logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Yes, It Matters What Motivates Business Philanthropy

Danielle Holly
June 25, 2018
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
“Save the Bay – Misquamicut State Beach Clean-up, 5-2-15-101”

June 22, 2018; Entrepreneur

In an op-ed last week in Entrepreneur magazine, Brian Jones, founder of PR firm Nuts and Bolts, asks, “Does it matter what motivates business philanthropy?” Jones argues that it does not—as long as businesses are giving back, regardless of whether they’re truly altruistic or simply doing it for positive press, the result for the community is the same.

Let’s say a company participates in a beach cleanup for selfish reasons—so they can look good on social media. The beach still got cleaned, right? Their not-so-noble reason for action still helped the environment. Should that business not perform deeds like these because their motive is not entirely altruistic?

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Over the past few decades, corporate community engagement and corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been moving in a positive direction—from its infancy focused on legal and environmental compliance, to slightly more-mature realization of CSR’s branding and PR benefits (and the world in which Jones’s argument lives), to a now more enlightened approach with companies considering social impact as part of their core service, product creation, and measurement. CEOs and companies are increasingly taking positions on social issues from which previous generations would have shied away. Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, one of the world’s most influential investment firms, announced earlier this year that his firm would assess investments and companies on the positive social benefits they create.

Now, we acknowledge that the business community has a long way to go before social and community engagement are a true part of its ecosystem—and Fink will need to demonstrate that his letter is more than just words. Still, Jones’s argument surfaces a dated mindset that moves us back to the thinking that dominated a more transactional approach to philanthropy, which can ultimately be damaging to nonprofits. When corporate philanthropy and volunteerism are driven primarily by a company’s PR motives, the engagement is episodic and randomized by design. It increases in times of business expansion, challenge or scandal, decreases when a specific region or cause is no longer of interest and can cause whiplash to the nonprofits that are absorbing these whimsical resources.

So, yes, the beach will get cleaned—but will it get cleaned next month, or next year? And what about the company that’s creating the plastic littering the beach, which would be the cause of the problem?—Danielle Holly

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Danielle Holly

Danielle Holly is dedicated to strengthening the capacity and leadership of the nonprofit sector through meaningful, value-driven partnerships. Over the past two decades, Danielle has worked with hundreds of nonprofits and companies to support the conception, design and implementation of cross-sector approaches that address community challenges. She is a frequent contributor to several social sector publications on nonprofit capacity building, governance and corporate social responsibility, as well as a member of the NationSwell Council and host of the Pro Bono Perspectives podcast. Currently, Danielle is the CEO of Common Impact, an organization that designs skills-based volunteer, pro bono and corporate community engagement programs. She has served on the Board of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network and Net Impact NYC, and most recently as a fellow with the Presidio Cross-Sector Leadership initiative. Danielle lives in Brooklyn, NY and loves to explore the nooks and crannies of NYC’s endless neighborhoods, and end the days cooking with her husband and two children.

More about: corporate philanthropyCorporate Social ResponsibilityNonprofit NewsPhilanthropy

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
Arab American Philanthropy
Tamara El-Khoury
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation between Cyndi Suarez and Claire Dunning
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez
Nonprofits as Battlegrounds for Democracy
Cyndi Suarez
Sankofa Philanthropy: Hip Hop’s Sixth Element
Jason Terrell
Why Social Change Films Matter
Cyndi Suarez and Saphia Suarez
Philanthropy Must Move from Charity to Solidarity
Son Chau

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
Brown-skinned Arabic woman wearing a bowler hat and looking into the camera. She is standing in front of a bougainvillea plant.
Arab American Philanthropy
Tamara El-Khoury
The book "Nonprofit Neighborhoods" leaning against a wall
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation...
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez
Nonprofits as Battlegrounds for Democracy
Cyndi Suarez

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.