Forward-thinking businesses have long understood that their impact in their industry goes hand in hand with their impact on society.
Corporate social responsibility, or CSR, was broadly popularized in the U.S. in the 1970s when the Committee for Economic Development established the concept of the "social contract" between business and society.
The "social contract" is based on the idea that businesses function due to public "consent." As a result, they have a responsibility to contribute to society.
Today, CSR is recognized as an integral aspect of a corporate strategy. Along with having a positive impact, evidence shows that companies with a strong CSR strategy attract and retain top talent — and boost consumer loyalty.
But how to get started? CSR is more than a one-off fundraiser or employee volunteering day. It's about baking a sense of social responsibility into your corporate culture. Here are four essential ingredients.
1. A Clear Direction
CSR is typically divided into four main categories: environmental, ethical, philanthropic and economic responsibility. When considering how to design your CSR strategy, you should pick the categories that best fit your company's mission and values.
For example, if you're a human resources company, you might choose to focus on ethical responsibility. That means focusing on causes that promote equal and fair treatment for all.
2. Resources and Staffing
Another essential ingredient in any corporate responsibility program is the people who will make it happen. CSR takes time, from building partnerships in the community to organizing days of giving and setting up infrastructure like payroll processing and company matching for gifts.
Many companies have several staff members dedicated to CSR initiatives. If you're just starting out, you may decide to assign responsibility to an existing employee (or employees) within your human resources department. Whatever you choose, ensure your team has enough capacity to dedicate time and attention to your CSR initiatives.
You'll also need a budget. Your CSR budget may include grants for local organizations, funding to support company-wide programming and events, philanthropic dollars for gift matching and money to pay employees for volunteer time off.
3. Community Partnerships
Many CSR initiatives involve collaborations with external organizations and entities. If you're building opportunities for employees to volunteer in the community, you'll need to partner with local organizations or government agencies.
Likewise, if you're building out an employee and corporate giving or grants program, you'll need to identify the nonprofits and community organizations that can benefit. And, you'll need a way to keep track of partners, gifts and volunteer time. That's where your CSR platform comes in.
4. A CSR Platform
Managing CSR includes keeping track of community partners, coordinating grants, keeping tabs on employee volunteer time and tracking giving history — not to mention integrating with your existing payroll or HR system.
With an all-in-one CSR platform like GivePulse, you can manage, track and schedule volunteer time, maintain a database of community partners and report on your corporate impact. Are you launching a grant program? Leverage our survey and grant management system to define grants for specific initiatives and track and report on them.
Are you looking for tools to support donation and fundraising management? With GivePulse, you can set up company matching, ACH or automatic payroll processing to empower individual employees to give more.
Get Started with GivePulse
A CSR platform is essential if you're looking to build or scale your company's corporate social responsibility (CSR) or environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives.
Employee volunteer engagement, corporate responsibility reporting, grant management and corporate fundraising require complex processes. With CSR software, you can have one place to schedule, manage and track corporate volunteering and giving — so you can measure, understand and scale your impact.
Ready to learn how our CSR platform can empower your employees to give back? Schedule a demo with GivePulse today!
About GivePulse
GivePulse's mission is to enable everyone in the world to participate and engage in lifting their community to new heights. We do so by providing a platform to list, find, organize and measure the impact of service-learning, community engagement, philanthropy, corporate social responsibility and volunteerism.
Founded in 2012 in Austin, Texas, GivePulse works with 650,000+ groups, including colleges and universities, nonprofits, businesses, K-12/school districts and cities and municipalities. Together, we connect millions of people in an effort to create positive social change.
Start making a difference today by visiting www.givepulse.com.