The goal of the research: The goal of this paper is to describe the theoretical foundations of philanthropy in a time perspective of existence, to show the history of philanthropy, the emergence of private philanthropy in the USA as the beginning of modern philanthropy, to present philanthropy as a form of social action, to provide an analysis of corporate philanthropy in the light of socially responsible entrepreneurship, innovation and capitalism. Materials and methods: Bibliographic units were consulted according to topic and subject of research, authors and journals. A targeted search was conducted on the Emerald, Ebsco, Science Direct, Google search engines, on the Hrčak.hr website, and through scientific articles. The bibliographic review covers the period until February 2023 and relies on publicly available databases. Results: Philanthropy finds its reflection in historical epochs, just as it does today, and is reflected in economic as well as general social reality. The success of philanthropy is positively correlated with socially responsible business, as well as innovation. Weber's finding from the work Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism points to the knowledge that Protestantism is the original religion of the emergence of modern philanthropy in the USA. Legislation on corporate philanthropy does not exist as a prohibitive norm, but it exists in the sphere of EU public policies and programs, and is closely related to social responsibility. The multifocal discourse on philanthropy from the point of view of interdisciplinary science provides a basis for understanding the critical observation of the negative consequences of modern philanthropy and points to the direction of improvement of this age-old institution.