philanthropy. Acknowledging the theoretical rationale for both a specialist and a generalist approach to philanthropy, we take a question-driven, abductive approach and find a robust positive association between philanthropic variety and firm profitability for donations by large US public corporations from 2003 to 2011. This association holds for variety across causes but not within causes, is stronger for non-local giving and giving by diversified firms, and weaker for firms whose donations may face greater scrutiny. These findings are consistent with a moral hazard explanation whereby firms take advantage of the relatively inelastic support for philanthropy within a cause area by strategically spreading their donations across a wide range of supporter interests, thus maximizing profits.

Bibliographic Details

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