While most companies certainly strive to continuously expand, grow and increase their profits, a cutthroat approach to making money is simply no longer advisable. These days, your clients, employees, stockholders and even governmental authorities expect that companies will consider the impact that they make on the community at large.
In June 2013, the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced the creation of the Social Stock Exchange: a vehicle for investing in companies based primarily on their social impact in addition to their financial forecasts. This is a great example of a trend in modern society where more emphasis than ever before is placed on the legacy an organization leaves behind and the reputation it creates while going about the business of business.
So how can a company make a positive social impact while thriving financially? The answer comes down to creatively building and implementing a broad corporate social responsibility program that focuses on the doing of good, but does so in a strategic and efficient way.
One part of your strategy should focus on creative giving, and while you can select any one of the following ideas, it is always best to implement two or more strategies that complement each other. Creative giving options include:
Sustainable Business Practices - A commitment to environmentally responsible materials, recycling, energy efficiency, or pollution mitigation.
Donations - This can be a very easy and effective strategy. Your company can commit an amount of monetary donations, services or products to help a cause.
Employee Volunteering - Create opportunities that allow employees to participate in volunteer activities, such as paid time off for their work or even organizing a charitable activity during work hours.
Employee Donations - Making it easy for employees to donate financially to various causes, either on a one-time basis, or on an ongoing basis via automatic payroll deductions.
Corporate Gift Matching - Offering a match for qualified charitable contributions.
If it makes no business sense or runs contrary with a company's established culture and goals, a CSR program will not be sustainable, and the social impact of the program will be less than optimum. To ensure that the program will thrive, set up the CSR program strategically in line with company business goals and the dominant business culture.
Strategic giving involves taking a well-planned and balanced approach to the following considerations:
Will this program successfully support a cause while staying financially viable?
Will the company's involvement have enough of a positive impact to justify the cost of the project and the investment of time and resources?
How can we effectively mine business benefits out of charitable efforts? (Do not be ashamed to use your CSR program as a source of positive media, talent recruitment or savvy accounting.)
Is the organization set up to fully support this cause?
Is the culture of charity or philanthropy already in existence at the company or does this need to be improved?
Is upper management visibly on board?
Another priority needs to be the efficiency of your program. Without efficiency, the social impact will be lessened or will not be able to continue for a long term. Just like any part of your business, the personnel, organizational, financial and managerial aspects of a successful corporate social plan are highly complex. It is often highly advantageous to partner with an organization that offers professional management for many components of your CSR program. As the CSR executive of your company, this will allow you to focus more energy on getting employees excited about your program and also allows you more freedom to get personally involved.
In June 2013, the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced the creation of the Social Stock Exchange: a vehicle for investing in companies based primarily on their social impact in addition to their financial forecasts. This is a great example of a trend in modern society where more emphasis than ever before is placed on the legacy an organization leaves behind and the reputation it creates while going about the business of business.
So how can a company make a positive social impact while thriving financially? The answer comes down to creatively building and implementing a broad corporate social responsibility program that focuses on the doing of good, but does so in a strategic and efficient way.
One part of your strategy should focus on creative giving, and while you can select any one of the following ideas, it is always best to implement two or more strategies that complement each other. Creative giving options include:
Sustainable Business Practices - A commitment to environmentally responsible materials, recycling, energy efficiency, or pollution mitigation.
Donations - This can be a very easy and effective strategy. Your company can commit an amount of monetary donations, services or products to help a cause.
Employee Volunteering - Create opportunities that allow employees to participate in volunteer activities, such as paid time off for their work or even organizing a charitable activity during work hours.
Employee Donations - Making it easy for employees to donate financially to various causes, either on a one-time basis, or on an ongoing basis via automatic payroll deductions.
Corporate Gift Matching - Offering a match for qualified charitable contributions.
If it makes no business sense or runs contrary with a company's established culture and goals, a CSR program will not be sustainable, and the social impact of the program will be less than optimum. To ensure that the program will thrive, set up the CSR program strategically in line with company business goals and the dominant business culture.
Strategic giving involves taking a well-planned and balanced approach to the following considerations:
Will this program successfully support a cause while staying financially viable?
Will the company's involvement have enough of a positive impact to justify the cost of the project and the investment of time and resources?
How can we effectively mine business benefits out of charitable efforts? (Do not be ashamed to use your CSR program as a source of positive media, talent recruitment or savvy accounting.)
Is the organization set up to fully support this cause?
Is the culture of charity or philanthropy already in existence at the company or does this need to be improved?
Is upper management visibly on board?
Another priority needs to be the efficiency of your program. Without efficiency, the social impact will be lessened or will not be able to continue for a long term. Just like any part of your business, the personnel, organizational, financial and managerial aspects of a successful corporate social plan are highly complex. It is often highly advantageous to partner with an organization that offers professional management for many components of your CSR program. As the CSR executive of your company, this will allow you to focus more energy on getting employees excited about your program and also allows you more freedom to get personally involved.
About the Author:
Sebastian Troup likes writing about philanthropic solutions for businesses and non profit organizations. For further information about the importance of business philanthropy, or to find some corporate giving programs, please check out the Truist.com site today.
No comments:
Post a Comment