So besides 3 giant drug companies, the most generous company on this list of Fortune 500 companies is Walmart, which comes as somewhat of a surprise considering their reputation for stinginess. I did notice there are no drug-store chains on this list, even though at least 1 of them had more pre-tax profits than 10 companies who ARE on this list. But hey, at least they give free ExtraBucks.
Each year, The Chronicle of Philanthropy gathers data on charitable giving in corporate America.
The Chronicle, an organization dedicated to advising and reporting on nonprofits, determines its annual list of the most generous companies by ranking the largest Fortune 500 companies on the amount of total donations given — including both cash and product donations — for the fiscal year.
This year’s corporate giving report reveals that America’s largest companies increased cash donations by 2% in 2015, largely led by gifts from banks and drug companies. Pfizer and Gilead Sciences topped the list, with more than $3 billion and $2 billion, respectively, in total donations last year.
Though The Chronicle sought to include data for the 150 largest companies on the Fortune 500, two organizations — Berkshire Hathaway and Fannie Mae — said they do not make charitable grants, and an additional 81 companies either declined to provide data or did not respond to repeated requests.
Read on to find out which of America’s largest corporations made the most philanthropic donations in 2015.
REUTERS/Samsul Said
Location: Northfield, Illinois
Pre-tax profits: $7.88 billion
Total donations: $70.8 million
Cash donations: $12.6 million
Product giving: $58.2 million
24. PNC Financial Services Group
Courtesy of PNC
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pre-tax profits: $5.51 billion
Total donations: $72 million
Cash donations: $72 million
Product giving: N/A
23. Verizon Communications
Courtesy of Verizon Communications
Location: New York, New York
Pre-tax profits: $28.24 billion
Total donations: $89.1 million
Cash donations: $56.4 million
Product giving: $32.7 million
22. PepsiCo
AP/Vasiliy Baziuk
Location: Purchase, New York
Pre-tax profits: $7.44 billion
Total donations: $110.5 million
Cash donations: $56.4 million
Product giving: $54.1 million
21. AT&T
Facebook/AT&T
Location: Dallas, Texas
Pre-tax profits: $20.7 billion
Total donations: $120.1 million
Cash donations: $112.95 million
Product giving: $7.16 million
20. Coca-Cola
Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Pre-tax profits: $9.61 billion
Total donations: $126.04 million
Cash donations: $117.3 million
Product giving: $8.8 million
19. Citigroup
Location: New York, New York
Pre-tax profits: $24.83 billion
Total donations: $142.8 million
Cash donations: $142.8 million
Product giving: N/A
18. General Mills
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Pre-tax profits: $1.76 billion
Total donations: $155 million
Cash donations: $105 million
Product giving: $50 million
17. Bank of America
Facebook/Bank of America
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Pre-tax profits: $22.15 billion
Total donations: $183.14 million
Cash donations: $168.46 million
Product giving: $14.68 million
16. Target
Courtesy of Target Corporation
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Pre-tax profits: $4.92 billion
Total donations: $215.5 million
Cash donations: $111.5 million
Product giving: $104 million
15. Kroger
AP
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Pre-tax profits: $3.09 billion
Total donations: $219.2 million
Cash donations: $76.5 million
Product giving: $142.7 million
14. Chevron
Location: San Ramon, California
Pre-tax profits: $4.84 billion
Total donations: $225 million
Cash donations: $225 million
Product giving: $0
13. JPMorgan Chase
Location: New York, New York
Pre-tax profits: $30.7 billion
Total donations: $236.2 million
Cash donations: $236.2 million
Product giving: N/A
12. ExxonMobil
Location: Irving, Texas
Pre-tax profits: $22 billion
Total donations: $268 million
Cash donations: $268 million
Product giving: N/A
11. Goldman Sachs
Courtesy of Goldman Sachs
Location: New York, New York
Pre-tax profits: $8.78 billion
Total donations: $276.41 million
Cash donations: $276.41 million
Product giving: $0
10. Cisco Systems
Courtesy of Cisco
Location: San Jose, California
Pre-tax profits: $11.2 billion
Total donations: $286.18 million
Cash donations: $41.16 million
Product giving: $245.02 million
9. Wells Fargo
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Location: San Francisco, California
Pre-tax profits: $33.64 billion
Total donations: $317.54 million
Cash donations: $281.28 million
Product giving: $36.26 million
8. Eli Lilly and Company
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Pre-tax profits: $2.8 billion
Total donations: $560 million
Cash donations: $50 million
Product giving: $510 million
7. Bristol-Myers Squibb
Glassdoor
Location: New York, New York
Pre-tax profits: $2.08 billion
Total donations: $725 million
Cash donations: $27 million
Product giving: $698 million
6. Microsoft
Reuters
Location: Redmond, Washington
Pre-tax profits: $18.51 billion
Total donations: $1.06 billion
Cash donations: $135.2 million
Product giving: $922.1 million
5. Google
Facebook/Life at Google
Location: Mountain View, California
Pre-tax profits: $19.65 billion
Total donations: $1.17 billion
Cash donations: $167.83 million
Product giving: $1 billion
4. Walmart
Walmart
Location: Bentonville, Arkansas
Pre-tax profits: $24.8 billion
Total donations: $1.4 billion
Cash donations: $301 million
Product giving: $1.1 billion
Merck & Company
Location: Whitehouse Station, New Jersey
Pre-tax profits: $5.4 billion
Total donations: $1.82 billion
Cash donations: $132.54 million
Product giving: $1.68 billion
2. Gilead Sciences
Location: Foster City, California
Pre-tax profits: $21.6 billion
Total donations: $2.32 billion
Cash donations: $446.74 million
Product giving: $1.87 billion
1. Pfizer
Courtesy of Pfizer
Location: New York, New York
Pre-tax profits: $8.97 billion
Total donations: $3.24 billion
Cash donations: $93.33 million
Product giving: $3.15 billion