CNN: SURPRISING SURVIVORS: CORPORATE DO-GOODERS

It has been a tough season for Intel, the world’s largest chip maker. Intel’s stock price slipped 42% in 2008 and its fourth-quarter numbers were poor, with net income off 90% from a year earlier. In such a difficult economic environment, cuts to non-essential spending would seem natural, like the company’s substantial corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs around the world.

Not the case, says Intel. Days before releasing its fourth-quarter results, the company launched the Small Things Challenge, a commitment of up to $300,000 to education and development in countries like Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti and Uganda in partnership with non-profit groups Kiva.org and Save the Children.

…“You can’t save your way out of recession—you have to invest your way out,” Intel chairman Craig Barrett told Fortune. “We look at our CSR activities in pretty much the same way: you can’t just do them in good times and then just forget about them in bad times and hope to get any results.” As recession-battered companies struggle to cut costs, money spent on microfinance projects in India or using more expensive environmentally-correct packaging might seem like obvious ways to save.

But a surprising number of companies see corporate responsibility as all the more important given the financial crunch, even as they reduce spending elsewhere in their businesses. Indeed, proponents of CSR like General Electric, Intel, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Wal-Mart are sustaining or expanding their commitments, at least for now.