Jurnal Economic

Corporations have moved towards strategic, or focused, giving to gain the most return on their donations. How can economic development organizations benefit; from this movement towards strategic philanthropy, in which companies must justify their donations in terms of bottom-line impacts? Economic development organizations are uniquely positioned within communities and regions to help corporations identify their most effective philanthropic investments. As more corporations focus their donations into strategic philanthropy, the opportunity to forth beneficial partnerships increases. This article provides a summary of the process and a review of the various approaches of corporate strategic philanthropy programs--information that economic development organizations can use to form strategic partnerships.

INTRODUCTION
The advent of strategic philanthropy is considered by some to be an outgrowth of the hostile takeovers, downsizings, and leveraged buyouts that pervaded U.S. corporations in the late 1980s and into the 1990s. With budgets slashed, charitable giving was not a priority and "doing good for the sake of doing good" became less of a focus (Koch 1998). Emerging from this era has been a new attitude towards by corporations; while some call it "enlightened self-interest," others describe it as sophisticated focused giving (Sagawa et al. 1999). By focusing dollars on issues and causes that directly affect their business success, corporations are using their donations to expand their markets and build good will, all at the same time. Thus, strategic corporate philanthropy represents the "integration of contributions management into the overall strategic planning of the corporation" (Marx 1998).

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