An End to Corporate Philanthropy?

Our series on the part to be played by companies in producing the common good, which began in Autumn 2018 (issue 426), has in recent months provided Futuribles readers with various articles on the way companies and organizations are contributing to the general interest today. This article by François Debiesse fits seamlessly into that series, casting light as it does on one of the first areas in which companies began to contribute to the general good: corporate philanthropy. Reminding us how this kind of philanthropy works, how it has been encouraged over the last 20 years and the way it is practiced by companies, François Debiesse points to the main fields targeted by companies involved, and their motivations. He sketches out the underlying trends at work for some years now (particularly greater local rootedness, a more collective style of philanthropy and concern for the social impact of the activities financed). Most importantly, at a time when incentives for corporate philanthropy have been coming under critical scrutiny, he calls on public authorities not to backslide and to keep open this path along which many companies work for the common good by strengthening the dialogue around— and the ethics of — corporate philanthropy practices.