From Philantropy to corporate sustainability

“voluntary contribution of money, time, service, or goods to social charitable causes“

Does not infleunce the company’s strategy or operations

Examples of Google:

• Donated $32M to organizations that develop solutions for advancing inclusion

• Google reacted to the issues of racial inequality in 2020 by increasing its donation to NGOs fighting for racial equality

• Google’s employees are allowed to donate time to social causes

“volunatry activities that go beyond legal requirements and contribute to societal good, CSR is about the moral resposibility of managers towards society and environment“, originated from ethics

Example of BMW:

• campaign to teach children road safety rules and avoid fatalities (development educational programs, presentations, and trainings)

CSR is different from philanthropy because from a CSR perspective society expects BMW to take responsability in the area of road safety, however, philathropy is not expected of companies

“the rights and duties of the firm in the community“, originated from political science

Looking at the obligations of corporates as active participants in the society

Citizenship is a set of civil, social and political rights

Corporate Citizenship considers the impact of a corporation on its stakeholders (it is about its rights and duties - similar to individuals)

Active corporate citizenship includes the protection, fecilitation or the enabling of citizens’ rights by corporations

Example of Ben & Jerry’s:

• Protection of LGBT rights . embedded in their core values, they raised awareness of the issue and signed official statements of support

Compared to philanthropy, these activites require more engagement with society

Compared to CSR, Ben & Jerry’s does not support LGBT rights because it is the right thing to go, but because of their obligation as a corporate citizen

Originated from system thinking in natural science

Explains the connection between the economy, the society and the environment from a managerial perspective

Providing for societal well-being while respecting the planetary boundaries