Corporate Community Contributions in the United Kingdom and the United States Stephen Brammer Stephen Pavelin ABSTRACT. We address the issue of UK firms’ rela- tively poor record of corporate community contributions (CCCs) by subjecting them to formal comparison with those of US firms. To this end, we employ data on the top 100 UK, and top 100 US, contributors in 2001. Cross-country differences are described and discussed with reference to a stakeholder perspective on corporate social responsibility, and CCCs in particular. In this connection, we evaluate the role played by the sectoral composition of activities, as well as national, cultural and institutional factors. Our findings highlight a number of significant cross-country differences in the pattern of CCCs and suggest that UK and US firms operate within significantly different stakeholder environments. JEL CLASSIFICATION: M14 KEY WORDS: corporate community contributions, stakeholders Introduction The level of corporate community contributions (CCCs) in the United Kingdom has risen signifi- cantly over the last 20 years as companies have re- sponded to growing stakeholder pressure to consider their wider social responsibilities. In spite of this rapid growth, anecdotal evidence of their compara- tively low level has led to criticism of the largest U.K. companies. For example, a recent survey of giving among the largest U.K. companies argued that their comparatively poor philanthropic record has motivated increased media coverage of firm giving aimed at ‘‘naming and shaming the meanest businesses’’ (The Giving List, A supplement to The Guardian, November 5, 2001, p. 3). It singled out a few companies for particular criticism. For example, the computer services company Logica’s failure to make any charitable donations was described as, ‘‘unacceptable’’, and companies in the bottom half of the top 100 ranking were described as having, ‘‘slipped below the Scrooge line of the national average’’ (ibid. p. 2). To clarify matters, we subject the performance of U.K. firms in this respect to be subject to formal international comparison. The growing strategic and economic significance of corporate philanthropic and charitable activities is reflected in a number of recent conceptual and empirical contributions to the literature that high- light the accountability of corporations to a variety of stakeholder groups (Adams and Hardwick, 1998; Porter and Kramer, 2002; Saiia, 2002; Saiia et al., Stephen Brammer is a Lecturer in Business Economics at Uni- versity of Bath, with research interests in the area of corporate social responsibility. Much of his recent research has examined the stimuli for corporate socially responsive behaviour, the management of business social responsibilities, and the rela- tionships between firm social performance and other dimen- sions of corporate performance. Recent publications include articles in the Journal of Management Studies, the European Management Journal and Business Ethics: A European Review. Stephen Pavelin is a Lecturer in Economics at the University of Reading, with research interests in foreign direct investment and corporate social responsibility. His current research agenda seeks to address: the effect of corporate social performance on the reputations and financial performance of firms; the inci- dence and quality of social and environmental reporting; demographic diversity (regarding gender and ethnicity) among corporate boards; and the effect of firms’ geographical diver- sification on their social performance. Recent publications include articles in the International Journal of Industrial Organisation, the Open Economies Review, the European Management Journal and Business Ethics: A European Review. Journal of Business Ethics 56: 15–26, 2005. Ó 2005 Springer.