Gone are the days when a CSR department was merely a corporate ‘nod’ to social responsibility. As consumer expectations continue to rise, and boards are increasingly held to account on the social and environmental impact of their companies, the challenge for CSR departments to ‘prove’ their impact has never been greater.
Equally, as charities continue to struggle under the harsh funding climate, they are seeking ways to work more closely with CSR departments to support their common goals and achieve impact on a local, regional or even international level. So now is the time to find new ways to integrate the working practices of CSR departments and the not-for-profit organisations who together can make a huge impact on our society.
Measuring Impact – Ambitions and Realities
So how can the two sectors effectively work together to deliver, monitor and report on their impact for the benefit of both parties?
The vast majority of businesses are involved with local charities, either through donating time, money or products/services:-
- Donating time – recruiting, organising and managing volunteer matching with charities and tracking pro-bono or volunteer hours is one key element for many partnerships, but how do you track the impact and outcomes for both the volunteers and charities and deliver this programme in a more detailed and efficient way?
- Money – managing applications, assessing and shortlisting grantees is a common process, but how do improve this process and measure the outcomes of the grant in a more detailed way?
- In-Kind Donations – tracking the value of donations is a common process, but again what difference does this donation really make to the beneficiary organisation in terms of outcomes?
We will be exploring some of these questions and best practice at our event in January, with guest speakers from our Company, BITC, Simply Sustainable and The Lloyds Community Programme.
CSR and Foundation Managers need to justify the time and money they put into charitable activities to senior executives in a tangible way, to show it has a company benefit…. to employees, the financial bottom line and customer perception…. it’s not just a nice thing to do! The more they can demonstrate performance and results, the more chance they have of increasing in-kind, volunteer and financial resources for the year ahead.
At our Company CIC, we have delivered management solutions to a number of Corporate Foundations and CSR Departments to help them measure their impact and implement efficient systems.
To further our solutions, we have also undertaken some market research with the two sectors into the processes and systems required to support their partnership work, and we want to share some of these findings with you, with our partners.
Attend our next Economic Exchange Event on Trends in Corporate & Charity Partnerships in 2016.
Taking place on:
Wednesday, 27 January 2016 from 10:00 to 12:30,
CAN Mezzanine – 49-51 East Road, London N1 6AH London, Gt Lon N1 6AH GB.
