TEACHING NOTE: SI-58 TN

DATE: 10/04/07 (REV’D 06/01/13)

TEACHING NOTE FOR

CISCO CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY
Cisco Systems was founded in 1984 by Stanford University husband-and-wife team Leonard
Bosack and Sandra Lerner. The company developed and commercialized products that enabled
computers to communicate with one another. As networking took off, Cisco’s sales grew rapidly
and the company went public in 1990. By 2001, Cisco had achieved $22 billion in revenue.
Although a subsequent downturn in the technology industry prompted a workforce reduction and
reorganization, Cisco’s commitment to its customers and community remained a priority.

Corporate philanthropy constituted an important element of Cisco’s culture and strategy from its
earliest days. Co-founder Lerner set the tone, believing that a company should support the people
and community that ensured its success, in addition to achieving profitability for shareholders.
Beginning with small-scale activities focused on community relations, Cisco’s philanthropic
involvement grew into a substantial program that leveraged employees’ technical and intellectual
capabilities in tandem with the company’s philanthropic investments. In 1997, Cisco created the
Cisco Systems Foundation with $65 million to formally establish the company’s philanthropic
efforts.

By 2002, Cisco’s corporate philanthropy was based on a clear strategy of leveraging Cisco’s
unique Internet competencies to effect positive, global change. To this end, Cisco contributed
more than $205 million from the foundation and other corporate sources. As of 2002, Cisco had
three primary philanthropic efforts: 1) the Community Investment Fund (CIF), which pre-dated
the foundation; 2) Global Partnerships, which oversaw the Cisco Community Fellowships and
relationships with organizations like Habitat for Humanity and the United Nations and 3) the
Cisco Foundation.

As the foundation moved beyond its start-up stage, Cisco’s director of corporate philanthropy,
Tae Yoo, wanted to assess the philanthropic program’s results. She hoped to evaluate whether
the foundation was effectively utilizing the company’s core strengths to maximize its impact.

Copyright © 2013 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. This note was prepared
Lecturer Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen with assistance from Dave Hoyt for the sole purpose of aiding classroom
instructors in the use of Cisco Corporate Philanthropy, GSB No. SI-58. It provides analysis and questions that are
intended to present alternative approaches to deepening students’ comprehension of the business issues presented in
the case and to energize classroom discussion.
Teaching Note for Cisco Corporate Philanthropy SI-58 TN p. 2

Yoo also wished to demonstrate that the foundation’s short-term costs to shareholders had
yielded long-term benefits for both Cisco and its grantees.

Key Facts

• Mission: Cisco’s philanthropic mission was to develop, support and invest in programs
that leverage the Internet to contribute to lasting positive change.

• Cisco Corporate Philanthropy: Cisco Corporate Philanthropy focused on education, basic

needs and civic engagement. In 2002, the company contributed $52.1 million, The
contributions were allocated as follows: $21.3 million (including in-kind donations) from
the Community Investment Fund, $19.4 million from Cisco business departments and
$11.4 million from the Cisco Foundation.

• Cisco Foundation Assets and Grantmaking: The Cisco Foundation was created in 1997
with $64 million from the sale of Cascade Communications. Two years later, Cisco
added $73 million to the foundation after liquidating another investment holding. By late
2002, the Cisco Foundation had $103.8 million in assets, down from $132.2 million the
previous year. The foundation’s giving for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2002 was $11.4
million, of which $2.8 million was for the employee matching program, $2.8 million for
grants to education, shelter and community service organizations in communities near
major Cisco facilities and $5.8 million for national invitation grants.

• Key Players: Leonard Bosack and Sandra Lerner, Cisco Systems founders; John
Morgridge, Cisco Systems president and CEO (1988 – 1995) and chairman (1995 - );
John Chambers, Cisco Systems president and CEO (1995 - ); and Tae Yoo, first director
of Cisco Corporate Philanthropy (1998 - ).

Position in Course

This case is intended for use in a course on philanthropic innovation, grantmaking and strategy.
The teaching objective is to explore motivations for corporate philanthropy, corporate and
philanthropic strategy, the impact of corporate culture, and evaluating corporate philanthropy in
meeting business and philanthropic objectives. This case highlights the development of Cisco’s
philanthropic program and raises questions about how the effectiveness of Cisco’s philanthropy
can be evaluated.

Supplementary Readings

Arrillaga-Andreessen, Laura and David Hoyt. An Introduction to Social Return on Investment.

Case Study. Stanford Graduate School of Business. Case No. SI-65. (2004). Web.

Arrillaga-Andreessen, Laura and David Hoyt. Corporate Philanthropy. Case Study. Stanford
Graduate School of Business. Case No. SI-64. (2005). Web.
Teaching Note for Cisco Corporate Philanthropy SI-58 TN p. 3

Byrnes, Nanette. “Smarter Corporate Giving.” Bloomberg BusinessWeek Magazine. November

28, 2005. Web.

Epstein, Keith. “Philanthropy, Inc.” Stanford Social Innovation Review (Summer 2005). Web.

Porter, Michael E. and M. R. Kramer. “The Competitive Advantage of Corporate

Philanthropy.” Harvard Business Review. December 2002. Web.

Strom, Stephanie. “In Charity, Where Does a C.E.O. End and a Company Start?” The New York
Times. September 22, 2002. Web.

“The Good Company.” The Economist. January 20, 2005. Web.

The State of Corporate Philanthropy: A McKinsey Global Survey. Rep. McKinsey Quarterly.
February, 2008. Web.

Assignment Questions

1. How did the evolution of Cisco’s philanthropy program leverage the company’s growing
resources to make a social impact and provide value to Cisco’s external constituencies?
a. Timing for Class: 15 minutes for class discussion.

2. If you were the CEO of Cisco, how would you justify the value of the philanthropy program
to shareholders? In your opinion, did Cisco’s philanthropy further the company’s brand
equity?
a. Timing for Class: 15 minutes for class discussion with approximately 7.5 minutes
allocated to answering each of the two questions listed above.

3. Looking forward, what opportunities, if any, do you see for philanthropic collaborations
among Cisco’s country offices? How might the central philanthropy program facilitate
knowledge sharing and communication?
a. Timing for Class: 10-15 minutes for class discussion with approximately 5-7.5
minutes allocated to answering each of the two questions listed above.

4. How was Cisco’s philanthropy aligned with its business objectives? How was this
evidenced?
a. Timing for Class: 10 minutes for class discussion.

5. Describe the different types of philanthropy employed by Cisco. How would you assess the
effectiveness of each?
a. Timing for Class: 10 minutes for class discussion.

Analysis
Teaching Note for Cisco Corporate Philanthropy SI-58 TN p. 4

1. How did the evolution of Cisco’s philanthropy program leverage the company’s growing
resources to make a social impact and provide value to Cisco’s external constituencies?

Here is a timeline summarizing key events in the evolution of Cisco’s philanthropy program:

Cisco Cisco went Cisco Foundation created. Community

founded. public. Networking Academy formed. Fellowships created.
1984 1990 1997 2001

1994 2002
1980s 1993 Late-1990s
Philanthropic efforts included
Philanthropy was local Cisco began Moved HQ to San Philanthropy became
Jose. Supported the Community Investment
(e.g. Costaño School); focused supporting more strategic and
Fund, Global Fellowships, and
more on volunteering Second Harvest City Year and aligned with Cisco’s
Wilcox High the Cisco Foundation.
than giving away money. Food Bank. work/expertise.
School.

• Growth of Cisco’s philanthropy program has mirrored the company’s growth. According
to the case, “beginning with small scale-activities focused on community relations,
Cisco’s philanthropic involvement gradually evolved into a substantial program that
leveraged employees’ technical and intellectual capabilities in tandem with the
company’s philanthropic investments.”

• Before Cisco had a substantial amount of money to donate, it instilled a value of

providing volunteer time and resources to the local community. CEO John Morgridge
instilled a value of “frugality” in employees and emphasized the importance of financial
success. However, he “made sure that employees had opportunities to give their time and
intellectual capital.” Thus, even when the company had limited financial resources to
offer, it provided what resources it could to help the community.

• Cisco’s philanthropy started with local involvement. Co-founder Sandra Lerner set a
tone of corporate philanthropy from the first days of the company, citing her belief that “a
company should support the people and community that ensured its success.” Morgridge
reinforced this value by encouraging employees to give their time and intellectual capital.
In Cisco’s early days, employees got involved with the local elementary school (Costaño)
across the street from the office, offering a variety of volunteer help with sports,
mentoring, facilities improvement and eventually financial gifts. Even as Cisco grew its
philanthropic programs it continued to support the local community. When the
headquarters moved from Menlo Park to San Jose, it added the local high school
(Wilcox) to its community relations program.

• As Cisco achieved financial success, it began making grants to local organizations. In the
early days of Cisco’s grantmaking the company gave money based on requests it received
Teaching Note for Cisco Corporate Philanthropy SI-58 TN p. 5

without any overarching strategy or structure. At this time, grantmaking was viewed as a
component of community relations.

• Grantmaking evolved to focus on nonprofits whose operations mirrored Cisco’s core

competencies. Cisco started providing financial support to the Second Harvest Food Bank
in part because the company “understood the distribution business” from its own
operations. Thus, in addition to money, Cisco employees became involved in facilitating
food donation and sorting.

• Cisco philanthropy’s geographic focus moved beyond Cisco’s headquarter community to

organizations that operated in multiple locations with Cisco offices. In addition to its
operational synergies with Cisco, Second Harvest was national and provided service in
many places where Cisco had employees. This geographic alignment enabled employees
outside headquarters to get involved in the company’s philanthropic efforts. The year
after it began supporting Second Harvest, Cisco started funded City Year as well, another
national organization.

• When Cisco made money off the sale of equity in another company, it created the Cisco
Foundation and appointed a foundation leader with deep Cisco corporate experience. As
the case explains, “the…foundation laid the groundwork for a long-term philanthropic
effort through which the company planned to distribute 10 percent of the foundation’s
endowment annually.” In addition to leveraging its financial position to create the
foundation, Cisco leveraged its human capital and installed a foundation leader who had
worked at Cisco for years and knew the company’s culture and values intimately.

• As the Cisco Foundation formulated its grantmaking strategy, it focused on how the
program could take full advantage of Cisco’s resources and business strategy. Cisco
created a program that took employee interests into account and capitalized on the
company’s key resources of people and technology. It aspired to make grants to
nonprofits with similar core businesses to Cisco, which focused on streamlining
processes, providing customer service and increasing revenues. Cisco’s support of
Second Harvest embodied this strategy. Cisco employees helped reengineer Second
Harvest’s telephone response process, resulting in significant savings in time and money.
They also helped Second Harvest streamline its reporting process, reducing the workload
by 450 person-hours per month. The foundation’s mission statement embodied the
strategy to “develop, support, and invest in programs that leverage the Internet to
contribute to lasting positive change.”

• With the foundation and grantmaking strategy in place, Cisco created one of its most
effective programs, the Cisco Networking Academy. The Networking Academy
supported training for technology careers. This program provided students with essential
job training and the community and Cisco itself with a skilled labor pool.

• The Cisco Foundation entered into philanthropic partnerships. To deliver computer

hardware to nonprofits and provide them with technical support, Cisco partnered with an
Teaching Note for Cisco Corporate Philanthropy SI-58 TN p. 6

organization called Tech Soup. This partnership capitalized on the hardware Cisco had to
offer while freeing up their time to focus on other philanthropic pursuits.

• Today, Cisco is a successful international company with a thriving corporate

philanthropy program that includes a number of key large strategic partnerships. Cisco’s
large strategic partnerships involved grants of $500,000 or more. The case explains, “key
strategic programs were typically Internet-based and had a strong technical component.
Examples of large partnerships included NetAid, the Acumen Fund, Comic Relief and
Habitat for Humanity.”

• By late 2002, the Cisco Foundation had $103.8 million in assets. The foundation’s giving
for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2002 was $11.4 million, of which $2.8 million was for
the employee matching program, $2.8 million for grants to education, shelter and
community service organizations in communities near major Cisco facilities and $5.8
million for national invitation grants.

2. If you were the CEO of Cisco, how would your justify the value of the philanthropy
program to shareholders?

A compelling way to justify the value of Cisco’s philanthropy to shareholders would be

demonstrating how the philanthropy program supports the company’s business and increases
its profits. The philanthropy program is an integral part of Cisco’s business for the following
reasons:

• The philanthropy program strengthens community relations. Much of the philanthropic

work that Cisco did, particularly in communities around its headquarters and other offices
(e.g. City Year), was important for community relations.

• The philanthropy program capitalizes on all of the capital Cisco has to offer. In addition
to offering money, the philanthropy program also leverages people, technology and
resources to create a greater impact in the community than financial contributions would
create alone (as illustrated by the examples below).

• The philanthropy program helps to retain and build employee skills. From the early days
of grantmaking, Cisco matched employee giving to nonprofit organizations. This
provided employees with an important incentive to give while increasing satisfaction
with the company, in turn, helping retention and productivity. In addition, Cisco used
many of its grantees (including Second Harvest Food Bank and Habitat for Humanity) to
provide employees with team-building activities that contributed to a positive work
environment. Finally, the Community Fellowships program that Cisco started during an
economic downturn enabled Cisco to retain employees who might have left, thereby
helping employee morale and ensuring the company would not have to spend money
retraining new hires when the economy rebounded.

• The employee leadership program provided a different perspective on Cisco’s business.

In addition to reinforcing the philanthropy program’s human resources benefits, the
Teaching Note for Cisco Corporate Philanthropy SI-58 TN p. 7

employee leadership program placed high-potential employees at non-profits to complete

special projects. This undoubtedly gave employees a different perspective on Cisco’s
products, services and philosophy that benefited them when they returned to the office.

• The Networking Academy helped develop Cisco’s potential workforce. The rapid growth
of the Internet in the late 1990s and the continued growth of Cisco’s business depended
upon the availability of qualified network administrators. In 1997, Cisco began to address
the shortage of qualified network administrators by developing the Networking
Academy, which trained students for technology careers. Cisco provided the curriculum
while schools purchased equipment at a substantial discount. As a result of the program’s
initial success, Cisco expanded it to all 50 states, and then to 147 different countries by
2002.

• Cisco’s business and philanthropic missions are in alignment. To quote the 2000 Cisco
Foundation Annual Report, “Cisco is about networking, and networking is ultimately
about bringing people together in all aspects of life.” Philanthropy has become a part of
the culture at Cisco; being involved in the community is part of the company’s identity.

• Cisco Foundation’s leader knows Cisco well and can align its philanthropic work with its
business. Tae Yoo, who had worked for Cisco in many capacities since the early days,
headed the Cisco Foundation. Her experience with the company ensured that the
philanthropic work would align with Cisco’s corporate work and that all possible
synergies were leveraged.

• In aggregate, the philanthropy program’s ability to leverage corporate resources is not

something that shareholders could replicate on their own through philanthropic giving.
The argument is often made that if shareholders want to engage in philanthropy, they
should do so with their own money. However, shareholders could not independently
replicate the unique benefits of Cisco’s philanthropy program, such as employee training
or corporate brand building.

In your opinion, did Cisco’s philanthropy further the company’s brand equity?

Students could have a yes or no opinion to this question, so sample answers of each argument
are included below.

Yes, Cisco’s philanthropy furthered the company’s brand equity

• Positive publicity from forming the foundation. Awareness of Cisco’s philanthropic work
grew significantly with the foundation’s formation in 1997.

• Positive brand association. The awareness of the foundation likely “spilled-over” to

general awareness and positive views of the Cisco brand as well. The Cisco Foundation’s
involvement with and investment in the local and global communities, through the
donation of equipment, educational programs and more, enhanced Cisco’s positive brand
association worldwide.
Teaching Note for Cisco Corporate Philanthropy SI-58 TN p. 8

• Nonprofit engagement created a broader network for brand recognition. By partnering

with local, national and global nonprofits, Cisco spread awareness of its brand to new
audiences (including other funders who might interact with Cisco in the for-profit world).

• Philanthropy contributed to employee satisfaction. Being known as a good company to

work for and having satisfied employees creates brand equity. This is due to positive
press and employees acting as individual brand-builders out in the world. Additionally,
higher employee retention reduces training costs, increases employee performance and
ultimately increases the company’s bottom-line.

No, Cisco’s philanthropy did not further the company’s brand equity

• Awareness of Cisco’s philanthropy doesn’t translate into more customers. People might
view Cisco as a “good citizen” because of its philanthropy, but this will not translate into
additional business for Cisco. Most of the people who will think more highly of the brand
are employees, nonprofits and community members who are not Cisco’s primary
customers.

• Employee satisfaction from the philanthropy program doesn’t translate into more
customers. The philanthropy program may lead employees to feel more job satisfaction at
Cisco, but this does not translate into significant additional business for the company.

• Philanthropy programs may actually diminish shareholders’ opinions of Cisco.

Shareholders may not like the answer(s) provided in question 2a (above) and may be less
willing to invest in Cisco. They may prefer Cisco to focus on making profits and leave
“doing good” to those shareholders who pursue philanthropy independently.

• The opportunity cost of Cisco’s philanthropy far exceeds the financial value of its
philanthropic resources. The human, intellectual and financial resources diverted to
philanthropic initiatives could be more effectively invested in developing other products
and services that would more directly build Cisco’s brand strength. Additionally, creating
a secondary mission distracts executives who should be focused on maximizing profits
for shareholders.

3. Looking forward, what opportunities, if any, do you see for philanthropic collaborations
among Cisco’s country offices?

• Building common experiences. Many of Cisco’s philanthropy projects occur locally and
therefore reflect the unique context of different country offices. However, if employees in
different offices engage in similar projects, they can establish a basis to share their
learning. One area where common experience may be particularly valuable is service-
related, team-building exercises. Establishing international Cisco volunteer days, during
which employees from all Cisco offices volunteer together, would enhance corporate
culture and team-building.
Teaching Note for Cisco Corporate Philanthropy SI-58 TN p. 9

• Finding additional partners that operate in locations where Cisco does business. In order
to facilitate common experiences across country offices, Cisco could consider entering
into more partnerships with national and global organizations that operate in multiple
locations.

• Finding nonprofit partners focusing on global issues across national borders. One field
that would enable Cisco to capitalize on its business strengths is microcredit or
microlending, which involves creating networking infrastructure to facilitate the
lending/borrowing of money. Other transnational areas of interest could include poverty,
education and health care. Cisco should continue to make sure that employee interests
drive philanthropic commitments because this will help engagement levels stay high.

• Pooling resources to create a larger impact. Cisco could facilitate a worldwide, company
giving circle that allows employees to pool individual resources that, along with matched
donations from Cisco, would enable them to make outsized grants to vetted nonprofit
organizations. Employees who share philanthropic passions can connect across company
offices and together choose a nonprofit organization to which they will award their
pooled donations. This not only enhances personal ties and relationships within Cisco,
but also enables employees to magnify their personal philanthropic impact.

How might the central philanthropy program facilitate knowledge sharing and
communication?

• Cisco’s central philanthropy program can use computer networking. Networking is at the
core of Cisco’s business, so its central philanthropy program could use an intra-net site to
facilitate knowledge sharing and communication among all of Cisco’s offices.

• Cisco’s central philanthropy program can use regular emails and internal publications.
Email updates and newsletters would enable the central philanthropy program to share
news of local philanthropy work with people across the company.

• Cisco philanthropy externships at different country offices. Employees active in

philanthropic efforts at particular locations could travel to other country offices to share
knowledge and determine areas for collaboration and mutual learning.

• Annual conference. The Cisco philanthropy program could offer an annual conference to
convene country office representatives from around the world and identify common
challenges and opportunities.

• Create transnational issue teams. Cisco could create teams centered around a specific
community or social issue with members from every Cisco office. For example, if the
global Cisco philanthropy team is launching a specific education initiative or campaign,
representatives from each office could come together to develop ideas, share experiences
from their local office and report back on what their office achieved.
Teaching Note for Cisco Corporate Philanthropy SI-58 TN p. 10

4. How was Cisco’s philanthropy aligned with its business objectives? How was this
evidenced?

Furthering Cisco’s business interests was not the driving force behind the company’s
philanthropy. From the company’s founder through several generations of senior
management Cisco philanthropy was seen as an important company value.
However, the philanthropic program was aligned with the company’s core business as stated
in the philanthropic vision and mission. The company used its resources (human, network,
product and financial) to further a philanthropic program that addressed social problems that
were related to the business’ future development. Cisco’s long-term success depended on a
global population that had the education necessary to use its products. Education was not
possible until populations had achieved minimum standards of living.

Note: This image was informed by the framework presented in Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer’s December
2002 article, “The Competitive Advantage of Corporate Philanthropy,” published in the Harvard Business Review.

Cisco’s philanthropic program was fully integrated throughout the company with a strategy
that was consistent with the company’s business direction and corporate resources. As in its
business endeavors, Cisco concentrated on efficient use of resources to achieve maximum
results. Since the business and philanthropic strategies were aligned, the results are mutually
reinforcing.

The Cisco Foundation Annual Report in 2000 eloquently highlighted this idea:
“Cisco is about networking, and networking is ultimately about bringing people together
in all aspects of life. We are working to translate the networking skills and resources we
possess as a company into powerful possibilities for the community.”
Teaching Note for Cisco Corporate Philanthropy SI-58 TN p. 11

Another way in which Cisco described the alignment of social and economic interests was
with the concept of a “triple bottom line” made up of profits, people and presence. The
company believed that sustained success required that the stakeholders of each of these
“bottom lines” must benefit.

• Profits—shareholders must receive a financial return on their investment.

• People—customers, employees and partners, each group of people had to benefit from
their association with Cisco.
• Presence—the community must benefit from Cisco’s existence.

Thus, philanthropy was not an isolated activity at Cisco. Examples of the integration of
business and philanthropic efforts include:

• Employee team-building activities with Habitat for Humanity and Second Harvest. These
efforts addressed the philanthropic objectives of meeting basic needs and enhanced
employee commitment to their work-group and the company.
• Employee donation matching programs that aligned employee interests with the company
philanthropy program.
• The Cisco Networking Academy was a program that was initiated by the marketing
organization, not Corporate Philanthropy. This program trained potential future Cisco
employees and customers and helped increase the employability, and thus the standard of
living, for large numbers of people.
• Cisco had a number of product donation programs, including an employee donation
program, for which employees bought equipment at cost and were responsible for
product installation and support for their chosen nonprofits. It also had a Cisco product
donation program through which organizations applied for product donations and were
selected by Cisco Foundation staff. These programs provided a benefit to the recipient
nonprofits by helping them to be more efficient in their own operations and service
provision. At the same time, they increased Cisco’s product reach and presence in the
nonprofit market.
• Cisco’s Community Fellowship program was another initiative that later became the
Community Leadership Fellows program. This provided valuable service to Cisco’s
strategic nonprofit partners, and at the same time gave Cisco employees valuable
leadership training.
• The Red Nose Days activities used Cisco’s technical capabilities and expertise to
leverage Comic Relief’s online fundraising efforts, and also provided benefits for
employee morale.

5. Describe the different types of philanthropy employed by Cisco. How would you assess the
effectiveness of each?

Cisco used many philanthropic vehicles, including:

• Matching gifts based on employee donations. Effectiveness could be judged by the

degree of employee participation, total dollar amount donated and impact of those
donations (a report on which could be a requirement for the match).
Teaching Note for Cisco Corporate Philanthropy SI-58 TN p. 12

• Invitation grants for programs of particular interest. Effectiveness could be judged by the
number and quality of grant proposals for each interest area. It could further be judged by
evaluating the results of the programs receiving grant funding.

• Marketing partnerships—paid for by marketing. As part of the business operation, the

effectiveness of marketing partnerships could be judged by equipment sales to the
customers targeted by the marketing program. Evaluating the philanthropic effectiveness
of a marketing partnership with a philanthropic organization depends on the specific
program. If the objectives of the program were to increase the philanthropic partner’s
visibility, effectiveness could be measured by new donations or volunteers. If the
objectives were to increase the marketing partner’s operational efficiency, measures of
reduced administrative workload or streamlined processes could be used.

• Sporting events—primarily used as sales tools, paid for by sales organization. The
primary objective of these programs was to provide a way for salespeople to interact with
customers outside of a strictly business environment, thus the primary measure of
effectiveness would be future sales. However, many sporting events raised money for
local charities. To the extent that Cisco underwrote the cost of putting on the event,
additional money was made available for these charities. Thus, philanthropic
effectiveness could be evaluated by examining the distribution of event funds to charities.

• Equipment donations—driven by employee requests and applications from non-profits.

These were a low cost way of helping improve the effectiveness and impact of the
recipient non-profits. The effectiveness of this program could be evaluated by examining
the resulting improvements in efficiency on the part of organizations receiving donations.

• In-house training. The effectiveness of in-house training programs could be evaluated by

measuring employee participation in the training. Other metrics may include the
employees’ subsequent use of the training in developing and implementing personal
philanthropic programs and serving on nonprofit boards.

• Subsidizing employees who worked on assignments at nonprofits through the

Community Fellows program and the Leadership program. The effectiveness of these
programs could be evaluated by examining the effect on both the nonprofits and the
employees. In evaluating nonprofits, it would be important to look at long-term systemic
improvements resulting from the employee participation. The program would be
successful if the nonprofit organizations were better able to operate as a result of the
employees’ activities. In evaluating the effectiveness from the perspective of employees,
Cisco could look at the performance of the employee following the nonprofit
assignment—did the employee return with new skills or perspectives that helped him/her
be a better Cisco employee. (For those who left Cisco to join nonprofits full-time, this
could be viewed as a successful philanthropic outcome.)

• Large strategic partnerships. Each large strategic partnership has a business plan outlining
objectives and costs for the program. The partnerships can thus be evaluated against these
objectives.
Teaching Note for Cisco Corporate Philanthropy SI-58 TN p. 13

Teaching Approach

The Cisco Corporate Philanthropy case study is appropriate for a 45-minute teaching module
including both a lecture and a discussion.

Key themes for discussion include:

• Corporate social responsibility
• Pro bono services
• Cross-sector philanthropy
• Leveraging a wide variety of corporate assets
• Shareholder interests
• Alignment of strategic philanthropic and business objectives
• Brand equity

Please see the Giving 2.0 website (giving2.com) for Stanford Graduate School of Business
Lecturer Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen’s complete portfolio of philanthropy Stanford Graduate
School of Business case studies, teaching notes, frameworks and other learning resources that
she has created since 2000.