Comment by Chad Rogerson for October / November CCB 114
Exciting things are happening in the world of community investment. Although corporate responsibility has its roots in philanthropy, community investment began to take more of a back seat in the second half of the last decade. The onset of climate change meant the focus shifted very much to managing environmental issues, whilst social programmes were given less priority and the whole area seemed to go a bit stale. The global economic turmoil has certainly shaken things up. Now, building trust is top of the corporate agenda, and businesses are quickly realising the powerful role that strategic social initiatives can play.
A breath of fresh air has been blown into community investment, and over the last 12-18 months we have seen companies launching a range of innovative partnerships and campaigns. Google’s Project 10^100 and Coca-Cola’s women’s entrepreneurs programme are just two great examples. At Corporate Citizenship, we have seen a big rise in clients wanting support on developing new social initiatives and big ideas in 2010. Through our work, it is becoming clear that different parts of a business are now taking a real interest in community investment – from senior management, to marketing/communications, to human resources – as they begin to more fully understand the potential business value.
All of this means it is an exciting time to be a community investment professional, but the heightened interest both internally and externally throws up a whole new set of challenges. Not only must you work seamlessly with a greater range of colleagues from across your company, but there is heightened pressure for your programme to deliver. With budgets still tight, it is therefore important to focus on impacts, developing community partnerships that have the necessary KPIs, objectives and evaluation systems to be able to demonstrate value. Done well, community investment can be a real differentiator for your company or brand, helping it to standout in a crowded marketplace where all your peers and competitors are jostling to regain trust and credibility.
Chad is a consultant at Corporate Citizenship. Email him at chad.rogerson@corporate-citizenship.com to discuss assurance, community, impacts, new business, stakeholder engagement and strategy development.
Giving in Numbers: 2010 Edition, the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP)’s annual report on corporate giving, was released on 27 October. 171 prominent companies participated in the survey on 2009 contributions, including 61 of the Fortune 100. CECP provides a distribution demonstrating the major trends, showing that giving fell at 59% of companies in 2009, with 40% of companies decreasing by 10% or more. In contrast, aggregate corporate giving in CECP’s four-year matched set of 95 companies rose in 2009 to $9.93 billion, up 7% from 2008 and reaching the highest value in four years. The increase is largely attributable to corporate mergers resulting in combined giving budgets and increased donations of medicine by pharmaceutical companies, which were quick to respond when millions of Americans lost their health insurance due to unemployment.
Google Donates $10 Million to Innovative Non Profits
Two years after it asked people to find ways to change the world by helping as many people as possible, Google has concluded its Project 10^100 with the announcement of five winning ideas. More than 150,000 ideas were received from people in more than 170 countries; 5 ideas were then selected from a shortlist of 16 by a public vote. The winning proposals include: making educational content available online for free; enhancing science and engineering education; and driving innovation in public transport. Concrete proposals to tackle these ideas have been reviewed over the past 12 months, and, following the announcement of the winning ideas, Google has now given a total of $10 million to each of the five inspiring organisations.
The Coca-Cola Company has pledged to empower 5 million women entrepreneurs throughout Coca-Cola’s global business system by 2020. This pledge builds upon a commitment made by The Coca-Cola Company in 2008 to the United Nations “Business Call to Action” to grow the Company’s Micro Distribution Centers (MDCs) in Africa. MDCs are an independent network of entrepreneurs, many of whom are women, who distribute Coca-Cola’s beverage products to retailers, often by bicycle or pushcart. To meet this new target, the Company will build on best-practices in its business system worldwide, encourage innovation, and seek the insights of women executives in order to break down barriers faced by women in its value chain.
On 21 October Sony Electronics announced that its VAIO® computers now come equipped with IBM’s World Community Grid software, helping provide scientists around the globe with the computing power to help solve humankind’s biggest challenges. Once the software is activated, it connects users with a network of PCs, which pools their surplus processing power to create a free, virtual supercomputer for researchers to tap. The collective power of more than 1.6 million PCs gives scientists the equivalent of one of the world’s fastest supercomputers, speeding up research by crunching numbers and performing simulations that would take hundreds of years to perform on typical computers.
Voila, Trilogy International Partners’ wireless subsidiary in Haiti , has been working with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to pioneer the use of text messaging technology to fight cholera in Haiti. A new messaging application, developed by Voila, allows the Red Cross to send customized text messages via SMS to phone users in defined geographic areas – unlike traditional SMS services, which require broadcast messages be delivered to every subscriber on a carrier’s network. Using the new service, the Red Cross can provide Haitians with advice and offers of aid that are relevant to their particular circumstances. Immediately following the first suspected cases of Cholera, the Red Cross began sending text messages to Voila customers specifically in the affected population around the Artibonite region, advising on good hygiene and safe water practices to help contain the spread of the disease.
The International Zinc Association (IZA) has announced new commitments to fund UNICEF programmes in Brazil against zinc deficiency, a public health threat that contributes to the deaths of more than 450,000 children each year. At the beginning of 2011 IZA and UNICEF will also identify an additional programme in the African continent, where zinc deficiency is also affecting children. These commitments will be administered through the IZA’s “Zinc Saves Kids” initiative, which has already committed US$3 million to similar UNICEF programmes in Peru and Nepal. Zinc micronutrient deficiency is a significant public health issue, causing 800,000 deaths overall and putting at risk more than two billion people due to ailments such as diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria. Many of these cases are preventable with a simple zinc supplement or through zinc-enhanced fertilizers.
New report highlights business strategies for achieving the MDGs
Business Action for Africa and eight other leading business organisations have launched a report geared towards helping businesses join the fight against poverty. The report, Delivering Results: Moving Towards Scale, highlights the best practices, lessons learnt and challenges that companies face when developing inclusive business models. The report is the result of a half-day forum at the United Nations MDG Summit in New York on 21 September, which brought together more than 200 leaders from companies, governments, international organisations, aid agencies, and NGOs from around the globe. In a similar initiative to draw the private sector into the battle to eradicate poverty, UN development agency, UNDP, has also launched an online database to help global business leaders co-operate with companies and planners in the developing world to combat poverty. The new knowledge management platform features evidence-based case studies, publications and contacts of related organisations focused on inclusive business models.
On 7 October Cisco celebrated 25 years of corporate social responsibility by attempting a Guinness World Record for the world’s largest art lesson across the most number of cities. Held in conjunction with Children’s Day in Singapore, cities from Asia Pacific, Greater China, Japan and the U.S. participated in an art class conducted by young Singaporean artist Peter Draw.
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