# Companies'  community investment policies are "complex and opaque"

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2004/10/06/companies039-community-investment-policies-are-quotcomplex-and-opaquequot/
- Published: 2004-10-06T23:00:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Voluntary organisations find companies and their community investment policies complex,
opaque and difficult to penetrate, according to research commissioned by Charities
Aid Foundation (CAF) from the SMART Company.
The research was launched at the CAF
Corporates and Communities Conference and based on a series of interviews with community
leaders from across the UK.

The research confirms that company donations, sponsorship and gifts-in-kind are 
an important source of support for voluntary and community organisations. Yet there
remains considerable misunderstanding and cynicism between the sectors.

The research, entitled “Getting engaged: Achieving closer working relationships 
between companies and local communities”, reveals that the community sector doubts
the motivations of companies that become involved in local community issues, believing
that such activities are simply a ‘fig leaf for companies to hide behind’. Rather
than supporting ‘harder’ issues, such as drugs, young offenders or asylum seekers,
community leaders think that corporates are most interested in short-term, ‘softer’
funding opportunities that will provide them with positive media coverage.

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Accessing details of opportunities is still difficult, it would seem. Many community
leaders believe that companies fail to communicate the type and level of CCI they
offer, leaving them heavily dependent on personal contacts to find out what support
opportunities are available.

The research adds that community leaders acknowledge that they don’t always present
themselves in the best light, treating business as ‘the enemy’ and producing substandard
business plans which fail to articulate their vision and purpose.

Despite this lack of understanding between the company and voluntary sectors, community
leaders are generally positive about corporate involvement. Far from feeling like‘
inefficient money grabbers’, the community sector believes it has a lot to offer
companies in terms of specialist knowledge on diversity, community issues and best
practice in return for business expertise.

Copies of the research are available from

 * **[UK Fundraising News now e-mailed to over 9,000 subscribers](https://fundraising.co.uk/2004/10/12/uk-fundraising-news-now-emailed-over-9000-subscribers/)**(
   12 October 2004)
 * **[Librarian leaves half her £2 million estate to charities](https://fundraising.co.uk/2004/10/17/librarian-leaves-half-her-2-million-estate-charities/)**(
   17 October 2004)
 * **[Switchandgive increases online affinity payment for ChildLine](https://fundraising.co.uk/2004/10/24/switchandgive-increases-online-affinity-payment-childline/)**(
   24 October 2004)