What is courtesy advertising?

"Courtesy advertising" refers to a company or corporation "buying" an advertisement in a nonprofit dinner program, event brochure, and the like. The company gains visibility this way while the nonprofit organization may treat the advertisement revenue as a donation.

Many corporate grantmakers do not provide courtesy advertising, specifically excluding it in their giving guidelines. The Foundation Center indicates whether a corporation excludes courtesy advertising as a type of support in the "limitations" field of Center records (both print and electronic), if we have that information.

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