More and more companies are bringing philanthropy into the workplace. It’s now common to see major corporations enlist their entire workforce to clean up a park or refurbish a community center. And just about everyone has bought a chocolate bar or raffle ticket to support some co-worker’s cause.

That’s all well and good, but in a recent feature in Convene magazine, Insight Labs founder Jeff Leitner proposes that corporations should be looking to leverage employees’ minds to do good in the world, not just their muscle or their money.

“I believe that this is a form of philanthropy that is sorely missing, and by that I meant that the highest and best use of the best and the brightest may not be simply check-writing,” Leitner told executive editor Christopher Durso. “That is the fundamental premise on which this sits.”

In our dozens of strategic sessions with non-profits and government, we’ve tapped into talent from companies such as Redbox, Allstate, Sears, Microsoft, KPMG, Boeing, and Pepsico. Thinkers who spend most of their days building those brands get a chance to work together and solve a big problem for the common good. Then they return to their day jobs with even more energy and creativity.

Another organization that has collaborated with the Labs to imagine a better world is the Professional Convention Management Association, which publishes Convene. The group teamed up with the Labs for a session addressing the future of face-to-face meetings in September 2010. Leitner has also kept the conversation going as a  part of the PCMA’s FutureMeet initiative.

To learn more about the origins of the Labs and where Leitner sees the model heading next, check out the full article here.