Business can be socially responsible in various ways. It’s not always necessary to invest a lot of resources and effort to provide help to those who need it.
To address social problems, not only money is needed, but also informational support, knowledge, professional advice, or volunteer assistance with current tasks. Ultimately, a company can change its internal approaches to work.
To understand exactly how you can help in a particular area, it’s important to learn what is currently needed for positive changes and what kind of support is required by charitable organizations working in that field. Then, you can devise a format that aligns with your goals and resources. Here are just a few examples.
Partner Projects
Joint campaigns and programs with charitable foundations and NGOs are the primary and most popular form of corporate social responsibility. The variety of joint projects depends solely on the goals and creativity of the creators.
A Percentage of Profits for Solving a Problem
For example, Apple releases a series of red iPhones every year, a portion of the profits from which are donated to the Fund to fight HIV/AIDS (in 2020, to the Fund to fight coronavirus).
Fundraising Assistance
McCain, a frozen food manufacturer, collaborates annually with the Family Fund to raise money for grants to provide food for families with critically ill children. Each year, more than 150,000 such families receive grants.
Donation for a “Like”
Kraft Highz, a famous ketchup manufacturer, regularly conducts a campaign where for each like on a Facebook post about charity, the company donates the cost of one meal to the Rise Against Hunger foundation. Last year, they contributed 2.5 million dollars towards combating global hunger.
Money + Motivation
Many companies participate in the doublethedonation program, matching their employees’ donations. This helps charitable organizations receive more funds, and employees to contribute meaningfully, demonstrating the value of even small investments.
Purchases and NGOs
Helping charitable organizations can be even simpler: for example, by purchasing their products as gifts for your employees. Often, NGOs earn additional funds through workshops where people in need or children with complex diseases make dishes, clothes, or jewelry; many also produce their own merchandise. An order from a large company can bring them significant profit, and employees will receive unique gifts with added value.
Volunteering: Help by Acting
Corporate volunteering is not only about supporting those in need, but also serves as a good team-building exercise and enhances the moral value among employees. There are many forms of corporate volunteering.
Companies can participate in activities like planting trees, distributing food to animal shelters, collecting warm clothing for the homeless, and helping in other ways. Often, charitable organizations need simple and understandable assistance, which they request on their websites.
Volunteering can be intellectual and professional. Any employee can share their expertise with an NGO, thereby solving a work-related issue for the organization that it lacks resources for: from creating websites and offering free legal consultations to teaching children in orphanages.
Many large companies have a system of volunteer grants: the company donates a certain amount to charity for each hour of an employee’s volunteer work. Microsoft, for example, donates $25 for every hour an employee volunteers at a charity of their choice. However, there are many other ways to motivate your team to engage in volunteerism.
Corporate volunteering is not only about supporting those in need, but it’s also a good team-building exercise and raises employees’ own moral values.
There are many options for corporate volunteering.
Awareness: Spreading Information
The more people understand a problem and know how to help, the better the outcome. Thus, spreading information about the activities of NGOs is just as valuable as donations.
This can be a social media post, an article in a corporate blog, or a mailing to clients. Agree, it’s not too costly?
For example, Starbucks joined the mental health awareness week, sharing information about this date on social media and publishing stories of employees struggling with mental health issues.
Additionally, information campaigns can be integrated into products. Many fashion and cosmetics brands, such as Estēe Lauder and Jimmy Choo, regularly release special collections for breast cancer awareness month. This reminds people of the importance of early screenings and also helps with fundraising for thematic foundations.
CSR Inside the Company
You can also change your approach to business: from the materials you work with to your hiring practices and corporate culture.
- Eco-friendly materials
- Accessibility of products/services for everyone
- Principle of equality in hiring employees
- Inclusivity and accessible environment
- Paternity leave
For example, the company Who Gives A Crap uses only plastic-free products and sustainable materials for packaging. Among other things, they make toilet paper from recycled materials.
In restaurants and cafes, one can replace plastic straws with metal ones, eliminate plastic for to-go orders, and offer discounts for drinks ordered in personal thermal mugs.
Hiring employees is a part of corporate social responsibility. The clothing brand TomboyX produces clothes from renewable materials for people of all body types and gender identities. In their advertising campaigns, they consistently support the LGBT+ community and women. The company also strives to adhere to the principle of diversity in hiring: 80% of the company’s senior management are women, with 63% identifying as part of the queer community.
Companies can demonstrate responsibility by providing equal hiring opportunities for people with various disabilities, for example, by creating office conditions suitable for wheelchair users or offering the option to work from home for such employees.
This also includes adhering to the principle of gender equality, providing fair maternity and paternity leave, and supporting families with children.
Any change in a company that makes the environment more eco-friendly, prosperous, and humane is also part of social responsibility! And this change does not necessarily have to be global.
Every company can come up with its own approach, depending on the needs of its audience, region, and the country it operates in.
Moreover, it’s crucial to consider the company’s resources and carefully select the organizations you plan to support: ensuring they align with your values, operate transparently, and engage in systematic charity work.
