One of my pet peeves is when people refer to philanthropy as CR and vice versa. Now, I get that there are lots of different definitions of CR and people can be pernickety about what specific terminology you use, but really - confusing these two is just plain sloppy.
Let's be clear about one thing: philanthropy is about giving out of the goodness of your heart (read wallet) for the good of others. You know, charitable donations, setting up foundations to do wonderful things (that isn't said sarcastically btw), and such like.
CR is about running your business responsibly and initiatives that are set up to manage the impact on the lives of those affected by your business, preferably in a way that clearly relates to your product/service or the core purpose of your business.
So, take a law firm that provies pro bono lawyering services to poor communities, or a bank that goes into colleges to give advice on good money management. I call that CR loud and clear. Making monetary donations to a charity that isn't relevant to your business, however, is philanthropic no questions asked. An individual doesn't 'do' CR either - if it's a personal persuit you are a philanthropist.
Now, I am not claiming that one is better than the other as I strongly believe both are vital and have important places in society and business. I also realise philanthropy can be placed within CR (it would be too easy if it was totally clear cut, wouldn't it?!), but they are not the same thing, OK?!
Well, glad I got that one off my chest. This is kind of like free public therapy - ace!
