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Corporate Donor-Charitable Organization Partners: A Coorientation Study of Relationship Types

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Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

Published online on

Abstract

Using the coorientation model, this study examines the views of leading U.S. corporations and charitable organizations about types of relationships between corporate donors and charities that receive corporate contributions. Results of the national expert survey show that both corporate giving officers and senior fundraisers of charitable organizations perceive the relationship as more communal than either one-way patronizing or two-way exchange. Findings from the coorientation analysis illustrate that the two groups are in a state of consensus on the patronizing and communal relationship types while a state of false consensus exists on the exchange relationship type; that is, charities wrongly assume that corporate donors desire a relationship based on the dominant characteristic of solid exchange or quid pro quo.