The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu The leading online blog in the fields of corporate governance and financial regulation. Sat, 11 Jul 2026 11:30:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cropped-photography-4-e1706898544564-1-32x32.png Making the Business Case for Corporate Philanthropy – The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu 32 32 Making the Business Case for Corporate Philanthropy https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2011/08/20/making-the-business-case-for-corporate-philanthropy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=making-the-business-case-for-corporate-philanthropy https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2011/08/20/making-the-business-case-for-corporate-philanthropy/#comments Sat, 20 Aug 2011 13:16:40 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/corpgov/?p=20218?d=20150106094848EST Posted by Matteo Tonello, The Conference Board, on Saturday, August 20, 2011
Editor's Note:

Matteo Tonello is Director of Corporate Governance for The Conference Board, Inc. This post is based on a Conference Board Director Note by Baruch Lev of New York University, Christine Petrovits of George Washington University, and Suresh Radhakrishnan of the University of Texas at Dallas. It is partially adapted from their paper “Is Doing Good Good for You? How Corporate Charitable Contributions Enhance Revenue Growth,” available here.

Companies engage in corporate philanthropy for a mix of reasons. Charitable contributions have the potential to increase shareholder value. Nevertheless, executives also make corporate giving decisions based on self-interest. This report provides practical recommendations to companies and boards for ensuring the legitimacy of their corporate giving programs.

Corporations gave approximately $14.1 billion to a wide array of nonprofit organizations in 2009. [1] Despite the fact that almost all companies contribute some money to charity, corporate philanthropy remains controversial. Proponents believe that companies have a moral obligation to assist the communities in which they do business. Critics contend that corporate giving programs consume company resources and, more often than not, further the goals of management rather than the goals of shareholders. Most recently, corporate philanthropy has been labeled “tantamount to theft” and “a tax on shareholders.” [2] The opposing camps find common ground when corporate giving improves shareholder value as well as social welfare.

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