Business donations to charity are set to be boosted by a new initiative, Chancellor Gordon Brown has promised.

Regulations governing corporate giving are to be simplified to encourage companies to increase the amount of sponsorship they give to charitable organisations.

Gordon Brown laments that UK firms donate only one fifth the amount of money their American counterparts lavish on good causes.

Britain's charities have become increasingly adept at searching out corporate sponsors, but should we be worried about the involvement of business in the charitable sector?

Can managing directors really overcome the drive to maximise profits and donate with sincerity; or are charities set to become the new battleground of corporate marketing?

Cardiff Business School's Peter Nuttall says there is often a cynical motive behind corporate donations.

"Companies look at a charity and the profile of its supporters and then decide whether any involvement would attract future customers."

Mr Nuttall also suggests the setting up of charitable foundations by big name companies can help guard against hostile take-overs - with the share-holding non-profit arm making the whole process more tortuous.

A charity insider also admitted that some companies encouraged their employees to raise money for a good cause, allowing the firm to enjoy a public relations coup for minimum outlay.

Even gifts in kind can fail to satisfy the real needs of charities. Good causes can find themselves under intense pressure to accept at best irrelevant donations for fear of appearing ungrateful.

Vicky Pullman, from the Charities Aid Foundation, suggests firms can be far less hard-nosed or inconsiderate when it comes to giving.

"There are many cases where donating companies shy away from publicity. For smaller firms, the motives for supporting a charity are just like those of individuals, this sort of giving is entirely altruistic."

Corporations keener to have their generosity acknowledged seek out "suitable" causes for their largesse, it seems.

"They all want to be associated with the household names - the popular, cuddly charities. That's a problem companies are being encouraged to move away from," says Ms Pullman.

In chasing these deep-pocketed business donors, charities themselves have had to change, and not necessarily for the worse.

"It certainly enhances their professionalism. Turning up in jeans and T-shirts without a business proposal is totally outmoded," Ms Pullman suggests.

Sophie Howells, from the cerebral palsy charity Scope, claims finding willing sponsors is still difficult, no matter how worthy the cause.

"They don't want to give cash for nothing. We have to make sure we have something to offer a company, but there's no obvious link between disability and what sponsor companies do."

Cause-related marketing is the latest buzzphrase in business circles. Research has shown 80% of consumers will buy a product with a link to a charity in preference to a similar item without one.

Sue Adkin, director of the Cause Related Marketing Campaign, is adamant that such tie-ins are not just to the benefit of big business.

"If you get it right - everyone wins, the companies, the public and the charities," Ms Adkin says, pointing to the campaign supermarket Iceland launched with the Missing Persons Helpline.

Some 700,000 bottles of milk were sold each day bearing pictures and descriptions of missing children.

Rather than companies enhancing their own image by associating with a good cause, charities can ride on the coattails of firms' advertising and marketing budgets.

"Instead of sending out leaflets or standing around with collecting tins, charities can put their message directly to consumers," says Ms Adkin.

Space on tins and packets, as well as in expensive TV adverts, can serve to increase charities' visibility and boost public donations.

General awareness about the work of a particular organisation and its membership numbers can also be improved by co-operating with big name brands.

It is surely this win-win corporate giving which Chancellor Brown is bidding to encourage.

Peter Nuttall is less sure action to increase charity donations - particularly if it involves tax breaks - will result in no one losing out.

"I think we'll see more companies asked to have more to do with the areas and communities in which they're based.

"The government has to have a reason for doing this."

Whatever the motives, big business looks set to take an increasingly active role in fortunes of the UK's charities.