Canada’s largest corporations are going beyond ‘cheque-book philanthropy’ and are leveraging their assets, according to a new report from Imagine Canada.

The report found that leaders of Canada’s largest corporations have very positive attitudes about the charitable sector. Almost 8 in 10 (79%) agreed that most businesses would donate to charity even without financial benefits, and most (71%) strongly agree that these organisations generally improve the quality of life in Canada.

Of the 93 companies participating in the survey, 97% made financial donations to charities and non-profit organisations.

Corporate Community Investment Practices, Motivations & Challenges: Findings from the Canada Survey of Business Contributions to Community focuses on companies with annual revenues exceeding C$25m (£16.6m).

Of those surveyed, 82% support some kind of employee volunteer activity; 72% support payroll giving; and 62% match grants for employee contributions.

Dr. Michael Hall, Imagine Canada vice president of research, said, “What really stood out in the research is their strategic approaches to community investment and the ways in which they are engaging their employees and their broader stakeholders networks – clients, customers and suppliers – to leverage their philanthropy.”

Despite this only 39% of companies have written policies regarding their community investment strategy and only 27% measure the benefits of their contributions.

The report is available on the Imagine Canada website.