The horrific events of late December 2004 have prompted an almost equally incredible reaction. Within hours of the impact of the tsunami becoming clear, a response, the like of which we have not seen before, had started to occur. The public were quickest off the mark to start making donations. Not far behind, have been governments and companies. A cynic might argue that the response of the latter was, in part, determined by actions of the former; after all, which company or government wants to be out of step with their customers or voters. Yet serious observers of the body corporate know that that is too dismissive a charge; a fundamental change in thinking has occurred which, if managed properly, will result in very different corporate (and societal) landscape. So, have we crossed a tipping point?
New interest in philanthropy
It seems as if corporate philanthropy may be coming back into fashion. You might argue that, particularly in the US, it never went away. Indeed there is a proud record of US based companies as well as individuals who have done very well out of their business career who put aside significant sums for good works. Nonetheless, even in those cases it is probably fair comment that, over the years, such activity becomes often institutionalised away from the business to the extent that employees were not even aware of the activities of their companies in this area. In Europe it is certainly the case that philanthropy has not been so readily talked about; in fact, for some it has been almost a dirty word, as ‘evidence’ of corporations trying to buy acceptance.
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