Jacinta Gauda, SVP corporate affairs at Golin Harris, offers some guidelines:
Look beyond HQ. Spread your resources to markets you hope to penetrate, or to communities where you have satellite offices, plants or stores.
Go beyond dollars. Your employees, products and services can be used as philanthropic currency. If you don't have bucks to spend, let staffers take paid time off to volunteer, or make in-kind donations of products and services.
Think long term. Nonprofits want serious commitments, not photo opps. And stakeholders will respect you more (and remember you) if you're rooted in a cause over time.
No Band-Aid solutions. Say you're a tech company committed to education. Earmark funds not only to provide hardware for schools, but also to research the causes behind the "digital divide" and the reason girls aren't excelling in math. (Gauda, 212/697-9191)