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This fall promises to be one of the most interesting seasons that BCLC has had in a while. As I’ve written about recently, the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is splitting into a number of sub-specialties. Philanthropy is down, technology and technical assistance are up. Communicating corporate citizenship has always been a perennial issue, but how we talk about the role of business in society is taking on even more urgency, as we enter the stretch run of the U.S. election season. Capturing and articulating the value that businesses deliver to society is more important than ever.

This fall, we are analyzing how business makes a difference in a number of ways – including global development, health and wellness, job creation, and community development. We are investigating the different CSR movements and will present a series with our findings. And, by the end of the year, thanks to our partnership with the University of Maryland, our research team will have profiled 100 leading companies on the Business for Good Map, our global map of CSR activity. In other words, we are well on our way to creating visual analysis of how and where businesses positively impact society.

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It’s been 11 years since the tragic incidents of 9/11, a day that brought sorrow to the country but yet managed to unite many. In the wake of the disaster Americans came together to show support for each other in any way that they could - donating money, goods, and services and volunteering.

Over the years the spirit of volunteerism has flourished. The incidents of 9/11 brought on the desire for people to volunteer even more. Giving your time to a worthy cause is the easiest and most fulfilling means to helping those in need. Numerous reports and articles have been published on the business benefits of engaging employees in volunteer activities, resulting in increased morale, camaraderie, and overall happiness.  The employees themselves begin to realize the great impact they can have by donating time and effort to a project that is worthy to them: rebuilding a house, painting a school, planting a community garden, or event spending a few hours reading with a child.

So far, BCLC's Business for Good Map shows more than 200 volunteer projects around the world that business lead and engage in. Here is a snapshot of some projects:

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By Amanda Ponzar, Director, Global Corporate Leadership, United Way Worldwide

What do P&G, Bank of America, Deloitte, Publix Super Markets, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, General Motors, Wells Fargo and ITW have in common? When it comes to CSR, these companies are all in and going all out. Beyond just philanthropy, these innovators are leveraging all their assets – employees, marketing channels, products and more – to engage employees and customers, impact communities and solve social problems. 

P&G tapped its unique marketing expertise and social media channels through the P&G brandSAVER program, reaching over 50 million U.S. households. The company donated $.02 per coupon for each GIVE Education brandSAVER redeemed to help increase the high school graduation rate. This program raises awareness and gives consumers an easy way to use their everyday purchases to improve lives.

Publix Super Markets, Inc. leveraged its stores and 40 million customers by promoting United Way on 220 million grocery bags plus including United Way’s Born Learning education tips on store shelf signs and customer newsletters.

Bank of America employees volunteered more than 1.5 million hours nationwide, including using their special financial skills to provide free income tax assistance. By the conclusion of the 2013 tax season, Bank of America will have invested $6.5 million in financial stability grants with...

Recently, I heard a panelist at a social innovation summit refer to corporate philanthropy as "left over money" and corporate volunteerism as "left over time." Ouch.

This certainly isn't the way that corporate philanthropy began. In fact, many of the U.S. companies that have been around for a century or longer were founded by individuals who held strong social values and philanthropic impulses, and they brought these attributes to the companies they founded.

Alexander Graham Bell worked with the hearing impaired, and this led directly to the invention of the telephone and the Bell Telephone Company – now AT&T. J. Pierpont Morgan, founder of J.P. Morgan, was said to value trust and integrity over wealth and power when measuring his colleagues. My own company, American Express, made its first grant to aid victims of the Boston fire in 1872.

After the Second World War, a number of companies created charitable foundations to aid with their giving. The Ford Motor Company Fund was created in 1949, the Western Electric Fund in 1953, and the American Express Foundation in 1954.

For some, this was the golden age of corporate philanthropy. Grants were often spread among many organizations in small amounts – often for unrestricted operating support. The emphasis was on how much companies gave rather than how they did it or who they gave to.

This approach was not without its critics, however, and in the 1980s corporate...