I do not have a comment on whether an obligation exists.
I do however want to point out one personal benefit to pursuing a philanthropic career: your coworkers will tend to be more caring than non-philanthropic co-workers are.
Remember Joel Spolsky's short summary of what makes a good employee -- "smart and gets things done"? Well, "smart, gets things done and cares enough about other people to make helping them an important part of his or her career" is even better.
I do however want to point out one personal benefit to pursuing a philanthropic career: your coworkers will tend to be more caring than non-philanthropic co-workers are.
Remember Joel Spolsky's short summary of what makes a good employee -- "smart and gets things done"? Well, "smart, gets things done and cares enough about other people to make helping them an important part of his or her career" is even better.