Brakman Reiser on What Google’s Philanthropy Means for the Boundary Between Nonprofits and For-Profits

Dana Brakman Reiser (Brooklyn) has posted For-Profit Philanthropy on SSRN (to be published in the Fordham Law Review).  Here is the abstract:

Thisessay examines Google’s adoption of the novel and unorthodox for-profitphilanthropy model. Google created a division of its for-profit companythat is tasked with pursuing philanthropic activities. Specifically,this division is responsible for addressing the global issues ofclimate change, poverty, and emerging diseases. Of course, companieshave long blended philanthropic and business objectives. They makecontributions, commit to corporate social responsibility, or even formas social enterprises. For-profit philanthropy, though, differs fromthese familiar techniques in both structure and scale. Likewise,for-profit philanthropy stands in stark contrast to the nonprofit,tax-exempt form of organization typically used by those pursuingexclusively philanthropic endeavors. This essay investigates thefor-profit philanthropy model, drawing out these distinctions as wellas the reasons why Google chose to adopt it. These reasons reveal afascinating mismatch between Google’s philanthropic vision and that of nonprofitlaw. Exploring this divergence exposes the fundamental policy choicesunderlying the law’s structures for philanthropic activity, as well asthe undertheorized boundary between nonprofits and for-profits.

LHM