California Management Review · 1987 · 211 citations · 0 references
Public AffairsStrategic ManagementCorporate StrategyEvent ManagementPhilanthropyCorporate GivingCorporate PhilanthropyCorporate SponsorshipFestival SponsorshipSponsorshipStrategic PhilanthropyArts SponsorshipCharitable SponsorshipCorporate FundingCorporate Sponsorship StrategySports SponsorshipStrategic Corporate PhilanthropyStrategic Planning Process
Corporate philanthropy has grown into a multi‑hundred‑million‑dollar industry, prompting a professionalization movement that links giving to sports and arts events and embeds it in strategic planning. The article investigates how the professionalization of corporate giving—linking contributions to sports and arts events—is reshaping philanthropy into a bottom‑line business function. Corporate sponsorship of sporting events has tripled in two years, while annual arts contributions exceed $500 million, quadrupling over the past decade.
This article examines the rapidly expanding movement to professionalize the corporate contributions function, linking giving to special events in sports and the arts, and the pressures to reorient philanthropy into a bottom-line function. Philanthropy has become big business. Sponsorship of sports events, concerts, and festivals has become an $850 million industry with more than 1600 corporate participants. Corporate sponsorships of sporting events have tripled in the past two years alone. Additionally, businesses contribute more than $500 million annually to the arts, representing a four-fold increase in the past decade. The management of corporate philanthropy has become an integral component of the strategic-planning process.