Although most businesses are concerned with making a profit to fuel growth and innovation, the days are gone when that should be the only driver behind an organization's decisions. Today the public, governmental authorities, stockholders and employees themselves expect an organization to take into account how their actions impact the community that supports them commercially. In many ways, this recognition of social impact has become a business driver itself.
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.
How do you identify ways to enhance your company's positive impact on society while still striving to grow and be profitable? Creating a corporate responsibility plan is a way, but this plan must not be implemented until you have developed a strong strategy that emphasizes efficiency and clear goals.
Creative giving is certainly one solid option. Although any one of the following methods can produce excellent results on its own, a great CSR program will incorporate two, three, or more of these options in complementary ways:
Consider The Environment - Make an effort and commitment to becoming a sustainable, eco-friendly business. This means using sustainable materials, creating a recycling plan, improving energy efficiency and limiting the amount of pollution produced at your place of business.
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.
Workplace Volunteering - Offering pre-approved volunteer opportunities to employees, including offering paid time off for volunteer activities on company time.
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.
A Gift Matching Option - When employees donate, the company can match those donations up to a set amount. This can be a great incentive.
Strategic giving is another component to consider. While few can argue with the doing of good, a CSR program will not be sustainable if it makes no business sense or runs contrary with a company's established culture and goals. And if it is not sustainable, it's not going to have the social impact the organization desires. Instead, setting up the CSR program strategically in line with business goals and the dominant business culture ensures the program will have the support it needs to thrive.
You need to have a balanced and well-planned approach to a strategic charitable giving program, so ask yourself these types of questions:
Will this program successfully support a cause while staying financially viable?
Will we have enough of an impact to justify the effort and investment?
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 our business set up to fully help and support the charitable cause?
Is a philanthropic culture already in place or does that need to be further established?
Are the top-level managers visibly supporting these efforts?
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.
How do you identify ways to enhance your company's positive impact on society while still striving to grow and be profitable? Creating a corporate responsibility plan is a way, but this plan must not be implemented until you have developed a strong strategy that emphasizes efficiency and clear goals.
Creative giving is certainly one solid option. Although any one of the following methods can produce excellent results on its own, a great CSR program will incorporate two, three, or more of these options in complementary ways:
Consider The Environment - Make an effort and commitment to becoming a sustainable, eco-friendly business. This means using sustainable materials, creating a recycling plan, improving energy efficiency and limiting the amount of pollution produced at your place of business.
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.
Workplace Volunteering - Offering pre-approved volunteer opportunities to employees, including offering paid time off for volunteer activities on company time.
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.
A Gift Matching Option - When employees donate, the company can match those donations up to a set amount. This can be a great incentive.
Strategic giving is another component to consider. While few can argue with the doing of good, a CSR program will not be sustainable if it makes no business sense or runs contrary with a company's established culture and goals. And if it is not sustainable, it's not going to have the social impact the organization desires. Instead, setting up the CSR program strategically in line with business goals and the dominant business culture ensures the program will have the support it needs to thrive.
You need to have a balanced and well-planned approach to a strategic charitable giving program, so ask yourself these types of questions:
Will this program successfully support a cause while staying financially viable?
Will we have enough of an impact to justify the effort and investment?
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 our business set up to fully help and support the charitable cause?
Is a philanthropic culture already in place or does that need to be further established?
Are the top-level managers visibly supporting these efforts?
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 blogging about philanthropic solutions for businesses and non profit organizations. For additional information about the importance of business philanthropy, or to find some corporate giving programs, please check out the Truist.com website now.
No comments:
Post a Comment