Exploring the Giving Strategies, Opportunities, and Challenges of Corporate Foundations in Ghana

While studies on corporate philanthropy have blossomed in recent times, little is known empirically about its practice formalized through foundations. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with seven corporate foundations, this paper explored the giving strategies, opportunities, and challenges of corporate foundations in Ghana. Our findings based on thematic analysis revealed that corporate foundations rely on a combination of strategies (request, media-lead, adoption, and contest) to identify potential beneficiaries and implement their giving programs. Further evidence indicates that giving of corporate foundations presents opportunities to the foundations themselves (serve society, get partnership offers from other companies, and obtain goodwill from the public) and their parent companies (indirect business and advertising opportunities). Nonetheless, corporate foundation giving is constrained by insufficient funding, lack of support from stakeholders, managing expectations of individuals, poor maintenance culture, and cultural rites. The findings have implications for practitioners as it present insights that could serve as a model to guide new entrants into the corporate foundation landscape of developing economies. In addition, the findings could assist the development of government interventions necessary to foster more formalized corporate giving.