The Governance of Corporate Philanthropy

It has become difficult for corporations to justify their charitable expenditure during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is a result of panic giving, unplanned charitable interventions and unmeasurable social impact investing. Unfocused philanthropy is arduous as the lack of governing structures, objectives and outcomes makes it incomprehensible to evaluate the impact of philanthropic activities. It also makes it almost possible for stakeholders to appreciate the philanthropic endeavour of the corporation. Over time, it has become normalised that corporations embark on philanthropic projects in order to enhance public relations, promote social media campaigns with ‘feel good’ stories, high profile sponsorships to attract the attention of the public on the corporations ‘good cause’ marketing strategy. These are all deliberately planned philanthropic behaviours by corporations, that go unquestioned nor critically assessed. It is the purpose of this article, to argue for context-sensitive, impact-driven and strategically focused philanthropy.