Say what you want about Bear Stearns, but there was one area where the bank was truly right: It's advocacy of executive giving to charity. No other top bank required its executives to donate a set percentage of their income. For that, it should be applauded.

Of course, Bear Stearns is no more, as it was a high-profile victim of the financial crisis. The survivors of the crisis are now retrenching yet again, and that has continued to take a toll on Wall Street philanthropic efforts. In the corporate world, banks had traditionally been the leader in terms of gifting. A lot of banks were forced to cut back in 2009, and there would appear to be little chance a big revival is in the works, given the state of the industry.

The New York Times notes, for example, that donations to the Sifma Foundation has fallen significantly. In addition, some banks abandoned or curtailed gift-matching programs. Citigroup and UBS Wealth Management suspended their matching programs in 2009. While UBS reopened the program the next year, Citi's program remains closed. Among the hardest hit are organizations that provide financial literacy and education services. The Times also notes that some foundations have been hit by a double whammy. In addition to firms cutting back, others are changing the composition of their giving, in some cases contributing more to their internal efforts.

For more:
- here's the article

Related article:
Wall Street hedge funds and philanthropy