Because they
want to.
That probably seems absurd, but the
ethos (
at the puzzle book I was working on earlier ) of various human societies has changed radically in this direction and that over time. Besides which, a lot of corporations already have their own charities and foundations and donation schedules and such-not in place. Now, what percentage of their respective incomes is that? I don't know. Are they doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, or for the publicity, or for tax purposes? I don't know, and it seems likely that the cause varies from one case to the next, but the dollar bills don't care why they're being handed around.
The gas station nearest our home (and possibly others) has a plastic bottle for customers to drop change in, to help pay for the medical expenses of one child or another (it changes every so often). When I went to the car dealership a few days ago for quasi-routine maintenance, they had a box of several varieties of fund-raiser candy bars on the counter in the cashier's office. Maybe someone's child's Boy Scout troop was raising money, I don't know. But I'm sure that neither business
had to do that, and I'm sure there are some people--the sort who genuinely believe Bill Gates loses out if he stops to pick up a $100 bill from the sidewalk--who would argue that they
shouldn't reserve six or twelve square inches of valuable counter space for such inane things. But they did, and hopefully the customers can make a meaningful difference for the better in each case. Such activities probably don't even register on annual estimates of nationwide charitable giving and tax deductions and so on, but
if the child's parents manage to keep their apartment while getting their girl the life-saving operation she needs, well then, I'm not going to complain about the results
.