When a company embarks on a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy, the end goal is to contribute, through its CSR actions and commitment, to creating a positive social or environmental impact. 

However, if this strategy is coherent, well designed and well planned, not only will it have a positive impact on society and the environment, but it will also have a positive impact on the organisation’s income statement.

In this post, we share the three best strategies to help boost the impact of your organisation’s CSR and sustainability actions.

But first, let’s look at a bit of context.

What are CSR actions?

Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR actions are a set of initiatives and strategies that seek to integrate ethical and social values into the operations and decisions of a company. 

CSR focuses on enhancing the social and environmental impact of companies and improving their relationship with communities and interest groups.

Some examples of CSR actions in companies might include:

• Promoting sustainable practices in the supply chain.
• Investing in community-development projects.
• Promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
• Ensuring transparency in company management and performance.
• Implementing workplace best practices.

CSR not only benefits communities and the environment, but it can also improve a company’s reputation and enhance customer and staff loyalty. 

In addition, many companies are increasingly turning to CSR to fulfil the ever-higher expectations of consumers and investors regarding ethics and sustainability.

What counts as CSR and what doesn’t?

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to business actions and decisions that seek to integrate ethical and social values into the operations and strategies of a company. This includes the promotion of sustainable practices, community development, diversity and inclusion, transparency and the promotion of workplace best practices.

That said, not all business actions that might seem ethically or socially responsible are necessarily considered as CSR. For example, a company that simply donates money to a charity without a broader CSR strategy would not necessarily qualify as a socially responsible company.

CSR is also not the same as philanthropy as CSR focuses on integrating ethical and social values into a company’s operations and decisions, while philanthropy refers to a company’s donations and charitable acts.

To recap, CSR involves a company’s ongoing commitment to improving its social and environmental impact and to having a positive relationship with communities and interest groups. It’s important for companies to think about how their actions and decisions affect society and the environment and to take steps to minimise negative impacts and maximise positive ones.

What is CSR now called?

In 2020, Spain’s National Securities Market Commission (CNMV, in Spanish) updated its 2015 Good Governance Code for Listed Companies, removing the term Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and replacing it with the term sustainability.

This decision was made because sustainability is a broader and more widely used term as it refers to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) aspects.

The CNMV made these changes in recommendations 53, 54 and 55 regarding CSR. After this change, sustainability became a more significant concept for the regulator while the importance of CSR waned.

Now that we’ve clarified these two terms, we talk about CSR actions in this article on the understanding that they also refer to the current term sustainability.

What are the benefits of CSR actions?

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an increasingly popular practice in the corporate world as it offers multiple benefits for both companies and society in general. Some of the key benefits of CSR include:

1. Enhanced company reputation: Companies that adopt CSR practices can improve their reputation and public image as it shows their commitment to ethical values and sustainability.

2. Increased customer loyalty: Consumers increasingly value companies that think about the social and environmental impact of their actions, and they are more inclined to buy products and services from these companies.

3. Better staff motivation and productivity: Employees often feel a greater sense of pride and commitment to a company that cares about the wellbeing of society and the environment.

4. Lower legal and regulatory risks: The adoption of CSR practices can help companies to comply with existing or future regulations and laws and to avoid potential sanctions and fines.

5. Development of new business opportunities: CSR can help companies to identify and make the most of new business opportunities, such as developing sustainable products and services or investing in community-development projects.

6. Greater operational efficiency: Companies that adopt CSR practices tend to benefit from greater operational efficiency through reducing their environmental impact and improving their working practices.

7. Contribution to sustainable development: CSR contributes to sustainable development as it promotes practices that benefit society and the environment.

In conclusion, CSR offers a great deal of benefits for both companies and society at large.

It’s important to have the technological tools and standardised processes that allow you to measure the ROI of your CSR and sustainability programmes. The right metrics are essential when it comes to validating a sustainability strategy as they provide very valuable data when it comes to making decisions.

What type of value can CSR create?

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) allows companies to create value both for their shareholders and for society in general, but what type of value can CSR create?

• Economic value: CSR can help companies to improve profitability and productivity. It’s been proven that companies with greater social responsibility tend to perform better financially.

• Social value: CSR also helps companies to contribute to sustainable development and to improving quality of life in the communities in which they operate.

• Environmental value: By adopting sustainable practices, companies can reduce their carbon footprint and environmental impact, which contributes to protecting the environment.

• Brand value: Companies that are seen as socially responsible enjoy a better reputation and greater customer loyalty, which translates into higher brand value.

In summary, CSR can create economic, social, environmental and brand value for companies. By adopting socially responsible practices, companies can improve their profitability, contribute to sustainable development, protect the environment and strengthen their reputation and brand value. It involves much more than just completing a CSR report.

How to be a socially responsible company: three ways to boost the impact of your CSR actions

Now that we’ve seen the benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), we should say that not all CSR actions have the same impact. Here are three ways to boost the impact of your CSR actions:

1. Focus on the needs of the community: To boost the impact of CSR actions, it’s important to focus on the needs of the community. This includes identifying what these needs are and designing programmes and projects that address these specific needs.
   
2. Work with local organisations: Companies can boost the impact of their CSR actions by collaborating with local organisations. These organisations have a deep understanding of the community’s needs and can provide a great deal of support in implementing CSR programmes and projects. Companies could also work with members and partners to expand the scope of CSR actions and to strengthen relationships.
   
3. Transparency and accountability: One way of boosting the impact of CSR actions is through transparency and accountability. This involves providing detailed information about CSR programmes and projects and regularly reporting on the outcomes and impact of these actions. The communication of CSR actions needs to be both external and internal.

In short, companies can boost their CSR actions by focusing on the needs of the community, working with local organisations and ensuring transparency and accountability.

These strategies not only help strengthen the reputation of the company, but they also contribute to sustainable development and to improving quality of life in the community. Therefore, it’s important that companies make a real effort to be socially responsible and to boost the impact of their CSR actions.

Conclusion

It goes without saying that a CSR strategy that really drives return on investment requires a great deal of analysis, planning and evaluation, and a big dose of creativity. However, if the strategy is well executed, the benefits, both for society and the company itself, are highly rewarding.

At APLANET, our software can help all kinds of responsible companies to improve the management and reporting of their CSR, ESG and sustainability actions, contributing to better decision-making and to communicating to society their commitment to sustainable development. Request a demo.

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