TCACC breakfast focuses on corporate social responsibility
Chamber speaker talks about the benefits for companies and non-profits
LIMERICK » Corporate social responsibility and its benefits for nonprofit and for-profit organizations was the focus March 1 during the TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce’s March membership breakfast.
Corporate social responsibility is all those things a company does to be and appear actively engaged in the community, keynote speaker Laura Otten, Ph.D., director of the Non Profit Center at La Salle University’s School of Business told the chamber members.
“Forty years ago when people started talking about corporate social responsibility, people thought it was kind of interesting but not essential for a company,” she said. “Fast forward to today and corporate social responsibility is absolutely essential.”
She said that regardless of the size of a business or what a business does, “if you want to maximize everything available to you to maximize your company’s business model, then your company needs to be engaged in corporate social responsibility.”
Otten added that businesses that are engaged in corporate social responsibility are seen as being good civic partners — not just good corporate partners.
“We have seen it expand from ‘let’s help the corporation look, be and appear good,’ to ‘let’s help the corporation look, be and appear good not just in the footprint of headquarters, and plants but also in the footprint of where employees live and operate.’ Your employees are your corporate ambassadors,” she said.
Otten said there are several ways businesses can work with non-profits — that are relatively easy and low costs — to get them involved in corporate social responsibility.
The first is through employee volunteerism — getting employees to go out and volunteer with non-profits — whether as individuals, company teams or with family members. Otten added that in the last 15 to 20 years, the volunteer model has shifted a bit and volunteering has become more skillbased, where employees donate their expertise to a nonprofit.
Another example is through board service — where companies have employees serve on boards of non-profits.
“It is an easy, low cost way to get involved,” she said.
Otten used the example of American Express, which she said was one of the first companies to involve itself with corporate social responsibility.
“They were one of the first in giving money and using board service as a leadership development opportunity,” she said. “And Amex pushed other companies to use board service as part of their leadership development programs.”
A third example of how companies can get involved is through cause related marketing. Her example again was American Express, which in 1983 made an agreement that $0.01 of every transaction worldwide would be donated to a fund to renovate the Statue of Liberty, and $1 would be donated for every new card application that was approved. A total of $1.7 million was raised for that effort.
She said not every effort needs to be at that level.
“There is brand value in every non-profit that is serving the TriCounty area. It doesn’t have to be massive, it doesn’t have to come from major company. These corporate social responsibility activities can and should be done by every size company — period,” Otten said.
Why should companies get involved with corporate social responsibility activities? Otten said there are benefits for the companies, the non-profits and communities.
Otten said there is consistent research that shows how being seen as civically minded helps the bottom line and improves employee satisfaction for companies.
“People will stay longer at your company if your company is civically engaged. They’ll stay even longer if you support them to get civically engaged,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what a company does, just that they do it.”She added that employees want to work for companies that are civically engaged, something she said was true before millennials came into the workforce, but that has expanded.
“It is also increasingly true that consumers want to buy from companies that are civically engaged — to the point that people will go out of their way to buy a good or service offered by a company that is civically engaged,” she said.
Otten added that for a company, corporate social responsibility can cost as much — or as little as a company wants to invest.
“The return is pretty consistent regardless of how much money you invest,” she added.
For non-profits, working with businesses is also a win-win — gaining them access to skills they might not otherwise have access to and what she calls “people power.”
She urged the non-profit chamber members to be organized and very clear about what they are setting up for volunteers and asking companies for — in terms of the volunteer need, the frequency and the time commitment.
“What we don’t want is corporations being generous with employees and supporting non-profits and then they have a poor volunteer experience,” she said.
She added that the communities benefit when nonprofits and businesses partner, “not just to help out, but to build stronger communities.”
For more information about The Nonprofit Center at LaSalle University’s School of Business visit https://www.lasallenonprofitcenter.org/