I often hear comments such as “We’re just putting out fires in our community involvement,” or “Our company is changing and we need to meet many new challenges to continue to contribute,” or “We need to find a way to move our community program to the next level, inject new life.” Such remarks indicate the need for deliberate and proactive changes in community involvement direction, often called strategic planning.

This term often invokes daunting thoughts of a clinical and painful process. I prefer to use a more accurate and descriptive term to address these concerns: “achieving exceptional performance.” Read the rest of this entry »

Our friends to the north, Canadian Business for Social Responsibility, in partnership with Strandberg Consulting, have recently released a very practical set of guidelines for corporate social responsibility governance. Recognizing the important role that boards of directors play in institutionalizing CSR in a company, CBSR worked with local board members to create the CSR Governance Guidelines. It includes a checklist assessment tool based on current best practice in CSR governance. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s always hard to come back to work after a long holiday weekend, especially in the summer. That’s just one of the reasons companies try hard to engage their employees and keep them committed to their work.

We’ve always thought corporate citizenship offers a great way to engage employees, and a new study by the Center for Creative Leadership confirms that corporate social responsibility programs are linked to how committed an employee is to an employer. Read the rest of this entry »

Corporate citizenship professionals striving to demonstrate the value of their efforts inside and outside companies may be happy to know they have an ally who is trumpeting their work in the wider world of citizenship.

In a series of featured discussions on its website headlined The Case for Corporate Citizenship, the National Conference on Citizenship is “highlighting some ways corporations are engaging employees, giving back to communities, and integrating civically responsible business practices into their operations.” The NCOC goes on to note that “corporate responsibility has become a key driver in securing stakeholder interest, consumer trust, and employee loyalty, and many corporations are stepping up accordingly to demonstrate their leadership and investment in civic engagement.” Read the rest of this entry »

 The U.S. director of corporate citizenship at National Grid holds a staff meeting with her regional direct reports. The vice president, corporate social responsibility, of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters takes a networking call with a colleague working on Capitol Hill. The charitable programs assistant at New Balance Athletic Shoe orders shoes for gift certificates, finalizes letters to nonprofit organizations, and sends out a few product donations. The corporate citizenship/giving specialist at Underwriters Laboratories researches volunteer opportunities for employees.

This is just a sampling of days in the lives of corporate citizenship professionals, part of the wide variety of work being done in the field. The Center’s newest report, the “Profile of the Profession 2010, Corporate citizenship leaders for today and tomorrow”, offers a snapshot of current corporate citizenship professionals and the work they do. Read the rest of this entry »

Two members of the Boston College Center, Campbell Soup Company and Intel Corporation, are among four companies being honored by the Points of Light Institute for extraordinary employee volunteer efforts to solve community problems. Read the rest of this entry »

In spite of the recent economic downturn, an overwhelming majority of corporate CEOs – 93 percent – say that sustainability will be critical to the future success of their companies.  Furthermore, CEOs believe that, within a decade, a tipping point could be reached that fully meshes sustainability with core business – its capabilities, processes and systems, and throughout global supply chains and subsidiaries.

These are among the key findings of a survey of 766 CEOs around the globe released on June 22 by the United Nations Global Compact and Accenture.  In addition to an online survey, the study included extensive interviews with 50 of the world’s leading CEOs. Read the rest of this entry »

A frequent partner of the Boston College Center, Reputation Institute, has taken a close look at the role of corporate social responsibility in managing reputation in the first issue of its new quarterly publication, Reputation Intelligence. Read the rest of this entry »