Situation
A mid-size business had been engaged in a variety of community and sustainability efforts but had not engaged in any comprehensive or strategic approach. Employees began to demand of executives more opportunities to get involved meaningfully in the community and executives recognized the need to bring on talent versed in corporate social responsibility to streamline the current activities and potential opportunities.
Analysis
The multi office business was not communicating the various efforts across offices, nor building off of initiatives already in place and getting the full value or return on investment for the efforts. Similarly, there were missed opportunities to better communicate the work that was already going on; much of which was sector leading.
Solutions
By providing a central clearinghouse for all community and sustainability activities, the business was better able to take advantage and coordinate the ongoing activities. These included corporate giving, voluntarism, in kind donations, pro bono services, and responsible and sustainable business practices. Once this level of coordination was accomplished, the business was then able to see the full cadre of resources at their disposal and think about more strategically aligned ways to implement them.
Results
The business demonstrated how ‘doing good’ can be good for business. With a robust corporate social responsibility program in place, the business is now exploring social innovation as the next area of community engagement to take on. This is the practice of the business exploring underutilized resources and overlooked opportunities. They are also launching higher impact programs that can multiply the impact of the business’ community involvement, while simultaneously providing business development opportunities.