Chris Jones in the Chicago Tribune on corporate arts support through public voting:
If you are a supporter of the arts in Chicago, you’ve doubtless been deluged of late with a request for votes. But there is no imminent major election in Illinois. Your swamped e-mail box is a consequence of a new trend in corporate philanthropy — giving money to the non-profit organization that racks up the most “votes.”
There have been several of these popularity competitions in recent weeks — it’s as if corporate giving has suddenly taken its cue from American Idol. And it’s beginning to get out of hand.
