One of the recurring themes here is that public and private philanthropy have many driving purposes. There probably isn't a better example of this than the US current aid policy in Africa. Not only is aid is the dominant feature of US foreign policy on the continent, but we also see the three major purposes of public foreign aid all at once.
Those purposes are morality, economics, and security and this article discusses them all. The article discusses that in addition to a genuine desire to help people, the US also has an interest in gaining access to large oil reserves and other resources as well as addressing the security concerns presented by Africa's several “ungoverned spaces”. The article also suggests that this strategy is working. The US Government-sponsored Voice of America agrees with this assessment, directly tying US foreign aid to Mali with the Global War on Terror.
As a closing thought, the US doesn't have a monopoly on using aid for its own economic benefit. China is pretty good at it too.
