Although Canadian businesses can claim receipted charitable donations to a maximum of 20 percent of pre-tax profits, the actual national level remains around one percent. Corporate giving also lags well behind the growth in corporate profits. Finding out exactly how much any company donates to charity is difficult unless the company itself volunteers the information in its annual report or other publications. In Canada, tax files provide information by industry or for the country as a whole, but not for individual companies. The issues of public disclosure and setting goals for corporate giving are closely linked.
Disclosure requires companies to make public their level of giving.
Over the past decade, as corporate contributions programs have become more common and more sophisticated, two distinct models for encouraging and measuring corporate giving have emerged. Benchmark programs, such as those built on percent-based recognition, define and recognize a measurable level of charitable giving. The concept was pioneered by business leaders in Minneapolis in the mid-seventies. They often provide accountability through publication of company names, and have a recognition component for the businesses involved. Percent-based programs stimulate and reward cash contributions as a key program element, an important consideration inasmuch as cash is still one of the most effective commodities a business can give a worthy charity.