What if every company embraced social investment as part of its culture?
What if every company embraced Social Investment as part of its Culture?
Social Consciousness Goes Mainstream
The terminology is everywhere: corporate social responsibility (CSR), community investment (CI), triple bottom line business (TBL), sustainable business, social business, social value creation, ethical business, not-just-for-profit business, creative capitalism...
Whatever you want to call it (and we're going to call it "responsible business" or "social business"), the idea that companies are paying attention to more comprehensive business results than they once did is unequivocal. It's no longer just about economic performance, but also how a company and its stakeholders interact with and impact social and environmental issues. It's about how you conduct business and treat people, and connecting those greater social values to your bottom line.
And it's transforming corporate strategy everywhere.
See some examples of Embedded Giving in Action
Responsible business practices are now an important part of corporate success. Examples of socially responsible business initiatives abound: in one of the more high profile initiatives of its kind, companies including the Gap, Apple and Motorola teamed up to form Product (RED) to promote and sell selected items to benefit various causes worldwide and have contributed more than $22 Million of this "embedded giving" to The Global Fund to fight HIV and AIDS in Africa; online kids social site Club Penguin engaged its members to donate credits to charity and in return donated $1 million to charities the children selected; and GE implemented EcoMagination, a green-inspired product line, in 2004 GE saw sales double in two years to $12 US billion on its way to a revised goal of $25 billion by 2010, to name but a few. Smaller examples are everywhere: donate $2 to a cause at the grocery store cash register, round up your bill for charity, etc.
Why are companies motivated to undertake responsible business practices?
Quite simply, they are finding it is good for business. Research has shown that companies incorporating social responsibility or community investment initiatives into their business models perform better financially, and have better relationships with customers, employees, suppliers and investors.
Here are some of the benefits that companies embracing responsible business practices are enjoying:
See the Key Benefits of Responsible Business
Attract and retain key employees. Talented personnel weigh a company's CSR policies among other factors when deciding where to work, and how long to stay there. In recent surveys of corporate employees, a consistent 8 out of 10 report being more motivated and loyal the more socially responsible a company becomes (Corporate Social Responsibility Review, The Conference Board of Canada, Autumn 2007).
Improve your reputation in the marketplace. A Globescan study that asked respondents in 1999 and again in 2005 about the factors most influencing their impressions of companies, showed that in the latter year consumers were much more likely to volunteer corporate social responsibility factors, putting these factors well ahead of brand image.
Protect against future reputational incidents.A Weber Shandwick survey of CEOs in eleven countries found that 79% of respondents thought a strong corporate social responsibility record enables a company to recover faster post-crisis.
Increase sales, market share and customer loyalty. A 2006 study by the Calvert Group said consumers were 77% more likely to buy a product or service from a company that is socially responsible, and 71% more likely to buy the stock of such a company. A 2006 poll by Cone Inc., a marketing agency in Boston, reported 89% of Americans between 13 and 25 would switch from one brand to another associated with a "good cause", if products and prices were comparable.
But we are not selling CSR or sustainable business practices; we believe the concept has already been embraced by most forward thinking and growth-oriented companies. At Benevity, we provide an enabler for the implementation and measurement of some of these strategies. Specifically, one that embeds an optional charitable gift into any transaction or financial flow within a proprietary environment. Think of it as "crowd-powered giving".
How do you make responsible business practices work for your business? Find out more.