new ideas in csr

8/12/2019 New Ideas in CSR

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CSR TODAY APRIL 2013

Good. Celebrated. [email protected] www.goodcelebrated.com7113 West 135th Street, Suite 317, Leawood, KS 66223 1

GET EDUCATED

Emerging Trends in CorporateSocial Responsibility

Forward-thinking companies understand that corporatesocial responsibility (CSR) is not only about doing good.

Rather, a well-designed CSR program increases the significanceof the business itself, by not only creating improved conditions

for the community as a whole, but also supporting the growthof a successful commercial enterprise. In todays marketplace,well-organized, well-executed CSR activities are critical factorsin driving business improvement, brand engagement, customerloyalty and employee retention.

Every CEO must pay attention to CSR trends, whetherthe business he or she leads is private, public, large or small.Market pressures are heating up. Similarly, using CSR effectivelyis critical to the success of any marketing effort. Most of thetime, CSR activities are going on across a company in variousdepartments, created inefficiency, extra cost and, perhaps mostdamaging, diluting the brands overall voice and authenticity.

Few companies understand social responsibility and the

dynamics involved from a philanthropic, regulatory, governanceand sustainability perspective. Tis makes it difficult forthe executive team, and marketing departments, to developmeaningful content that will be viewed by audiences aslegitimate and authentic. And, with the heightened socialconsciousness of Americans and the increasing scrutiny ofcharitable causes, social responsibility efforts must be legitimateor they will be viewed consumers and employees as disingenuous.Tis means companies need strong CSR frameworks basedon best practices, activated through a series of meaningfulexperiences and evidence of impact that can be deployed intobrand and delivered to engage internal and external audiences.

Consider a few notable statistics:

Governance is inuencing corporate philanthropy. Tecache of charitable giving extends well beyond privatedonors and family foundations. Te corporate sector iscatching on, in a big way. Consider the fact that in 1968,70 percent of Americans answered yes when asked,Does business act responsibly? By 2008, that percentage

had dropped to 20 percent. Tis is an era when no CEOcan deny the importance of CSR, embracing operatingprinciples that respect the people, communities andenvironments where business is conducted.

Regulatory inuences are pushing sustainability. Itwasnt long ago that sustainability was viewed by businessesas a nice to have. Now it is a must have. Te GlobalReporting Initiative, a nonprofit organization that promoteseconomic, environmental and social sustainability, issetting the trend, providing a comprehensive sustainability

reporting framework that is widely used around the world.In fact, according new research released by the EuropeanCommission on March 14, 2013, the GRI Guidelines nowrank among the most widely recognized CSR instrumentsamong large European companies. No businesss reputationcan afford to ignore the impact of corporate sustainabilityon the companys reputation. And, with more than 1.1million registered charities in the United States operatingunder increasing regulation, a companys CSR strategy mustembrace the integrity required to stand up to a marketplacethat is watching closely.

Consumer demands are increasing. Te results of the 2006Millennial Cause Study conducted by Cone Inc. and AMP

Insights found that well over half of 20- and 30-somethingsconsider a companys social commitment when decidingwhere to shop. In fact, 83 percent of consumers in thatcritical demographic will place more trust in a company if itis socially and environmentally responsible.

Te workforce wants it. A similar study found that 79percent of Millennials surveyed want to work for a companythat cares about how it impacts and contributes to society,and 56 percent would flat out refuse to work for anirresponsible corporation. By 2012, those percentages hadjumped to 88 percent and 86, respectively.

Over time, CSR boosts the bottom line. Socialresponsibility and ideals have been shown to drive corporatesuccess. In his new book, Grow, Jim Stengel reports on a10-year study of 50,000 brands. Tis study revealed thatthe 50 highest-performing brands are the brands driven byideals, growing three times faster than their competitors andoutpacing the S&P 500 by more than 400 percent.

New Ideas in CSR:Get Educated, Get Organized, Get Going


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GET ORGANIZED

Best Practices Frameworkfor a CSR Program

Six elements drive an effective CSR program:

Mission Alignment Engagement Structure Communication and sales Evaluation and reporting

Mission

An effective CSR strategy should embrace and follow anoverarching mission statement, consistent with the purpose ofthe business and integrated into the companys objectives forcommercial success to reinforce the companys values.

Alignment

An effective CSR strategy should maximize the companys overallcorporate giving areas, determined according to which causeswill best leverage the companys definition of success for thecommunity relations and investment program. A strong programincludes a mechanism for ongoing cause identification to staycurrent with employee, customer and community trends.

Engagement

Employee engagement and participation in a companyscommunity relations and investment program will driveemployee loyalty and retention and, in turn, consumer brandengagement. Companies should harness the enthusiasm ofemployee-led volunteer and fundraising activities.

Structure

A strong CSR program solidifies and maintains an efficientcommunity relations and investment program structure,reflective of the needs and functions of each department of thecompany that is involved in the program. Role definition efforts


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should include human resources, legal, finance, marketing,public relations, research, client relations and vendor relations.Companies should evaluate whether a corporate foundationstructure would be advantageous.

Communications & Sales

An effective CSR strategy empowers a company to enhance itsmessaging platform internally and externally, to celebrate thecompanys program in a manner that is integrated with, andcomplementary to, the companys overall brand image and publicrelations strategies. Tis occurs in the media, through events, onthe website, in printed materials and social media.

Evaluation & Reporting

Best practices in CSR require ongoing monitoring of the resultsof the program against one or more indicators of success,including employee engagement, employee loyalty, operatingefficiency, community impact of money invested, customerperception and marketplace reputation.

GET GOING

Five Ideas to Activate CSRto Drive Brand Engagement

A CSR program should not be viewed only as a budget expense.A CSR program built on an effective framework is an asset toleverage the companys growth. Specific, tactical steps mustbe part of an ongoing action plan to use CSR to drive brandengagement, engage existing and new consumers, enter newmarkets, launch new products, increase sales, and recruit andretain talent.

Activating CSR means creating meaningful experiencesand content, which in turn can be deployed to drive brandengagement.

Idea #1

Building the framework:

What counts as doing good?

Philanthropy, corporate sustainability, regulatory guidelines,governance standards. Social responsibility is based oncomplicated subject matter. Determining the totality of CSRactivities within a company is difficult without a strong workingknowledge of the CSR space. Tats why the work must begin

by conducting an inventory of a companys social responsibilityactivities. Tis inventory forms the basis for identifying gaps andopportunities within an existing CSR program. Te inventoryprocess should include employee surveys, document review,and interviews. Research and review techniques must be basedon best practices and the work of the most forward-thinkingthought leaders in the industry. Ideally the inventory should

result in a compelling report--a framework for the companysCSR strategy--filled with a baseline of raw content that gives themarketing team high quality material to begin to legitimatelycelebrate the companys CSR commitment.

Know what counts in CSR.

Idea #2

Employee buy in:

Brand engagement begins internally

A CSR strategy can be difficult to get off the ground to drivecorporate growth if CSR is viewed only as a project of asingle department, whether it is human resources, marketing,or finance. o bridge that gap, a company should considerconducting an employee CSR summit, setting aside a dayto spend with a group of 50 employees (appointed and/orvolunteers), divided into three teams. Each team will learn aboutseveral community causes that are aligned with the companyscore values. By the end of the day, the three teams will haveselected three organizations to micro grants to foster innovationand community engagement. An internal communications

plan following the summit helps to focus employee-driven CSRactivities, harnessing the energy of employee-led fundraising andvolunteering efforts (bake sales, 5Ks, food and clothing drives).An internal role definition plan following the summit mapsout internal positions to identify appropriate departments andteam members whose participation and collaboration with themarketing team is essential for the success of the companys CSRstrategy.

Conduct an outstanding employee CSR summit that results ingenuine engagement.

Idea #3

Capturing the CSR experience:Creating stories through pilot projects

A company can continue its development of CSR content byproducing a series of pilot projects that involve consumers,employees and community causes. Tese pilot projects areideally suited to launch a new product or enter a new market.Te company should research and identify a reputable andrelevant charitable cause aligned with the companys values. Tepilot project also should include employees involved in the newmarket expansion or product launch. Instead of conducting atypical focus group, a CSR experience allows the company to getmarket feedback in a setting that also builds CSR credibility andengages employees in something real.

For example:

1. A tire company hosts a community workshop forconsumers to learn about children and car safety,partnering with a national safety advocacy organizationsuch as KidsAndCars.org. Te workshop is designed togain insight into consumer behavior related to tires and


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automobiles, but at the same time the tire company createsa story to tell about its CSR program.

2. A health insurance company partners with a communityorganization to target 50 families to develop a grocerychecklist for healthy eating. Over a 30 day period, a testgroup of consumers participates in the pilot project,ideally learning about healthy eating, but also developing apositive perception of the health insurance company.

Te point of these experiences is notto generate large crowdsat the experience itself. Rather, the experiences are tightlydesigned around best practices in CSR so that the experience canbe written up and published as case studies and pushed out tothe companys various audiences. Te pilot projects are all aboutstory creation and storytelling to provide rich content for themarketing team. Te size of the actual pilot is irrelevant.

Design experiences that create authentic and compellingCSR stories.

Idea #4

Accelerating the cycle:CSR-based sales training

CSR is a selling point for any company. But most companiescannot answer the following question: How are you using yourCSR platform to drive new business? Success in this area isaccelerated through a targeted effort to train sales staff to useCSR-based messaging to speed up the sales cycle, generate leadsandidentify new customers. raining components include aninteractive webinar and reference materials for all customer-

facing positions. Te objective is for the sales team to be armedwith clear, concise and uniform messaging about the CSRplatform in customer interactions as a way of differentiating thecompany from its competitors.

Train a sales staff to use CSR as a selling tool.

Idea #5

Evaluate, Report & Celebrate

Most companies could benefit from a competitive scan andanalysis of its CSR strategy, compared with the strategiesof industry competitors. It is a smart move to conduct acompetitive scan once a year to keep company executives and themarketing team up to date and fully aware of the competitionin the CSR space. A company can use this material, along withthe case studies, employee surveys, and inventory highlights tocreate content for an annual CSR report. Rather than simplyreciting charitable investments and employee activities, which istypical of most CSR reports, the content for this annual reportcan capture the companys leadership and innovation in theCSR space, referencing the work of national thought leaders and

demonstrating the impact of their theories on the effectivenessof the companys CSR program. Tis form of best practices CSRreporting is consistent with an emerging national trend towardcorporate social responsibility and sustainability reporting led bythe Global Reporting Initiative, but in a more manageable andmarketable format.

Report CSR success wisely in an increasingly discerningmarketplace.

new ideas in csr

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