Motivations of potential anchor businesses to support community development and community health

Some for-profit businesses act like non-profit anchor institutions in contributing to community development, particularly health-related initiatives. Their motives are not well understood. We aimed to 1) identify and describe potential anchor businesses, 2) determine their motivations to contribute to community development, and 3) highlight motivations behind health-related initiatives.

We identified a national sample of potential anchor businesses, grouped by those that contributed to 1) both health-related and non-health initiatives, 2) non-health initiatives only, and 3) those without substantial contributions. We conducted an environmental scan, semi-structured qualitative interviews and directed content analysis through rapid review methodology.

We identified 4,512 potential anchor businesses nationally. Among the 108 of these included in the environmental scan, 48% substantially contributed to community development (12% in health). Interviewees' company philosophies ranged from the idea that economic well-being of the company and community were intertwined, to the idea that commercial success of the company would benefit the community. Motivations for contributions included improving the hiring pool, improved recruitment and retention, and goodwill. Other common sentiments included strategies to focus on core business strengths to address community needs and a desire that companies should not compete in their giving activities. Further, some participants believed health care companies should be investing in health-related initiatives.

The generosity of potential anchor businesses' local contributions may be determined by company philosophy about its relationship with the community. Stakeholders interested in spurring contributions to local communities might consider messaging to leverage businesses' core strengths and encourage cooperation.