Andrew Plepler and a few of his friends started a nonprofit group 11 years ago to mentor underprivileged high school students in Washington. As president of the Bank of America Foundation, he's now helping on a bigger scale.

The philanthropic arm of the second-largest U.S. bank donated $200 million in cash last year. According to the foundation, that ranked second in cash giving among U.S.-based companies behind Wal-Mart, which gave away $275 million.

The Bank of America Foundation plans to donate another $200 million this year.

"I just got enamored of the whole field of philanthropy," said Plepler, who remains a board member of the nonprofit he founded, the Urban Alliance Foundation.

Plepler, 46, recently discussed how his Charlotte, N.C.-based bank is "walking the walk" in corporate social responsibility during an interview at Bloomberg's New York headquarters.

Q. Bank of America started a 10-year plan in 2005 to give away $1.5 billion. How much was Bank of America giving when you arrived in 2003?

A. We were around $75 million. Many people fear that in a time of mergers, one of the things that really suffers is corporate philanthropy. With our mergers with Fleet and MBNA, we've not only honored the giving levels, we've increased them.

Q. How important is it to be one of the biggest corporate philanthropies?

A. We pride ourselves on our commitment to communities. It's enlightened self-interest. It's good for your company. I always say there's a brand mission and a social-impact mission.

Q. What issues are most important to your foundation?

A. We want to give at the local level, so a lot of the decisions are decentralized. We identify, along with community leaders, issues in affordable housing, education, health and human services, and arts and culture. Then we direct resources to organizations at the grass-roots level that are addressing those issues.

Q. What are some reasons you wouldn't fund an organization?

A. Leadership. Or if the board isn't responsive to an issue that comes up two or three years in a row. Financial management is always something you look at. If the executive director is being paid 50 times the operating budget of the organization, that would raise red flags.

Q. How do you determine if your money is being spent wisely?

A. The measurement game is very difficult. Who is to say your $100,000 elevated the test scores of kids in Bed-Stuy? We're saying, "We believe in your leadership and you've proven yourself capable." It's not fair to ask them to come back and say the money resulted in this number of meals. You're tying their hands too hard.

Some of this is a leap of faith. These are long-term issues — standardized test scores, income levels in poor neighborhoods, health and obesity issues. They aren't going to be solved in three years.

Q. How involved is CEO Kenneth Lewis in deciding what to fund?

A. His management style is to empower people to make decisions. There hasn't been a time when he's picked up the phone and said, 'I want you to do this or not do this.' But he's really interested in philanthropy. He could probably sit here and talk about our philanthropy as well as I can.

Q. What are some of the issues facing philanthropy in the coming years?

A. We'll see more relevant private partnerships with the public sector in solving problems. Also, it will be less CEO-driven. It will be less about what the CEO wants and more about where opportunities are to have an impact in communities.