Philanthropic Obligation?

As a piggy back to my post the other day titled, Everyone Feels Entitled To Respect These Days...

I had a random thought today about how people feel entitled to hand outs from big corporations. There's always this discussion around businesses that don't do enough for the communities they serve and I just thought...in what Better Business Bureau handbook does it say companies have to give x% of their revenue to a charitable organization? My thought would be that taxes cover their debt to society.

Now, before I get hate mail--- as touched upon in my Pay It Forward post, there should be some internal feeling of obligation or duty to serve your community. However, this should not be mandated and people should not judge companies based on what they do outside of their actual purpose.

Charity (n): The practice of charity means the voluntary giving of help to those in need who are not related to the giver. Wikipedia

The keyword being "voluntary." Unless a businesses is in the business of charity. It is not their job to give back to their community. It's nice. But, if you're in the business of selling cars...it's your business to sell cars, not get behind the cause for drunk driving (for example). Forcing someone, or a company in this case, to donate takes away the sincerity of the act.

I don't really have an extensive opinion on the matter, at least not one that I care to share. This has just been something that's been bothering me lately. I feel that businesses are often times held to this moral compass and maybe it's just added confusion that comes from this trend of humanizing brands.

/rant