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:
Sustainable Business Practices - A commitment to environmentally responsible materials, recycling, energy efficiency, or pollution mitigation.
Donate To The Cause -Corporate donations can include monetary contributions as well as the donations of products and services. You can set up a corporate foundation for this purpose.
Workplace Volunteering - Offering pre-approved volunteer opportunities to employees, including offering paid time off for volunteer activities on company time.
Donations From Employees - The key to employee donations programs is making them easy and giving them several options. Employees can donate just once or have donations deducted from payroll. You can also give them several different causes to choose to support.
Corporate Gift Matching - Offering a match for qualified charitable contributions.
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.
When thinking about strategic giving, it is important to consider the following 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 will these efforts be used to improve our business in general? (There is no reason not to publicize your charitable efforts and use these endeavors as a source of public relations or for the recruitment of new talent.)
Is the organization set up to fully support this 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?
Of course, even if each of these questions garners a positive result, you need to ensure that your CSR plan is run efficiently. The proper management of finances and employees is a huge priority. Every department of your business needs to be run efficiently and monitored and reviewed to ensure maximum growth. This is certainly true with corporate giving programs, and this process can be made far easier by enlisting the services of a partner company that specializes in the management of corporate social responsibility programs. As the manager of your company's CSR program, using a partner organization allows you to spend more time encouraging managers and employees to participate and also gives you some extra time for your own personal participation in charitable giving.
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:
Sustainable Business Practices - A commitment to environmentally responsible materials, recycling, energy efficiency, or pollution mitigation.
Donate To The Cause -Corporate donations can include monetary contributions as well as the donations of products and services. You can set up a corporate foundation for this purpose.
Workplace Volunteering - Offering pre-approved volunteer opportunities to employees, including offering paid time off for volunteer activities on company time.
Donations From Employees - The key to employee donations programs is making them easy and giving them several options. Employees can donate just once or have donations deducted from payroll. You can also give them several different causes to choose to support.
Corporate Gift Matching - Offering a match for qualified charitable contributions.
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.
When thinking about strategic giving, it is important to consider the following 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 will these efforts be used to improve our business in general? (There is no reason not to publicize your charitable efforts and use these endeavors as a source of public relations or for the recruitment of new talent.)
Is the organization set up to fully support this 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?
Of course, even if each of these questions garners a positive result, you need to ensure that your CSR plan is run efficiently. The proper management of finances and employees is a huge priority. Every department of your business needs to be run efficiently and monitored and reviewed to ensure maximum growth. This is certainly true with corporate giving programs, and this process can be made far easier by enlisting the services of a partner company that specializes in the management of corporate social responsibility programs. As the manager of your company's CSR program, using a partner organization allows you to spend more time encouraging managers and employees to participate and also gives you some extra time for your own personal participation in charitable giving.
About the Author:
Sebastian Troup enjoys blogging 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 go to the Truist website today.
No comments:
Post a Comment