Business Week Highlights 50 Most Generous Philanthropists

Ken Shepherd

November 20, 2005 - 2:00pm

     The broadcast media have often paid short shrift to corporate philanthropic donations, preferring to focus on layoffs, downsizing, lawsuits, scandals, and other stories that portray American business in a negative light. A feature in the November 28 Business Week proved a must read for evening and morning news producers, with its reports on corporate philanthropy, particularly Suzanne Woolleys piece on The Top Givers [1].

     The top 25 of the 50 most generous philanthropists [2] on Business Weeks list alone gave over $30 billion to charitable causes from the years 2001-2005, on issues as diverse as spirituality, poetry and Armenian causes. To put that in perspective, $30 billion is the size of the oil industrys profit margin [3] that the media was recently incensed about. Its also roughly the size of what Congress authorized the federal government to spend on Homeland Security [4] next year.

     Such a tremendous outpouring of generosity is not uncommon, however. In the few short days after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, major American corporations frequently under media scrutiny such as Wal-Mart and drug manufacturers came to the aid of victims. The Business & Media Institute [5]
documented then how the broadcast networks underreported, if not ignored, such charitable giving.

Publication: News [6]

Division: MRC Business [7]

Tags: Employment [8], jobs [9], softdrink [10], Soda [11], Labor [12], Union [13], WallStreetJournal [14], AlGore [15], CurrentTV [16], Smoking [17], economy [18], GasHysteria [19], Drugs [20], autism [21], HousingBubble [22], oil [23], gas [24], RecordPrice [25], Kyoto [26], FannieMae [27], Advisors [28], USAToday [29], NewYorkTimes [30], WashingtonPost [31], CSPI [32], consumerconfidence [33], Insourcing [34], outsourcing [35], China [36], LouDobbs [37], TradeSecrets [38], Live8 [39], BalanceSheet [40], SupersizedBias [41], MediaMalpractice [42], personalaccounts [43], GasPrices [44], biasedaccounts [45], MorganSpurlock [46], obesity [47], Mercury [48], Tax&Spin [49], FairTax [50], Wal-Mart [51], FX [52], DiscoveryChannel [53], NBC [54], abc [55], cbs [56], SocialSecurity [57], runawaylitigation [58], GlobalWarming [59], ClimateChange [60], CharlesSimpson [61], AmyMenefee [62], DanGainor [63], HermanCain [64], news [65], MediaRealityCheck [66], FreeMarket [67], videos [68], taxes [69], newsbias [70], networknews [71], mediawatchdog [72], lbrentbozell [73], bozell [74], BrentBozell [75], LiberalBias [76], MediaResearchCenter [77], Cyberalert [78], MediaBias [79], bias [80], media [81], conservative [82], BusinessandMediaInstitute [83]

Links:
[1] http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_48/b3961601.htm
[2] http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_48/b3860605.htm
[3] http://www.businessandmedia.org/news/2005/news20051102.asp
[4] http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/homeland/27213-1.html
[5] http://www.freemarketproject.com/news/2005/news20050907.asp
[6] http://archive2.mrc.org/news
[7] http://archive2.mrc.org/division/mrc-business
[8] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/employment
[9] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/jobs
[10] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/softdrink
[11] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/soda
[12] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/labor
[13] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/union
[14] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/wallstreetjournal
[15] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/algore-0
[16] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/currenttv
[17] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/smoking
[18] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/economy
[19] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/gashysteria
[20] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/drugs
[21] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/autism
[22] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/housingbubble
[23] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/oil
[24] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/gas
[25] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/recordprice
[26] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/kyoto
[27] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/fanniemae
[28] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/advisors
[29] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/usatoday
[30] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/newyorktimes
[31] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/washingtonpost
[32] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/cspi
[33] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/consumerconfidence-0
[34] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/insourcing
[35] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/outsourcing
[36] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/china
[37] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/loudobbs
[38] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/tradesecrets
[39] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/live8
[40] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/balancesheet
[41] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/supersizedbias
[42] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediamalpractice
[43] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/personalaccounts
[44] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/gasprices
[45] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/biasedaccounts
[46] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/morganspurlock
[47] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/obesity
[48] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mercury
[49] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/taxspin
[50] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/fairtax
[51] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/wal-mart
[52] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/fx
[53] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/discoverychannel
[54] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/nbc
[55] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/abc
[56] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/cbs
[57] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/socialsecurity
[58] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/runawaylitigation
[59] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/globalwarming
[60] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/climatechange
[61] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/charlessimpson
[62] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/amymenefee
[63] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/dangainor
[64] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/hermancain
[65] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/news
[66] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediarealitycheck
[67] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/freemarket
[68] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/videos
[69] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/taxes
[70] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/newsbias
[71] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/networknews
[72] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediawatchdog
[73] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/lbrentbozell-0
[74] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/bozell
[75] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/brentbozell
[76] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/liberalbias-0
[77] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediaresearchcenter
[78] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/cyberalert
[79] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediabias
[80] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/bias
[81] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/media
[82] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/conservative
[83] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/businessandmediainstitute-0
[84] http://www.tellthetruth2012.org