Giving Compass' Take:

· Kevin Xu explains how any business, regardless of size, can build philanthropy into its budget and provides four approaches to keep in mind. 

· How can companies form strategic partnerships to expand their philanthropic efforts? What are some common types of corporate philanthropy initiatives? 

· Read five strategies for effective corporate philanthropy.

Google has changed the way businesses look at email, word processing and file storage. But in addition, the search giant has taken steps to leave its mark on something outside the commercial world, something that can potentially save lives.

That something is philanthropy. Google.org -- the company's nonprofit arm -- donates 1 percent of Google's total equity and profits to charity. Recently, moreover, the initiative has furthered its efforts in that sphere by focusing on actions, not just investments.

With the Google.org Fellowship, employees will be able to spend up to six months offering their full-time expertise to nonprofits. In 2019 alone, Google will deploy between 40 and 60 people to nonprofit offices in numerous cities, offering 50,000 hours of skilled labor in fields like computer engineering, data analysis and artificial intelligence.

Such deeply embedded philanthropy is something more and more customers have come to expect from the organizations they buy from and do business with. Philanthropy is not merely some hurdle to clear, however -- it's an invaluable enhancement that can be achieved by any company, regardless of its size or prestige.

Read the full article about building philanthropy into your budget by Kevin Xu at Entrepreneur.