Social responsibility means taking care to look out for others – be that through voting, volunteering, joining a community organization or running for office.
Many companies have found that scholarship programs are an effective way of engaging their communities. You can target specific fields related to your company while reaching out to future talent.
1. Define Your Goals
As part of your company’s social responsibility initiative, setting clear and measurable goals should be the starting point. This can range from making a donation of funds or sponsoring events through nonprofits to giving away equipment or materials you no longer use as gifts to nonprofits in-kind donations.
Be sure that your goals align with the values, culture and current operations of your company in order to create an authentic connection between CSR initiatives and your organization. One common goal may be environmental stewardship; however there are numerous other ways you can contribute towards sustainability such as supporting local communities, improving labor practices or guaranteeing ethically sourced materials.
Make sure your goals are attainable to entice employees, promote engagement with the initiative, and justify the budget necessary for its achievement. Consider offering a corporate match program which doubles employee donations to boost impact of donations while simultaneously raising your company’s profile as an employer.
2. Create a Giving Strategy
Before diving headlong into a charitable initiative with the intention of getting the biggest return possible from it, take some time to explore your values and interests. Discussing them with family members can help in defining a long-term giving framework.
Focusing your charitable giving around areas and causes that matter can mean selecting only a handful of organizations and areas of interest to support, then allocating more of your resources by giving multiple times or monthly donations, or dedicating at least 80% of your giving budget to actively invest in organizations or causes you care about proactively investing. Doing this can allow for a more profound impact and help ensure it reflects your values more accurately.
Social responsibility doesn’t cost money anymore – in many instances, its practice actually benefits their bottom line. Something as simple as switching off lights at night could save both costs and show responsibility towards society.
3. Measure Your Impact
Companies that prioritize social responsibility gain consumer loyalty and an improved image. Such businesses usually adopt humane labor practices, care for the environment and take part in charitable endeavours.
Nonprofits also benefit from corporate philanthropy in multiple ways, including receiving donations that enable faster fundraising efforts and goal attainment, and access to new audiences that could become donors or volunteers in the future.
Prior to shared value, social responsibility meant businesses had to sacrifice profits for society; but its concept has transformed this perception. Small actions like turning off computers at night can save companies money while improving local residents’ quality of life.
Fred Hollows Foundation receives significant support from several companies that donate time and resources towards providing eye health solutions to those living with avoidable blindness, in turn helping reduce their numbers. Such partnerships help decrease avoidable blindness.
4. Share Your Impact
Corporate social responsibility (CSR), commonly referred to as citizenship, sustainability and accountability is defined as any business practice or policy implemented by companies to positively affect society, environment, employees, shareholders, customers and communities.
Business leaders also have a responsibility to choose actions which cause minimal harm or distress, as well as giving back to their local communities through charitable trusts or foundations. Some companies even create internalized charitable efforts as part of their core business model.
Many individuals choose to demonstrate their personal social responsibility by becoming actively engaged with politics, supporting equal rights and combatting discrimination in society. This could mean volunteering, donating to nonprofits, educating others about specific issues, pressuring politicians for laws changes or running for office themselves – these actions all count toward personal social responsibility.
