In “Four Strategic Generosity Lessons”, Rosabeth Moss Kanter discusses the corporate responsibility of “giving”. Kanter compares the act of giving or “gifting” to a trojan horse and argues that a company’s donation can be viewed as having ulterior motives if performed at the wrong times, making community figures wary of “outsiders bearing gifts”.

Back in 2010, CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, with Microsoft founder and successful investor Bill Gates and Warren Buffett respectively, signed the Giving Pledge. This pledge allocates half their income over time to charity. When the Gates-Buffett duo took on the lead for the pledge, it’s interesting to note that business leaders soon followed after. This makes us question the followers’ genuinity for the cause, or whether they’re driven by peer pressure. When Zuckerberg donated $100 million to the Newark school district, this donation intercepted with the release of “The Social Network“.

Publicity stunt? Hard to say.

This case reminds us of Friedman’s “Social Responsibility of Business” where he asserted that a company’s responsibility is to make profits for its shareholders. Even if Friedman is correct about classifying Zuckerberg as such, we must face the fact that $100 million has been donated to Newark students so they can have equal education opportunities. The strategical bonus was the Facebook brand’s “better image” at the expense of the genuinity value.