Corporate Social Responsibility programs

Corporate Social Responsibility programs typically have three main elements:

1. Charitable giving – Many businesspeople have a sense of moral and social responsibility, and they want to support the disadvantaged through charitable giving. Although this is basically philanthropy, you can help develop your company's image by carefully selecting who receives your gifts.

1. Community investment – Many organizations also see the advantage of developing local communities in ways that can bring real returns to the business. For example, a telecommunications provider might want to sponsor internet access in schools. In practice, they're helping to create the right long-term social conditions for the business to succeed by improving their reputation among consumers and as an employer of choice in the area.

1. Commercial initiatives – Carefully selected commercial initiatives can be very good for business, making a significant contribution to the bottom line. One possibility is working with a reputable charity on an issue that's relevant to your product, in a way that will be mutually beneficial. For example, an optometry chain might support an initiative to improve eye care in the developing world. The idea of this "cause-related marketing" technique is to promote your brand and your reputation as a socially responsible company, with whom consumers will want to be associated.

How do companies implement CSR?

1. Know your goals

• These should be aligned with the company’s culture and core values and is somewhat significant to what the company does. Set SMART objectives that are linked to the three main elements above

1. Create the initiatives

• This includes creating a budget; know the costs involved as well as how much you can afford to spend. Finding a location; taking in consideration the health and safety of the people who will be involved. Knowing who/what the beneficiaries are, setting a timeline of the whole program (pre, during, post activities)

1. Measure the CSR

• Here are several ways to measure CSR programs:

Leverage – This is the amount of additional fundraising that your organization does for a particular cause. This could be as a result of sponsoring a charity's marketing campaign, or "matching" donations for a community project that's sponsored by a public program (where the government body matches funding from outside donors with funds of its own).

Social impact – This could include measuring the number of people who benefit from an activity, whether directly (by participating in a program) or indirectly (due to the number of jobs created or additional facilities provided to a local community).

Business benefits – This may cover things like evaluating improved brand recognition and business reputation, enhancing recruitment and retention, or increasing sales during a cause-related marketing campaign.

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