Our 2010 Film Festival has been extended until February 8, so now is your last chance to submit your entry.

Communicating your company’s good work in corporate citizenship has been increasingly linked to improving the company’s reputation, positive branding and ultimately the bottom line. For this reason many companies are mobilizing their efforts to communicate success with volunteer programs, philanthropy, supply chain management, sustainability and other corporate citizenship efforts though video. 

The entries in the 2009 competition clearly demonstrated the power of video to communicate the positive impact of each company’s work in its community and around the globe. Many companies used the Film Festival as an opportunity to engage employees and partners, urging them to vote in the competition. The 30,000 who viewed the videos and voted for their favorite sent a resounding message: There is an audience for the corporate citizenship story on video. Read the rest of this entry »

For the last four years Center member CA, Inc. has sponsored CA Together in Action (CTA), a month-long program to support non-profit organizations around the world. Launched in 2006 as a two-week event, the program expanded to a month to allow as many employees as possible to participate. Read the rest of this entry »

In the never-ending battle between the half-full-glass forces of hope and the half-empty-glass legions of doom, one of the hottest debates these days is over the status (or existence) of an economic recovery. While most attention is focused on a recovery measured in dollars and cents, a recently released survey points to signs of a recovery that may be even more valuable to business – recovery of trust.

The 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer found that trust of U.S. business to do what is right has increased over last year from 36 percent to 54 percent among those surveyed in 20 countries. Shocking? Perhaps, but maybe it’s another indication that CEOs are getting it that the public demands more accountable behavior and will respond favorably to it. Could it be that performing under pressure during a recession paid off?

When the Boston College Center surveyed U.S. senior executives for its 2009 State of Corporate Citizenship, some 54 percent said they believe corporate citizenship is even more important in a recession. Among those same leaders, most said their companies had increased internal and external communication about corporate citizenship in 2009. It looks like it was worth the effort. Read the rest of this entry »

As we leave 2009 in the rearview mirror with high hopes for the road ahead in 2010, I want to take a moment to share with you how feedback from members is helping us shape future programming and improve member services.  Here are some highlights from the 2009 Member Survey and the ways we are responding: Read the rest of this entry »

Do you know what it takes to be an effective leader in the ever-changing field of corporate citizenship? Are the skills and personal attributes needed for success in this field different from other business leadership roles?

The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship has just released the results of a recent research project to identify what it takes to succeed in leading corporate citizenship. In two companion reports “Leadership Competencies for Corporate Citizenship” and “Leadership Competencies for Community Involvement”, we have explored the changing roles in this field and created unique competency models for today practitioners and tomorrow’s aspiring leaders.
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As information continues to reach us about the devastating earthquake in Haiti, many of the Boston College Center’s members have stepped up to provide financial and in-kind relief.

A discussion on this topic is currently taking place in our online Member Community. Many of the community members are using this space to trade ideas about a variety of issues from supporting employees with family affected by the disaster to how to set up an employee donation page. Others have reported on their companies’ financial commitments Read the rest of this entry »

Join 500 of your peers in Boston on April 11-13 to tackle such questions as:

• What is the changing role of corporate foundations and what should it be?
• Do you have a boardroom champion for corporate citizenship?
• Can you count on colleagues to be partners in creating a corporate citizenship culture?
• Where will tomorrow’s corporate citizenship leaders come from?
• Are you keeping pace with changing corporate citizenship communications practices?
• What can shareholder activists teach you about your future corporate citizenship challenges?
• Is corporate community involvement at a value crossroads?
• How do you move from strategic philanthropy to strategic impact?
• Is your company’s involvement in education really paying off?

Companies attending include Fidelity Investments, State Street Corporation, UPS, Verizon, Accenture, Altria, FedEx, ING, Mohawk Fine Papers, Inc., Target Corporation, TransCanada, ARAMARK, Kaiser Permanente, Sprint, Toyota Motor Corporation, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and National Grid.

Will you be joining them?

 Click here for more information and to register.

Here at the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, we recently conducted a survey which reveals that businesses have forged ahead with community involvement efforts as part of a continued commitment to corporate citizenship.

 “Staying the Course – The 2009 Community Involvement Index” is a biennial survey of more than 300 North American companies in a variety of industries.  It asks about companies’ community involvement programs, practices and management. Community involvement is the cornerstone of most companies’ commitment to corporate citizenship and the findings of this survey offer encouraging evidence that the foundation remains sound. Read the rest of this entry »