With the holidays behind us and work uppermost in our minds, 'Reading tea leaves’ turns to corporate giving.

A report from the US-based LBG Research Institute, solely devoted to conducting research in the area of community investment, relays some good news that corporations "show no decrease in their commitment to supporting their communities”.

According to the report, ‘Making the Most of What We Have: Corporate Giving in the New Economy,’ corporations and their foundations are showing support for their communities by marshalling other, non-cash resources, such as volunteering and donating products and services. More than 84% of corporations surveyed say they are encouraging more employee volunteering to offset a decline in cash giving. Almost 45% reported increased participation rates in their employee volunteer programmes.

However, this is set against findings that 35% of companies are cutting down on charitable donations. It also reveals that 33% are cutting the number of non-profit organisations they work with – though this is a longer-term trend that predates the recession; companies are generally becoming more strategic in their CSR, focusing on fewer charities, but working more closely with them to provide a range of support.

The report also finds that corporate and corporate foundations’ giving budgets have decreased, and by more than predicted. The Institute reports that 10% more have reported actual declines this year than they predicted in a similar survey last year. As a result the Institute has had to recalibrate its predicted figure for budget decreases from between 7% to 9%, instead of 3% to 5% projected last autumn. Still, this is still not as bad as the 2001 figure of 12.1% reported by Giving USA 2002.

But there is a silver lining says Dr. Linda Gornitsky, founder and board president of the Institute: "Corporate philanthropy is entering a new age. All the budget cutting and re-evaluation that has been going on will, in the long run, make corporations more strategic and deliberate in their giving. This is certainly good - and, the economy has provided the impetus for change."

It shows that the will to give is alive.

And in a different way ‘the will to give’ is very much alive… legacy giving in the UK has increased, a new report shows. The number of legacies left to the 38 charities taking part in the Legacy Foresight project has surged by 4.3%, says the report. Though, owing to the current economic climate, the average value of legacies left to charity fell by 6.3% in the 12 months to June.

The legacies left to the charities fell to an average of £52,500, but the increase in number meant total legacy income across the participating organisations fell by only 2.3% on the previous 12 months, to £859m.

Meg Abdy, project manager of Legacy Foresight, said there had been a step change in the number of people leaving money to charity in their wills since autumn 2007. "The number of legacies received by our members is now 9% higher than they were two years ago," she said.

Improved campaigning could have played a part in the increase in legacy notifications, she said.