On the motivations of corporate giving in Australia

This paper proposes further research be conducted to advance our knowledge in the field of non-profit marketing through the development of frameworks to help identify the drivers of corporate giving in Australia. Existing conceptualisations are predominately based on limited overseas research, and take little account of the commercial realities of corporate life and the increasing pressures facing many organisations in achieving concrete outcomes from their giving behaviour. In an environment of increased competition for scarce resources amongst non-profits, the better understanding of how and why corporations provide support will be beneficial. It will enable non-profit organisations to better communicate with corporations, target requests and compete for corporate giving. This paper commences by exploring some reasons why non-profit organisations need to understand the processes of corporate giving, recognises a firm definition of corporate giving has not been reached, provides some background into corporate giving in Australia, and looks briefly at some of the key models that have been developed for corporate giving. It then concludes with some research propositions for future research in this important area.