Corporate Social Responsiblity (CNS) Resources

by Jayne Cravens
via coyotecommunications.com & coyoteboard.com (same web site)

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Advice for ethics, strategies & operations

My advice for corporate social responsibility (CSR) is different than most anything else you will read on the Internet, hear at a workshop or conference or read in a book.

My advice is meant to be provocative. It's meant to be disruptive. Because CSR needs to be disrupted. CSR, particularly as it relates to philanthropy and employee volunteering, needs to be absolutely upended and rethought.

I'm sharing information and approaches and complaints related to corporate philanthropy here on my web site that many nonprofit, NGO and public school staff want to say to corporations and foundations, but they've been too afraid to do so - but I've been listening oh-so-carefully, and I'm happy to share their not-so-kind criticisms, because it's overdue for them to be shared and for CSR programs to be improved.

My advice regarding CSR comes from experiences both as the corporate philanthropy representative at a Fortune 500 company and as the program liaison with various corporate funders and partners, in the USA and in other countries, over thirty years.

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My CSR Resources

The philosophy behind these CSR resources & why it matters
How my advice regarding corporate social responsibility is different than what you have heard elsewhere - and why.
Advice for Designing & Launching CSR Activities
If your company is launching a CSR program, including a program for financial donations, employee volunteering or in-kind donations, or your company wants to think more strategically about the CSR activities it's already undertaking, this is where you start.
What Should Be On A Company Web Site Re: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Members of the public, members of the press, politicians, activists, mission-based organizations (nonprofits, schools, charities, etc.) and even your own employees will want to be able to access at least summary information about your company's corporate social responsibility activities (CSR). Your web site needs to cater to the information needs of all of these different groups. Here's what absolutely needs to be on your web site regarding your CSR activities, as well as some additional suggestions beyond the basics.
Employee Volunteering Initiatives: Different Approaches & Keys to Success
Detailed advice for employee volunteering, including specific advice regarding executives on loan, expert staff going on volunteering sabbaticals, and employees serving on boards, skills-based volunteering, group volunteering (everything from Habitat for Humanity builds to hackathons), employees volunteering abroad, virtual volunteering and microvolunteering.
In-kind giving (product and other equipment donations)
Your facilities department may have already been giving away surplus furniture to nonprofits without reporting it to whatever department is in charge of your philanthropic activities. Your marketing department may have bought a table at a special event for the local ballet. Your IT department head may have donated his staff's time for half a day to a nonprofit he cares about. You need to get all of these activities under written policies and appropriately tracked.
Coping With Community Disasters / Emergency Appeals
Before your company starts a clothing drive to help hurricane victims, sending employees into neighborhoods or sending money to the first disaster-aid organization that comes to mind, read this advice.
Advice for Celebrity Philanthropy and Activism
Many celebrities see their fame as an opportunity to help improve people's lives, encourage better treatment of the environment, address an injustice, even to advance legislation, and it's a tradition for celebrities to champion causes and lend their name to help various charitable or activist causes. But many celebrities don't think strategically about the philanthropic and activist activities they might want to undertake. The result of not being strategic may be wasted energy and even negative publicity, despite the best of intentions. And some celebrities are so overwhelmed with requests to contribute in some way to a charitable effort, human rights campaign or environmental cause that they just say no to everything rather than try to screen and evaluate them all. This web page is meant to give celebrities, or their staff members, some very basic resources to help their philanthropy and activist activities be effective, actually make a positive difference and not be completely overwhelming.
Understanding the culture of nonprofits, schools and other mission-based organizations
They are different than the corporate world - and you could learn a lot from them. Understanding and respecting their culture will make your giving more effective.
Stop with the demands for limits on overhead spending - Coming soon
Just like a for-profit business, nonprofits, charities and other mission-based organizations have to pay rent, pay for computers, pay for upgrades to computers, pay for qualified staff with particular skills and more. Your limits on your donations being used for "overhead" are hurting those served by nonprofits. ENOUGH! This page includes better advice on how to ensure your financial contributions are being used efficiently and appropriately.
Effective partnerships with mission-based organizations - Coming soon
Keys to working with nonprofits, charities, NGOs, schools and other mission-driven agencies. This resource will help you regularly, honestly answer the question, "How good of a partner are we?"
Options Regarding Financial Giving - Coming soon
Giving money is more than writing a check whenever you might be moved or whenever someone asks. Setting guidelines for how you will give financial donations, and how much, keeps staff on the same page and will cut down on inappropriate requests.
Responsible & Ethical Business Practices as a Part of CSR - Coming soon
Corporate social responsibility isn't limited to just philanthropy - financial donations, in-kind donations, employee volunteering, etc. It's also about responsible and ethical business practices beyond what is required by law, such as sustainable environmental practices (recycling, responsible waste management, use of energy-efficient lights) and activities that address environmental impact pay equity (women paid the same as men for the same work) inclusive hiring and promotion practices (ensuring women and ethic minorities have access to senior management positions) and more.
Evaluating your CSR approaches & reporting results - Coming soon
How do you know if your philanthropic activities are garnering results, because good public relations? Number of employee volunteer hours says as much as success as number of staff members you have - it's mostly just a number.
Talking about your CSR activities - internally and externally - Coming soon
Guidance for your internal and external communications regarding your CSR activities.

Consider:

The Pitfalls of Having a Program Sponsor
(and suggestions for mission-based organizations on how to avoid them)
For-profit companies, particularly large corporations, often sponsor specific programs at mission-based organizations (non-profit organizations, non-governmental organizations/NGOs, civil society, school, etc.), providing funding, donated staff time, and in-kind equipment and services to help launch and maintain a program. In most ways, this is a blessing for the mission-based organization. But there are often hidden costs that lead to frustrations for everyone involved. This is a list of some of those hidden costs, and ways they can be avoided.

I'm Jayne Cravens. I'm a consultant regarding communications and community engagement, primarily for nonprofits, NGOs and other mission-based organizations. I have many years of experience working with corporations, governments, foundations and other donors, and for two years, I ran a corporate philanthropy program at a Fortune 500 company. I created these corporate social responsibility (CSR) pages on my web site out of frustration of the continuing disconnect between what mission-based organizations, including schools, are trying to accomplish and what corporations and other businesses want to fund and volunteer for. Most advice for CSR comes from people in the for-profit world who have never worked for a nonprofit, charity, public school, etc., and often has a paternal approach to working with mission-based organizations. My approach is different: I am urging the business world to be partners, not dictators, when it comes to the third sector.

Here are the services I can provide regarding CSR.

I have a range of other consulting services as well.

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Permission is granted to copy, present and/or distribute a limited amount of material from my web site without charge if the information is kept intact and without alteration, and is credited to:

Jayne Cravens & Coyote Communications, www.coyotecommunications.com

Otherwise, please contact me for permission to reprint, present or distribute these materials (for instance, in a class or book or online event for which you intend to charge).