By: Turner

Turner is participating in Allowance for Good's autumn 2013 Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy program.

At our last ELP meeting we talked about corporate philanthropy. Corporate philanthropy is a way for companies to give back to the community and their employees. At our meeting I learned a lot of things I didn’t know about corporate philanthropy and how some companies help their customers too. Corporate philanthropy is also used within companies to inspire their employees to help others.

During our session we talked about how corporations give back to their employees and customers. And we talked about some of the different ways companies can be philanthropic. Some of the ways companies are philanthropic are that some give their employees days off to do philanthropic work and get paid for it as a regular workday. Some companies will match the donations of their employees if they donate to an organization and encourage them to donate. We also talked about how the most effective way for companies to encourage their employees to help with philanthropy is by donating to a cause that their employees care about. Some companies even let their employees vote on where to donate. I think that it is nice of corporations to give back because it shows that they really care.

We had a wonderful guest speaker this week named Jenna Daugherty from AbbVie, which is a medical supply company. Jenna is the leader of AbbVie’s civic engagement in the community and she also helps to lead strategic projects on behalf of executive management. At our meeting Jenna talked about corporate philanthropy with us, and the many different types of corporate philanthropy that AbbVie is involved in. For example, they give away free medicine to some of their customers who are in need. I found it very interesting and was very inspired to hear that some large companies like this are willing to give away their supplies to people who ask for them and it has encouraged me to want to be a philanthropist throughout my whole life.

In the future I am hoping to work at a company that encourages philanthropy in their employees. After this meeting I learned that companies can be very nice to their employees and get involved in helping causes that they want.