Is This Charity?

A great little "article" by Kristin Barrali of the Nonprofit Quarterly:

Goldman Sachs might require its top executives to pay a percentage of earnings to charity according to the New York Times yesterday. Bear Stearns tried a similar tactic, requiring their top executives to donate 4% of their salaries to charity. While Goldman Sachs is still working on the details, if their top executives have the large bonuses many are anticipating, this could infuse hundreds of millions of dollars into the nonprofit sector. We’ve written before about Goldman Sachs and the history of philanthropy as a public image booster. While nonprofits sure could use more money, it begs the question, is required giving voluntary giving? Is this what the IRS had in mind when it defined charitable giving? Either way, we’ll keep watching to see just how big those Goldman Sachs bonuses are and how their latest philanthropic endeavor takes shape. As my favorite news commentators Seth Meyer and Amy Polar said, “Also if you are trying to convince people that care about things other than money, may I suggest you remove the words “gold” and “sacks” from your name?

What do you think? Does "mandated" giving qualify as charitable? Philanthropic? How do you believe such approaches effect philanthropy as a whole?