I googled the “definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR)” and more than 3 million hits came back in .17 seconds. For the fun of it, I clicked on page 14 of the results and was struck by all the international links defining CSR. Clearly, this is a global phenomenon. And even the President and Fellows of Harvard University needed three paragraphs to define it.
CSR is a nebulous concept at best, but a trend with staying power as the term was coined in the 60’s. Social entrepreneurship, the triple bottom line, social value, corporate citizenship and a slew of other terms seem to interchange easily with CSR.
From a Starfish Impact perspective, we are interested in one key differentiator: Do you want to make a difference beyond achieving your financial goals? That difference can take on many shapes and sizes. Answering the “what and how” of the difference you will make is what strategists like me do for a living.
But, only you can answer whether or not you are called to add value beyond your bottom line.
There are companies whose core strategy is wrapped around the difference they want to make. As a great example, take social entrepreneur, Blake Mycoskie, who traveled to Argentina and saw firsthand how many children weren’t wearing shoes because they couldn’t afford them. He founded TOMS on the premise that for every pair of shoes sold, he would donate one pair to a child in need. In the first four years, he donated over 400,000 shoes. Mycoskie shares his philosophy in his book Start Something that Matters. His philanthropy has continued to expand (into eyesight) and deepen since the inception ofTOMS.
Big companies are taking a vested interest in society as well. Tyson Foods donated thousands of pounds of chicken to local communities in Texas, Boston and San Francisco to help end childhood hunger. Whole Foods created Whole Planet Foundation, which provides microlending in rural communities around the world to fight poverty. The Beanstalk Group, a midsize licensing agency owned by communications giant Omnicom, provides two additional paid weeks per year to allow its employees to volunteer around the world.
This much is clear: From engaging your employees in volunteer activities, providing in-kind or cash donations, creating sustainable products or establishing a foundation to solve social problems, corporations small and large are vested in far more than the financial bottom line.
