The short answer is because it doesn’t fit the Obama administration narrative about corporate greed and income inequality.  Moreover, it doesn’t have the appeal of a good old fashioned Wall Street scandal featuring the latest greedy scumbag being walked out of his office in handcuffs to get media attention.

The real answer is that corporate greed is not pervasive: corporate giving is. For example, Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, salesforce.com oversees their company’s 1-1-1 program, whereby the company pledges one percent of employees’ time for volunteering, one percent of its product to non-profits, and one percent of its equity.  In 13 years, salesforce.com has given more than 410,000 hours of community service, provided product donations for more than 16,000 nonprofits and given more than $40 million in grants. (Source: CECP Board of Boards Executive Report)

Mr. Beinoff is merely one example of a CEO doing great things.  Since 1999, CECP, an organization co-founded in 1998 by Paul Newman to enable corporate giving and behavior as a force for good in society, has grown to include more than 170 CEOs and chairpersons of major corporations representing approximately $10 billion of annual corporate giving.  That’s $10 Billion of annual corporate giving, Mr. President.

© 2014  Steven M. Stroum