2Sustain

Today is International Corporate Philanthropy Day (ICPD), a day designated to build awareness of corporate-community partnerships and inspire businesses around the world to engage further in philanthropy.

Led by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), ICPD offers an opportunity to:

• Tell your company’s philanthropy story on an internationally recognized day.

• Further engage senior management, employees, and nonprofit partners in your giving programs.

• Raise awareness of the important role of corporate philanthropy in fostering stronger relationships across sectors.

• Publicize your company’s philanthropic initiatives, benefiting from the added media interest.

• Enhance relationships with peers and thought leaders in the corporate giving community.

In addition, for the second consecutive year, ICPD will include a special program on Philanthropy with the United Nations. This year’s program will focus on “Engaging philanthropy to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.”

It’s great to see the spotlight on philanthropy today. However, it’s also important to recognize that philanthropy should be regarded as one part of a company’s overall CSR plan. In other words, let’s not forget that corporate giving –alone –is not a CSR plan.

The way I see it, corporate giving is what a company does with its shareholders’ money. CSR, on the other hand, is much broader in scope. CSR defines how a company operates and how those core business practices, in turn, impact society and the planet.  Clearly, charitable donations are important , commendable and worthy of recognition. But, companies today need to do even more. They can create positive social/environmental change (and business value) every day by integrating CSR strategies into their business objectives and core competencies.