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Dirk Flinthart's philanthropic Whimsies

By Dirk Flinthart - posted Friday, 15 June 2001


Oh, yeah. That's much more like it, eh? The real perspective.... okay. Now, let's see if anything comes of a search for "corporate philanthropy"!

First cab off the rank: http://www.lib.ci.tucson.az.us/grants/grants26.htm You will notice the following points:

"Corporate giving is almost always limited to programs of benefit to employees, their families, or residents of specific locations where the company conducts business. Geography plays a significant role in corporate grantmaking. Employee matching gifts programs are increasingly common vehicles for giving. When approaching corporate grantmakers always consider the self-interest of the funder. A proposal to a corporation should emphasize how their support of your project helps them achieve company goals."

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Really, I could hardly have put it better myself. We'll put it into perspective by looking up the definition of philanthropy, shall we? Webster's says: Noun: philanthropy – voluntary promotion of human welfare. From the Greek (philos - loving + anthropos - man). Not much there about "achieving company goals", I notice. It seems more likely that we'll find a genuinely man-loving company out there somewhere ... wonder what happens if you search for "corporate homosexuality"?

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/sociology/pgres/index.htm

Okay... that's pretty funky. That's the first time EVER I've plugged anything into a search engine and got exactly one result. I guess corporate homosexuality is even more rare than corporate philanthropy.

http://www.egoli.com.au/newsandviews/archives/10265.html ... Now THAT reads like a true account of corporate philanthropy – of generosity towards one's fellow man. I mean, if you can't be kind to your mates, then just who CAN you give a spare 15 million to, eh?

Whups. Sorry. I'm kicking the downtrodden again, aren't I? I'll go back and look at corporate philanthropy some more, shall I? http://www.samceda.org/Phil.html – Well, the first line is total garbage. Sort of puts the thing into perspective, eh? Don't ever let anybody tell you that profit isn't the first concern of corporate activity. It's like saying that eating isn't a shark's major interest. Corporations exist to make a profit. No profit = no corporation. That kind of shoots down this little article, I guess. Let's try another:

http://www.sunbeam.com/corporate_philanthropy.htm – Yeah, that's a bit more like it. These guys tell it like it is: there is a certain degree of meaning to the concept of corporate philanthropy, but if you're expecting something for nothing, you're looking in the wrong sector of the community, baby. Johnny Howard, take note!

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http://www.acton.org/publicat/randl/92jan_feb/johnson.html – "The study proves that America's largest corporations continue to fail the tests both of genuine compassion and common sense." Uh-huh. So what's new? Was that Jodee Rich I saw streaking across the screen a moment ago?

http://www-1.cisco.com/warp/public/750/philanthropy/ – hee hee! These guys are funny! But you know ... this is getting kind of dull. Like flogging a dead horse, really. Let's do something more exciting instead. Anyone for really, really bad poetry about cheese?

http://pirate.shu.edu/~somersma/cheese.html

You know, it's spooky. That was a LOT easier to find than genuine corporate philanthropy.

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About the Author

Dirk Flinthart is a writer and student who lives in Tasmania.

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