Corporate Philanthropy refers to initiatives a company voluntarily undertakes with the aim of producing a responsible and thus, positive impact on society. It can include ESG-sustainability driven investments, donation of products, in-kind services and technical assistance, or employee engagement programmes to advance a social or "for purpose" initiative. Often these endeavours are carried out through corporate foundations.

Corporate foundations can provide an appropriate framework for structured, strategic, more independent, and long-term oriented corporate giving and help embed social purpose within an organisation, reinforcing the values of a company in the eyes of its employees, customers and partners. At the same time, corporate philanthropy can be problematic if commercial and non-profit goals are difficult to disentangle. But what does this have to do with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? How to manage divergent internal and external stakeholders’ expectations when making decisions about resource allocation?

This Philanthropy Lunch provided the opportunity to deepen our understanding on the purpose of these corporate foundations as well as their governance, legal framework and general practice.