[JoshTriplett]

There are two main reasons to make a lot of noise about philanthropy: to draw attention to the cause or to draw attention to themselves. You can often tell the difference, based on whether someone's primarily talking about how the cause is important, or whether they seem to be primarily aggrandizing themselves for supporting it.

That said, while the former is more obviously laudable, the latter does serve the purpose of raising the status of being charitable, which can lead to more people being charitable.