Corporate Social Responsibility is always evolving – quickly. Corporate Hartz leads clients with the future in mind. As such, we have discussed each of the trends below in earlier Hartz & Minds posts.
As we leave 2014 behind, below is a summary of 4 of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s predictions for CSR in the coming year:
CSR programs are going global but will have more flexibility for local adaptation.
It used to be common for a company to develop a signature program in headquarters and roll it out across global offices. The program was to be a neat package with everything “fitting into key pillars” with shared programs, guidelines and metrics across borders. Now, businesses see that what is an appropriate employee engagement or community investment for one location may not work in another.
The lines between for-profit and nonprofit will continue to blur.
With the emergence of the sharing economy, B Corps and the burgeoning of social enterprises, the lines between for-profits and nonprofits will continue to blur. Increasingly, entrepreneurs are developing products and services for the sole purpose of societal benefit. Many companies are partnering with these for-profit enterprises and other “nontraditional” partners, whereas historically companies have partnered nearly exclusively with nonprofits.
A growing proportion of start-ups will adopt CSR at very early stages.
Recently, it has become evident there is an appetite among startups to showcase a commitment to social responsibility. Founders and executives at these nascent companies view employee engagement programs – including volunteer opportunities – as a key leverage point for retaining talent, particularly in markets with fierce “talent wars.”
In 2011, Kabbage, now a global giant in small business lending, took its 50 team members to Camp Twin Lakes for its first Kabbage Kares project.
https://www.kabbage.com/company/kabbage-kares/
Materiality will rise to the front and center of CSR reporting.
Investors, businesses, employees, vendors, and customers companies increasingly consider published CSR reports, highlighting issues of bottom-line and long-term importance to the company, a business requirement. “Materiality” is defined by the Global Reporting Initiative, as those “issues which reflect the organization’s significant economic, environmental and social impacts or substantively influence the assessments and decisions of stakeholder.” This focus will challenge c-suite executives and CSR professionals to enhance their understanding of how their programs link to the business.