Can someone explain to me how this works? If a company makes a donation to charity who benefits from the tax exemption, the charity or company?

Both apparently. I'm not sure how it works, but companies definitely gain benefits from donating money to charities. I imagine there's some tax relief involved somewhere. The company I work for does it occasionally, and I don't believe for a second they do it out of the goodness of their own hearts. I hate being ultra cynical, but I'm almost certain that's the case.