Those who need proof that corporate social responsibility is impacting business and business coverage needn't look further than Fortune's recent list of America's most admired companies.

"This is the 25th anniversary of Fortune's list. When it was first doing it, when they mentioned green, it was all about money," notes George Medici, VP of national media relations at Porter Novelli. "[CSR] wasn't in the mix then, but now it's a huge part."

Much of the credit for this movement among companies ...