Winter 2006

Business the Beneficent

Does corporate giving help companies' bottom line? The real benefits remain elusive, as does the future of business charity.

Corporations today claim that they can do well for their investors by doing good for their customers, their employees, their community, and even the environment. Managers, says David J. Vogel, a professor of business ethics at the University of California, Berkeley, believe that a socially responsible firm “will face fewer business risks than its less virtuous competitors: It will be more likely to avoid consumer boycotts, be better able to obtain capital at a lower cost, and be in a better position to attract and retain committed employees and loyal customers.”

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