Discuss, in brief, the following: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is not a philanthropy.

CSR and Philanthropy has been always misconstrued as synonymous. However, there is a significant difference between the two. Philanthropy means the act of donating money, goods, time or effort to support a charitable cause with reference to a defined objective. Philanthropy can be equated with benevolence and charity for the poor and needy. Philanthropy can be any selfless giving towards any kind of social need that is not served, underserved, or perceived as unserved or underserved. Philanthropy can be by an individual or by a corporate. It is the active effort to promote human welfare. Corporate Social Responsibility on the contrary goes beyond that. CSR is about making the core business functions of a company more sustainable. It is about how a company aligns their values to social causes by including and collaborating with their investors, suppliers, employees, regulators and the society as a whole. The investment in CSR may be on people centric issues and/or planet issues. A CSR initiative of a corporate is not a selfless act of giving; companies derive long-term benefits from the CSR initiatives and it is this enlightened self interest which is driving the CSR initiatives in companies. A CSR program does not only benefit the community, but also the business in form of improved morale, increased staff retention, status as an employer of choice, attracting new business, and differentiation from competitors. This is because a CSR program requires involvement from all the stakeholders including employees as well as the community.