Branded Utility: For-Profit Philanthropy

One of the New York Times Magazine’s Ideas of 2006 is “For-Profit Philanthropy” where it looks at companies like Google that are trying to make the world a better place while making money. The NYT says:

Welcome to the world of brand-enhancing, profit-making, tax-paying philanthropy. Its proponents argue that we’ve become so accustomed to the idea that philanthropy has to operate within the confines of certain legal strictures that we’ve lost sight of what really matters: the good you foster, not necessarily how you go about fostering it. As the economist Susan Raymond argued in the journal On Philanthropy in September, “We are beginning to understand that old categories” — commerce, capitalism and philanthropy — “do not serve the new generation of either social problems or market opportunities.” In this spirit, Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin, announced plans this year to invest personal profits estimated at $3 billion in the clean-energy industry. And in addition to Google’s venture, there’s also the work of Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, who has created the Omidyar Network, a charitable venture that finances for-profits and nonprofits alike.

For-Profit Philanthropy - New York Times

Related PSFK Articles
Interview With Gabor Vida of Teknision
Interview With Benjamin Palmer of Barbarian Group
Interview With Elizabeth Talerman
Interview With Johnny Vulkan of Anomaly
Interview With Nik Roope of Poke

Technorati Tags: branded utility