Corporate Social Responsibility – What’s Your Give Back?

More than 90% of consumers say that they think more favorably of brands and more than 70% say that they will even choose to do business with a brand whose CSR – corporate social responsibility  aligns with their own personal values. Can you create a give back program that helps your business?

Grow by Giving Back with a Formal Corporate Social Responsibility (or CSR) Policy

Corporate social responsibility (or CSR) is the title that can be assigned to any number of ways a business gives back, donates or otherwise contributes to charitable, civic or community causes. All else being equal, nine out of ten consumers say that if your organization’s CSR aligns with their personal values, it could swing the decision your way.

Choosing to support causes that align with the values and interests common to members of your target markets could influence their purchasing decisions. In fact, a brand’s identification with a charitable cause can even provide a point of differentiation for the business (such as McDonald’s fast food restaurants support of Ronald McDonald House Charities).

Consumers increasingly expect the companies they do business with to have a “give back” program of some kind. What’s more, consumers may even be interested in influencing company practices by directing a portion of donations to preferred causes. While a consumer will rarely choose to do business with an organization solely based on their corporate social responsibility policy, a 2013 Cone Communication/Echo Global CSR Study found that when organizations engage in CSR:

• 95% of consumers have a more positive image of the company
• 94% of consumers are more likely to trust the company
• 93% of customers would be more loyal to the company, and
• 91% of consumers would even switch brands in order to be associated with a good cause

What Should a CSR Encompass?

Corporate social responsibility simply refers to the ways in which a business participates in initiatives that benefit society. Given the broad definition, CSR practices could be represented in any number of ways, including:

• Making direct financial contributions to an organization, research, cause or individual
• Donating a portion of proceeds for a given period of time or for sales of specific products
• Volunteering
• Donating materials or labor
• Participating in fund raising activities or campaigns
• Reducing carbon footprint
• Promoting sustainability
• Supporting fair trade
• Improving working conditions
• Employing under-employed segments
• Increasing awareness for a specific cause, charity, association or another benefitting organization

Aligning a CSR with Customer and Stakeholder Values

There is no shortage of worthwhile causes a business could choose to support through their corporate policy. Efforts could be directed toward support of a charity or cause which interests the business owner personally, reflects shared interests of a portion (or all) of its board members or employees, or which reflects the values of their customer base or target markets.

If your business wants to develop a CSR policy that may influence buying decisions, then it will be important to identify a cause that would be likely to resound with ideal buyer types or some large segment of your target audiences. You may be able to identify likely shared interests using one or some combination of:

• Buyer profiles
• Customer demographic research
• Focus groups
• Surveys and polls

Writing a CSR Policy

The purpose of putting your corporate social responsibility plan into writing in the form of policy serves several purposes. First and foremost, it is indicative of the importance your organization places on CSR.

Writing a formal policy also provides you with content that can be included on your website, in employee orientation and training manuals, on corporate social media profiles and used in marketing materials, all of which can increase stakeholder buy-in and enhance marketing and sales initiatives.

Here are some of the sections you might want to include in your CSR policy:

• • Summary statement of why CSR efforts are important to your organization and its leaders
  • CSR goals
  • How the program will be implemented, measured and updated
  • The values and ethics that characterize your organization and will guide CSR efforts
  • Who is responsible for program administration
  • How the program will be communicated to employees, customers, and other business stakeholders