As the global financial crisis continues to cut into corporate profits, there are growing fears that philanthropy will be the loser.

Craig Drummond, the executive chairman of the broking house Goldman Sachs JB Were, says corporate philanthropy is normally correlated with corporate profitability.

"We are concerned that we will see a fall off in the total dollar amount being allocated to philanthropy and we're asking for corporate to think seriously about downgrading their philanthropic dollar," he said.

"You look at Australian philanthropy, the percentage that's allocated is not at, well, best practice by any means, so we're actually asking for corporates to elevate the percentage that they're giving."

There is already a crisis of confidence in the business community because of greed and excess on Wall Street, and Mr Drummond is concerned that public trust is also low.

"But let's not give up on the corporate sector. The corporate sector has done some phenomenal work over the last four of five years in aligning itself with the not-for-profit sector," he said.

"The amount giving to the philanthropic projects has gone up substantially and not just there, it's also in the volunteering.

"There's a significant change in the culture towards volunteering. Corporates are providing pro bono services to the philanthropic sector so I think it's unfair to say that we should give up on the corporate sector and that they're only looking at their own self interest.

"I think they do genuinely want to do the right thing by the community, albeit it financially they're under significant pressure."

Mr Drummond says he is concerned that some corporations may engage in philanthropic acts as a branding opportunity, or to savour a strong public image.

"It's much, much better for the corporations to be strategic and thinking about how they might make a real difference over an extended period of time," he said.

He says it is imperative now more than ever for corporations to maintain their philanthropic interest.

"I think there's no question that the call on services is becoming greater and that's to be expected as we see rising levels of unemployment and clearly the disadvantaged tend to do worse during these periods," he said.

"The question is the available resources and therefore looking at the effectiveness of those resources has got to be a big part of any review in the philanthropic area."