Every business has a corporate social responsibility. This holds companies responsible for their own actions and makes them aware of the impact they are having on the wider community, but it goes deeper than that. Consumers are becoming far more aware of the brands they’re buying from, with many people now looking to buy exclusively from businesses whose views align with their own.
The way consumers determine a company’s views is to look at their corporate social responsibility, making it all the more important to a) have one, and b) ensure it’s a good one that covers all the essential facets.
If your business is new, or if you simply want to enhance your existing corporate social responsibility policy, here are four ways you can do so.
Contents
Partner with a local charity
A big part of corporate social responsibility is to give back, and the best way to do that is to partner with a local charity. Put the feelers out online or call local charities to determine who is in need of a business partner. As a charity business partner, you’ll be committed to raising money for your partner charity over the course of the year.
From doing dress-down days in the office to holding a bake sale or a volunteer car wash, there are so many charity fundraiser ideas you can implement to raise money for your local cause. When choosing a charity, it’s a good idea to find a smaller one, and potentially one who hasn’t had a charity partner as of yet as it will give them a good chance to get their fundraising off the ground and boost their visibility.
Fundraising is great because it not only makes a real difference to the charity and the cause, but it can provide excellent team building experiences and be fun to do, too.
Support other local businesses
Another big way you can enhance your corporate social responsibility is by supporting other local businesses. Whether it’s employing a loyal accountancy firm to do your bookkeeping for you, or employing the services of a local stationary firm for all your equipment needs, there are so many ways you can support other local businesses.
This will not only pump money into the local economy, but it could also create a two-way relationship that benefits you, too.
Become more sustainable
Another way you can better your corporate social responsibility is to commit to being more sustainable. This includes creating climate-friendly initiatives such as recycling, carpooling, and using recyclable materials where possible. If your business sells items, you could also look at how your packaging can be revamped to be more sustainable.
To drive sustainability, it could be worth setting up staff initiatives to encourage things like cycling to work or carpooling.
Contribute to the local area
The fourth way you can improve your corporate social responsibility is to contribute to the local area. You can do this by getting your staff to have volunteer days where they hep certain causes, such as litter picking, but also taking part in local events and having a presence at things like exhibitions and trade shows in the area.
You can also contribute by giving jobs to people in the area and engaging in things like apprenticeship schemes for schools. This will allow you to contribute to the people who live in the area which will benefit everyone locally.
Summary
These are just four ways you can enhance your company’s corporate social responsibility. If you don’t already have a strategy in place, these four areas are a good place to start.
