Framing Corporate Philanthropy

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Framing Corporate Philanthropy

• A Program for
• San Diego Grantmakers
• by
• Dr. Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr.
• UCLA

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Outline

• Why strategic communications matters to corporate
  philanthropy
• The importance of values in public reasoning
  about social issues
• The tension between social change and philanthropy

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Important Distinctions What this talk is about

• This talk is about how to move public will in a
  direction to better leverage corporate community
  investments
• This talk is about why and what you communicate,
  not how
• This talk is about identifying communication
  tools that help you think through the why and
  what
• This talk is about cognitive, not moral failure
  in the general public and in the boardroom

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Important Distinctions This talk is not about

• Social marketing great for changing individual
  behavior, less useful for moving public will
• A bumper sticker or communications silver bullet
  Friends Dont Let Friends Drive Drunk
• Solving policy or strategic goals

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Why Communications Matters to Corporate
Philanthropy
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The Power of Frames for Public Thinking and
Discourse
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What Is A Frame?

• The way a story is told its selective use of
  particular symbols, metaphors, and messengers
  which, in turn, triggers the shared and durable
  cultural models that people use to make sense of
  their world.
• (Bales and Gilliam)

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Learning from Cognitive Linguistics

• People understand almost everything by applying
  conceptual frames. The conclusion one draws
  depends on the frame one uses..People reason
  metaphorically most of the time without being
  aware of it.
• Since it is a complete way of thinking and not
  just talking, a metaphor includes patterns of
  reasoning. Metaphors allow us to make extensive
  inferences beyond the word actually used.
• Lakoff and Johnson, Metaphors We Live By,
  University of Chicago Press, 1980.
• Lakoff, Moral Politics, University of Chicago
  Press, 1996.

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Framing Effects

• Every frame defines the issue, explains who is
  responsible, and suggests potential
  solutionsconveyed by images, stereotypes, or
  anecdotes (Charlotte Ryan, 1991).

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Framing Matters

• Movements are engaged in meaning-work the
  struggle over the production of ideas of
  meaningThe failure of mass mobilization when
  structural conditions seem otherwise ripe may be
  accounted for by the absence of a resonant master
  frame. Snow and Benford

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Frames As Mobilizers

• Civil Rights Movement
• Christian charity White Americans, Black church
• Conventional democratic theory secular liberals,
  govt
• Gandhian nonviolence Northern intellectuals,
  media

• Environmental Movement
• Responsible manager business, bystander publics,
  voters
• Steward people of faith, swing conservatives
• Visionary business, politicians, consumers

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What Is Reframing?

• Changing the context of the message exchange
• So that different interpretations and outcomes
  become visible to the public
• By identifying rival frames or
• Using primes

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Implications for Corporate Philanthropy

• The failure to effectively frame your
  communications means that people (senior mgt
  employees public policy makers) will default to
  the most accessible mental images
• These images generally do not elevate the
  importance or impact of community investments
• There are no frameless transactions
• E.G. - Individual donations charity good deeds
  gt different from community impact which
  represents the optimal leveraging of corporate
  dollars

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The Importance of Values Defining Who You Are
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What Research Suggests About How People Think

• People use mental shortcuts to make sense of the
  world.
• Incoming information provides cues about where to
  file it mentally.
• People get most information about public affairs
  from the news media which, over time, creates a
  framework of expectation, or dominant frame.
• Over time, we develop habits of thought and
  expectation and configure incoming information to
  conform to this frame.

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Levels of Thinking

• Level One Big ideas, like justice, prevention,
  family, equality and opportunity
• Level Two Issue-types, like womens rights, the
  environment, childrens issues, employment
• Level Three Specific issues, like treatment of
  women by the Taliban, rainforests, daycare,
  minimum wage

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Safety Family Self-made Child
Nurturance
Elitism
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Child Rearing
Development
Education
2
School Readiness
School Readiness
School Readiness
3
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Lakoffs Rule of Levels

• You can only fight level three challenges if you
  know the level one and two frames.
• Never accept the oppositions level one and two
  frames, or it doesnt matter what you say at
  level three.

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Using Level One Messages

• Fairness
• Freedom
• Justice
• Security
• Future
• Legacy
• Stewardship
• Responsibility
• Opportunity
• Reliability
• Protection
• Prevention
• Connection
• Community

• WHICH LEVEL ONE CHOICE WILL BEST PRIME THE
  FOLLOWING POLICIES
• Continuing Education
• Job Training
• Day Care Subsidies
• Health Insurance
• Access to Union Jobs
• Better Unemployment Benefits
• More Benefits for Part-Time Workers
• Raising Minimum Wage
• Adjusting Poverty Guidelines
• Living Wage Standards
• Expanded EITC

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Implications for Corporate Philanthropy

• The common communications mistake is to
  communicate solely at Level Three when, in fact,
  people reason from Level One downward
• The failure to mobilize and move people, even
  when conditions are otherwise ripe, can be traced
  to the failure to develop a clear master frame
  utilizing the appropriate values
• Communications has to be a frontend activity
  post hoc communications (dissemination) is a
  weak, if not, harmful model

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The Tension Between Social Change and Philanthropy
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Commitment to Change?

• Generally conservative nature of corporate boards
• Willingness to work with other community
  stakeholders in meaningful ways?
• What does being a good corporate citizen really
  mean?
• Can you be a change agent and keep your job?
• How do you connect corporate philanthropy and HQ
  to social change?

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Strategies for Change

• Build communities of interest, both within and
  outside of corporate philanthropy
• Reveal to senior management the short-sightedness
  of crisis philanthropy and the value of
  leveraging public will
• Dont be afraid to talk values
• Act with intentionality and discipline

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