Philanthropy is a voluntary contribution of money or other financial asset in support of some public good or goal, whether from a public or a private foundation (or individual). When from a private, or corporate, foundation, philanthropy should not be confused with corporate responsibility. To illustrate–say you’re a company and you want to address poverty in the United States. Well, you can donate money through your corporate foundation to a nonprofit such as RESULTS, Share our Strength or Catholic Charities, or you can commit to paying all of your employees a fair and livable wage with sufficient health benefits for them and their families. Sure, you can do both, and that would be wonderful, but the point is that there is a difference. Not to mention, it would be particularly ironic if a sizable proportion of a company’s employees received assistance from one of the nonprofit organizations the company’s foundation donated to.