Charitable Contributions FAQ

Charitable Contributions FAQs

1. Why is charitable contribution information being disclosed?

   $company_name is proud to have the privilege of providing charitable contributions to various community organizations. We believe that being transparent with this information is the appropriate action to demonstrate our commitment to providing the highest quality health care products and services.

2. What charitable contribution information is being disclosed?

   $company_name is providing the name of the requestor, the city/state where the requesting organization resides, the title of the activity, the amount of the contribution, and the type of contribution (cash or product). Payments made by the company on behalf of its employees , such as payroll deductions for donations to the United Way, are generally excluded from the company’s Contributions report.

3. How is the total amount of the charitable contribution determined and distributed?

   The amount approved for funding is a result of the charitable contribution review process. Funding amounts may be based on project/event budgets, fair market value, organizational geographic scope, and merits of the request. This may be of an equal or lesser amount than requested in the application. The organization has complete control over the distribution of funds received from $company_name .

4. What is the difference between a charitable contribution and an educational grant?

   An Educational Grant falls into one of the following categories:

   • Accredited Continuing Education: Educational programs for health care providers such as physicians, nurses, and/or pharmacists that provide continuing education credits.

   • Non-Accredited Professional Educational Activities: Educational programs for health care providers such as physicians, nurses, and pharmacists that do not provide continuing education credits. As a condition for funding, to the extent $company_name products are discussed as part of such funded activities, $company_name requires that such discussion be done in a manner consistent with the FDA approved labeling.

   • Fellowships: Support for bona fide fellowship programs at teaching institutions, medical societies and cooperative groups. We may also support travel scholarships for fellows, residents or health care providers in training to attend relevant major medical or scientific conferences for the purpose of education. All support is in agreement with the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs Gifts to Physicians from Industry.

   • Patient Education: Printed/online educational materials and/or live educational events produced for people living with a particular disease or condition.

   Charitable contributions describe donation requests that are used for purposes other than health care professional education initiatives. Charitable contributions may be cash or product donations.

   • A cash charitable contribution is a financial donation that is philanthropic in nature and provided to a nonprofit organization to support a specific community-based (or regional/national) program, project, or event. As noted above, employee payroll deductions remitted by the company to a charitable organization are not reported as a contribution by the company.
   • A product donation is provided through specific product giving programs to non-government organizations generally responding to disasters, medical relief efforts and basic health care needs in under-served communities.
      

5. How does the company handle expenses that are part of a charitable contribution for which $company_name receives some benefit?

   $company_name requires organizations to complete an Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (OBRA) form. This form documents the amount of the contribution that can truly be considered charitable versus a portion of the amount that represents payments for expenses by the organization for which $company_name receives some benefit (i.e., business expenses). Please note that some of these nominal business expenses associated with some charitable contributions may be included in this report.

6. How are programs that are jointly supported by $company_name and another business reported?

   As each company is a separate legal entity, the individual company that provides the funds directly to the requesting organization is responsible for reporting the donation.

   These financial disclosures may not include grants made by companies recently acquired by $company_name prior to the acquisition. Available records from such companies will be reviewed and evaluated, and applicable grant information will be posted within a reasonable period following acquisition.

7. Are the volume of requests and the number of approvals generally consistent over the course of a calendar year?

   The number of contribution requests $company_name receives varies throughout the year. The quantity, timing, and nature of requests are determined by the needs of the organizations submitting proposals to $company_name, which is determined by the requestors' needs. In addition, changes in the availability of $company_name funds affect the volume and dollars available for contributions.

8. How is the reporting period for funding determined?

   All reported funding is based on $company_name 's financial calendar. In general, grants are reported based on financial quarters. Financial quarters are 13 weeks in length and, although they closely resemble calendar quarters, there may be occasions where the fiscal quarter does not end on the last day of the calendar month. If the financial calendar ends earlier than the end of the month, any activity from the next day forward would be reported with the next quarterly reporting period.

9. Why might one see duplicate payments reported in different quarters on this Web site?

   Rarely, there may be a duplicated payment reported in a different time period if the requesting organization reports a lost check.