Abstract: In view of Legitimacy Theory and Institution-based View of Strategy, this paper examines the relationship among regional institutional environment, ownership type and corporate philanthropy using data of Chinese listed companies. The findings show that regional institutional environment has a significant positive impact on corporate philanthropy. The improvement of institutional environment encourages companies to be involved more in philanthropy. Non-state-owned companies donate more than state-owned companies, and the regional state-owned companies donate more than national state-owned companies. The further study shows ownership type moderates the relationship between institutional environment and corporate philanthropy. These findings indicates that the improvement of institutional environment plays an active role in promoting corporate philanthropy, which provides the practical implications for government policy and private firms’ non-market strategy.