As our amazing Illinois Corporate Colloquium speaker series wraps up this week, Larry Mitchell is speaking today on corporate behavior.  Coincidentally, the NYT yesterday had a section on "Giving," with the focus being on corporate types who turn "philanthropreneurs."  Although the article lumps a lot of billionaire entrepreneur giving into the same bucket, philanthropreneurs may take their profits and (1) start a traditional nonprofit foundation that disburses funds to other nonprofits in traditional ways; (2) start a foundation that disburses funds to nonprofits in nontraditional, "active" ways; (3) start a foundation that disburses funds to both nonprofits and for-profit firms with positive social value; (4) start a for-profit fund that invests in for-profit firms with positive social value; or (5) some combination of the above.

Note that the for-profit funds recognize that instead of a deduction for a donation, investors require a return and that any profits will be taxed.

One of the criticisms (or maybe praises) of corporate social responsibility is that most, if not all, acts of social responsibility add to the bottom line through goodwill or branding.  Although some of this hybrid philanthropy is done by individuals who no longer have a product to sell, some is done by founders of other entities that may benefit from the good PR, such as Google and Virgin Group.  Sir Richard Branson, who is profiled as creating both a Virgin-branded nonprofit foundation and a venture capital fund, acknowledges the mixed motives quite openly:

If I'm 90 years old and people look to the Virgin brand and say that's the brand they respect most in the world, I would be happy. . . Now, if we can in my lifetime come up with a fuel that is a clean fuel and does something to help save the world from global warming, that will be good for the brand, something everyone who works for Virgin can be proud of, but it will also be a good thing for the world, too.

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