AN URBAN GRANTS ECONOMY REVISITED - CORPORATE CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS IN THE TWIN-CITIES, 1979-81, 1987-89

To examine whether corporate giving had changed during the 1980s, I st udied charitable contributions in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota in 1 979-81 and 1987-89. There was no support for hypotheses that charitabl e contributions had decreased, became more tightly coupled to market p osition, or were less influenced by chief executive officers' social n etworks. In neither period did the percent of sales to consumers affec t contributions; labor intensities had a weak negative effect in 1979- 81 and a strong negative effect in 1987-89; and in both periods social network ties to local philanthropic leaders, company performance, and size were positively related to giving, while CEO ownership had a neg ative effect. Only when firms came under the control of a large outsid e investor was the effect of network position on contributions signifi cantly weakened.