THE INFLUENCE OF BUSINESS CRISIS ON CORPORATE GIVING
You may recall that BP nearly wiped out the Louisiana and Florida coasts last year following the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. Over the course of weeks over 200 million gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico. The disaster may have been one of the worse ecological assaults in history.
Ultimately, BP was assailed but not defeated by the oil spill. Their stocks plummeted, protests and boycotts ensued, heads of divisions lost their posts. But BP weathered through, their stocks rebounded and their reputation is slowly and delicately on the mend.
In their favor was over 25 YEARS of brand management through Corporate Social Responsibility. At a Corporate Social Responsibility Conference at Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship in the early 2000’s, BP was a highlighted speaker and won awards for their ecological philanthropy programs. We might laugh now, but that investment saved them from collapse.
The need to build emotional trust, a bank account of goodwill with society, is an important strategy in corporate governance and a significant influencer on a corporations philanthropic efforts. This bank of trust will allow the company who has been the cause of, or has exacerbated, a crisis, to make withdrawals and weather it through.
Bad business will happen, and that knowledge drives corporate giving.