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with lawmakers. Asked what kind of efforts his company makes to inform public officials of its
corporate citizenship contributions, he comments:
“We’ve always been a very quiet organization. We haven’t done a lot. There are some
specific things we’ve gone out and talked about. We recently had the staff of the two
environmental committees in the state legislature out for an in-depth tour of our recycling
facility. We’ve talked to (Senator X) obviously for a long while, given that he’s our state
senator and talked about what we’re doing there and used it as an opportunity to show
what we are doing. It’s an amazing facility. So on a specific topic, we go out and talk
about it. It depends.”
The firm may have invested in a recycling facility to cut costs, satisfy customer demand, or just
because they thought it was the right thing to do, but once established, the recycling facility
becomes a political resource. Lawmakers interested in learning about progressive environmental
conservation programs might be inclined to spend a few hours visiting with company executives.
This is political access. In some companies, then, political considerations do not enter the firm’s
thinking about CSR at initial stages, but do at later stages.
Finally, a few executives admit that politics do shape the CSR decisionmaking process in
significant ways. Executives talk most commonly about how political motivations can shape
philanthropic decisions. Some companies do it, but only occasionally. Other companies do it all
the time. On the occasional end of the spectrum, a chemical company executive says his firm
does not give to charities simply because politicians ask them to, but they do sometimes seek to
“get in good with members” by underwriting charitable events chaired by congresspersons’
spouses. A technology executive says she sometimes weighs in on the philanthropic
decisionmaking process.
“Politicians do approach us with requests for charitable grants. The requests come either
to our foundation or corporate giving arms, or they come to us – generally to our state
and local staff. If they come to us, I’ll meet with the state and local staff and we’ll decide
whether we think it’s important to honor, and then we’ll share it with our philanthropic or
workplace resources people.”
In contrast, a former government affairs executive for a tobacco company says his
company used philanthropy routinely to advance political objectives. His firm recognized early
on the potential political value to philanthropy, and began using it in the 1970s “to put a white
hat on a black hat industry.” They began targeting politicians with their philanthropy, putting
arts programs in the districts of key local lawmakers.
Convention