Kroger is ‘most generous’ US company

The groceries and supermarkets group Kroger has been declared the most generous corporation in the US by Forbes magazine.

The Cincinnati-based retailer, which owns a string of retailers such as Pay Less and Fred Meyer, tops the list because last year it gave the highest amount as a percentage of operating income to community and charitable causes.

Kroger handed over $57million (£38m) in cash donations, representing 1.7 per cent of its 2006 operating income of $3.3billion.

Second place went to the meat processing company Tyson Foods, which gave 1.6 per cent of its $492m operating income, followed by the pharmaceuticals business Bristol-Myers Squibb, which gave 1.4 per cent of its $4.1bn.
 
The figures were for cash donations only and did not cover ‘in kind’ gifts such as goods and services or employee time.

The biggest overall US donor in terms of total contributions was Wal-Mart, which gave $301m in cash in 2007, amounting to 1.3 per cent of 2006 operating income – putting it sixth in the list of givers by percentage of turnover.

Financial information was provided by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, a bi-weekly publication for the non-profit community, which conducts an annual survey of the giving habits of the 76 largest US companies by turnover. The corporations in the survey donated $3.8bn in 2007, up slightly from $3.5bn in 2006.

Two of Kroger’s biggest beneficiaries are the food bank programme run throughout the US by Feeding America, and the Salvation Army. Both organizations are also favoured targets for Wal-Mart funding.