The findings of the 2009 State of Corporate Citizenship in the United States released today reveal that, despite the recession, corporate citizenship practices are ingrained in increasing numbers of American businesses. A majority (54 percent) of business leaders report that attention to corporate citizenship efforts is even more important in a recession. Read the rest of this entry »

The economic downturn of 2008-2009 has taken a toll on some corporate citizenship programs, but has it also served as a wake-up call for companies to re-evaluate the way they do business and identify new opportunities from corporate citizenship? As the results of the biennial State of the Corporate Citizenship Survey conducted this June come in, we are examining whether business aspirations and behavior have changed over the six years since the survey began, and particularly during the recent economic turmoil. Results will be released during a Center webinar on September 16. Read the rest of this entry »

Does the recession have you questioning spending on cause-related marketing (C-RM)? If you are your company’s C-RM Champion, or would like to be, it may be up to you to make the case for maintaining C-RM, or even ramping it up to meet business goals. In hard times, your business values will show through, loyalties will be built, and your employees and other stakeholders will notice. Read the rest of this entry »

In these tough economic times, we know that it is difficult to maintain your business, let alone your volunteer programs. While the community benefits of volunteering are clear, many companies are asking themselves if volunteering is really a business essential in these difficult times. Read the rest of this entry »

Does reputation build revenue? And if so, how does corporate citizenship help build reputation?

These are two of the issues illustrated in the second tool in our “Toolkit for a Tough Economy” series that highlights insights from our engagement with corporations. Read the rest of this entry »

These times are certainly not for the timid or small thinkers. Confronted with perhaps the greatest challenge of our lifetime, we face the urgent task of reinventing the future for our businesses and our society. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the past month, The Center has been reaching out to our members to better understand how the current economic crisis has been affecting leading corporate citizenship companies. Throughout this recent outreach, we’ve been hearing the same two comments over and over again:

“I’m being asked to do more with less.”

“This time of crisis is a huge opportunity for corporate citizenship.” Read the rest of this entry »

In the spirit of sharing the voice of CEOs who are constructively engaging in the national debate about the economic crisis, two recent speeches stand out. Within the course of a week, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer and Intel’s Paul Otellini shared, with two sets of key Washington policymakers, a reality check on the economic situation and a pathway to a more robust future. Read the rest of this entry »