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Generous inclinations: while some executives are being handcuffed and taken to prison cells for lining their own pockets with great gobs of cash, others are sharing the wealth.

Article Excerpt
Foundation Center is a New York-based institute that tracks corporate giving. It estimates that almost 2,600 corporate foundations in the U.S. gave away a record $3.6 billion in 2005. That's about six percent more than the previous year. Total corporate giving, including direct gifts that don't go through a foundation, amounted to about $13.8 billion, a whopping 22.5% increase over 2004.

One recent event alone raised billions of dollars.

In September 2006, in New York, political, corporate, and nonprofit leaders pledged more than $7 billion to tackle global problems. This happened as part of a conference organized by former U.S. President Bill Clinton. The Clinton Global Initiative drew about 1,000 world leaders, business executives, charity officials, and a few celebrities. Participants make a commitment to fight such social ills around the world as poverty, limited access to health care, energy and climate change, and religious strife and ethnic conflict.

The largest of the 215 promises this year came from British entrepreneur Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin corporate conglomerate. He said he would dedicate an estimated $3 billion over 10 years to curb climate change by developing alternative energy sources.

This was the second year of Mr. Clinton's initiative and only those who kept their promises made in 2005 were invited back. Any who failed to meet their commitments but tried to register anyway had their $15,000 fee returned.

(The 22-city fundraising tour also raised $20 million during its stop in Toronto. The starstudded event attracted...

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