An evolution of inspiration is happening in corporate philanthropy. As head of corporate philanthropy at Delta Dental, I’m excited to see organizations like mine grow from good corporate neighbors to leveraging our resources for radical, systemic change.

Impact-oriented corporate philanthropy has been shaped by changes in the world around us, including the methods of venture capitalists, who use funding to launch big ideas into reality.

Today, I will offer insight into how you can build a program that will position your organization to lead transformation to a better world using a simple framework.

#1 Local Love

The basis of any solid corporate philanthropy program is what I call local love — charitable work in our communities. As much as our program evolves, local love will persist.

Engaging locally allows employees and leaders to support causes they have a particular passion for, which helps raise awareness for the company in the local community. At Delta Dental, we sponsor employee volunteer days, match employee giving, and run regional community councils that review grants to nonprofits in our local communities.

#2 Look to your mission

If you want to amplify your organization’s impact beyond local love, your next step is a mission-aligned giving strategy.

#3 Invest in research and thought leadership

Once you focus your support on a cause that aligns with your business, you can expand your impact even more by investing in research related to your cause.

Investing in university research is a clear path to expertise and thought leadership and reveals new insights and opportunities for impact. At Delta Dental, we focus on several types of research funding: calls for academic papers, project-based grants, and multi-year grants.

#4 Develop your signature program

I like to think the journey to a signature program is a natural progression from local love, mission-oriented funding, research, and thought leadership — to make a deeper, more focused difference in the world by driving radical, systemic change.

Read the full article about corporate philanthropy by Kenzie Ferguson at Medium.