Corporate foundations and their governance: Unexplored territory in the corporate social responsibility agenda

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the governance structures of corporate foundations in the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Design/methodology/approach – After discussing the heretofore-underutilized research advantages of corporate foundations, the authors survey theoretical perspectives to explain the corporate foundation phenomenon. The authors build on this theory to construct a typology of corporate foundation structures based on their interactions with internal and external stakeholders. Findings – The findings suggest that many of the largest corporations do not embed their corporate foundation into their strategic plan as they define it (i.e. specific alignment with corporate competency). Research limitations/implications – Research limitations include an examination solely of the 50 largest corporate foundations among a field of nearly 3,000 corporate foundations. The authors advance a research agenda that addresses the potential role of corpor...