Abstract
Philanthropy is an important issue that has gained lot of popularity in economic literature in recent years due to its massive impacts on poverty reduction and quality of life. Though there is a general consensus that philanthropy has positive impacts on the lives of the needy but, the views regarding philanthropy in conventional economic and Islamic economic system differs with respect to the idea and soul of philanthropy. This paper tries to discuss philanthropy under different economic systems and highlights the salient differences with Islamic economic system in relation to philanthropy.