PurposeWhilst the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance has been well documented, CSR has rarely been studied from the perspective of corporate poverty alleviation. This study aims to test whether participation in targeted poverty alleviation (TPA) affects firms' market value and to explore how the magnitudes of market value vary in different CSR environments.Design/methodology/approachBased on recent Chinese TPA initiatives and on 108 TPA announcements of Chinese-listed firms from 2016 to 2020, this study adopts an event study method to investigate the impact of firm's TPA announcements on the firm's market value. Then, the authors construct a cross-sectional regression to analyse different CSR factors that may affect market reactions.FindingsThe results demonstrate that TPA announcements can increase a firm's overall market value. Additionally, the results show that TPA way and firm ownership significantly moderate the market reaction, namely the positive reaction is more significant when the TPA announcements involve charity poverty alleviation rather than industrial poverty alleviation and for privately owned firms rather than state-owned firms.Practical implicationsThe empirical results help TPA practitioners obtain a nuanced understanding of whether and when to participate in poverty alleviation is worthwhile. This study also provides a reference for poverty alleviation work in countries with similar backgrounds.Originality/valueThis study not only provides empirical evidence for the consequences of poverty alleviation behaviour of firms in developing countries, but also complements the field of CSR research in developed countries.