The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Corporate responsibility on agenda as Dundee business leaders meet
Social enterprise joins with Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce for CSR event
Industry leaders will be urged to think about the wider impacts of their business activities during a session in Dundee today.
Social enterprise The Circle and Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce have joined forces for an event themed on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
Delegates will be challenged to view CSR activities as more than just a “nice thing” for businesses to do and instead see it from a strategic viewpoint which could hand their company a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Former Alliance Trust company secretary Donald Macpherson is due to share his experience of the benefits of CSR.
He will talk about the trust’s work through the Alliance Trust Foundation and the long-term benefits that have flowed from the group’s involvement in the Cateran Yomp, an annual trek through Perthshire in aid of ABF The Soldiers’ Charity.
There will also be a counter-perspective given by Jordan Butler of local charity Togs for Tots, which benefited when local developer Ryan McLeod designed an app for the group as a CSR project.
The event will be held at The Circle, which itself is a hub space for charities, social enterprise, community groups and socially aware businesses.
Chief executive Kirsty Thomson said: “As charities and social enterprises look to diversify their income streams, corporate partners are increasingly important to realising fundraising and operational targets.
“As The Circle seeks to grow our Corporate Partners Programme we need to make sure we are also meeting our partners’ business needs.”
Alison Henderson, chief executive of Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce, said firms needed to think about how they could support the wider community in which they operate.
She said: “Many businesses already work hard to give value to the local community under CSR initiatives, but we’re hoping to inspire many others to think about how they can use their skills, offer opportunities to their workforce to give them a wider purpose and take advantage of the personal development and two-way knowledge transfer that comes with working with new organisations.”