Philanderers and Philanthropists

Philanderers and philanthropists.

It is funny how close these words are to each other but their meanings are miles apart. Both have roots in the Greek word philos which means loving, but the former's actions has no serious intention and an air of duplicity, while the latter's actions demonstrates a genuine love for mankind and its welfare.

When it comes to undertaking corporate social responsibility, we see there are a few corporate philanderers who abuse and misuse the various community groups they profess to support. After they have used up one group, they are onto their next victim. Fortunately, the majority are corporate philanthropists who truly understand that caring for the community is not only good for business, but also the community as a whole. Unlike the corporate philanderer, corporate philanthropists are in it for the long run.

Genuine corporate social responsibility is important to most businesses. When being seen as such, there is an increased tendency for people to value a corporation's product or services over others. Being proactive in such areas as: practicing workplace diversity; facilitating a healthy and supportive work environment; caring for the community and environment; participating in community activities; and being accessible to everyone, all aids in generating a more positive internal and external image for the corporation. Being socially responsible means that a business will be noticed more positively by a wider variety of influential stakeholders. Furthermore, with people seeing an increasing shift of wealth towards the private sector, this presents even more credence why business should be socially responsible for society's sake.

Why Do Non-Profits Need Corporate Support

Currently, non-profits are facing mounting demand on their resources. At the same time, they are facing increasing competition from other non-profits for the ever-shrinking pool of funding from traditional funding sources. Because of this, their sustainability and effectiveness in serving the community is being threatened. For years, most non-profits were reliant on funds from government, grants, foundations, and donors. Now, many are just surviving from grant to grant, project to project. Many needed community programs have never taken off or had to be cancelled because of lack of resources.

In many instances, non-profits are finding that government bodies are privatizing many of the traditional community services that they (government) once offered to the community and contracting them out to for-profit and non-profit service providers. This places added demand on the limited resources which in some cases means that services cannot be adequately provided because there is not enough support and resources.

Active involvement from businesses to support community based services is still a relatively new concept to many non-profits. Many are just beginning to learn how business can help them as their more traditional funding sources are drying up.

For information on how business can support non-profits, please go to strategic philanthropy.