​Want to do something for Colorado? Have your business engage in efforts to positively impact societal causes, what is called corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR is an effective way to:

1. Boost economic development for all. You can direct your CSR to drive economic growth and create job opportunities for all by, for example, instituting policies to source locally and hire under-represented groups.
   
2. Strengthen nonprofit and community organizations through strategic partnerships. Your CSR can involve alliances with Colorado nonprofits that address social and environmental challenges. For instance, the utility company Xcel Energy has partnered with organizations like Energy Outreach Colorado to provide affordable energy solutions to low-income households, thus reducing energy poverty and improving the quality of life for vulnerable populations.
   
3. Increase the state’s resources dedicated to societal causes. Monetary and in-kind contributions allow nonprofit organizations to amplify the good they do. Consider, for example, donating a percentage of profits or a set amount of product per month.
   
4. Involve more Coloradans in societal causes: Encouraging employee engagement in community service is another effective way for Colorado businesses to help their home state. This can be accomplished by, for example, offering paid volunteer time, organizing team-building activities around community service or supporting employee-led initiatives.

In summary, as a Colorado business, you have a unique opportunity to positively impact your local communities through CSR. Want to learn more? Contact us!

One of the many benefits of participating in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities is that it imbues our work with a sense of purpose. But what if we don’t have access to CSR opportunities? Maybe we’re a solo entrepreneur, work remotely or our employer’s CSR is underdeveloped.

Good news! The practice of “job purposing”, defined as making meaningful contributions to others or a societal cause as part of our work week, is as effective as CSR in igniting purpose in our workday. You might job purpose by, for example, shifting to sustainable purchasing, mentoring a new hire or otherwise contributing to others or society as part of your work week – however you can. Think of job purposing as DIY (do it yourself) CSR: It’s less institutionalized and formal than a CSR program but has the agility to allow anybody to partake.

Other examples of job purposing include:

• A hairdresser training to become an advocate for victims of domestic violence so she can offer effective help to clients who she suspects, or knows, are victims.
• A commercial landlord loaning her vacant properties to a nonprofit that uses them as staging areas for month-long neighborhood cleanups.
• A junior team member who is a whiz at creating slide decks holding web-based tech-support office hours for any coworkers struggling with PowerPoint from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. every Tuesday.

Want to learn more about igniting purpose at work? Watch the TEDx video by our partner, Bea Boccalandro, who coined the term job purposing or contact us.

​In a prior post, we presented an introduction to pro bono, or skills-based, volunteering. In this post, we share the two main reasons your company might want to develop an employee pro bono service program: to contribute to society and to strengthen your organization.

Contribute to society
Studies suggest that pro bono service is an effective way to strengthen nonprofit organizations, drive social impact, and address societal issues. For example:

• A survey conducted by the Taproot Foundation found that 95% of nonprofits that engage in pro bono service report it improves their organization’s effectiveness via cost or resource savings, efficiency, and the quality of operations or services.(1)
  
• Data collected by HP shows its global pro bono program accelerates mission accomplishment for over 90% of involved nonprofits by helping them serve more people, offer higher-quality services, and operate more strategically, for example.(2)
  
• Over 70% of U.S. nonprofit leaders say that leveraging volunteers and their skills has improved their organization’s quality of services or programs to a “great extent,” per a survey conducted by the University of Maryland.(3)

Strengthen your business
The most compelling reason to offer employees the opportunity for pro bono service is to support societal causes. Yet, another excellent reason is supporting the success of your organization. Pro bono service has been shown to benefit the employer in three key areas: employee outcomes, such as satisfaction and engagement; employee skill development; and sales and related outcomes, as detailed below.

Improved employee recruitment, satisfaction, engagement, productivity, and retention

• Academic research finds that employee volunteers show significantly higher rates of job satisfaction than non-participants.(4)
  
• An Australian study found that employee volunteers are more committed to their employer and, thus, more likely to stay with them.(5)
  
• An academic study found that employees who volunteer are subsequently more productive.(6)
  
• An analysis of pre- and post-measures across several companies found that employee volunteers experience a 20% larger increase in employee engagement and a 13% larger increase in job satisfaction than the control group of non-participants.(7)

Employee skill development

• A comprehensive academic review of all the studies conducted on the skill-building impact of all types of employee volunteering finds that participants and their supervisors often report that the service boosted leadership, teamwork and communication skills, as well as technical skills related to the service, such as financial planning, media relations, and project management. The impact is even greater for pro bono volunteering.(8)
  
• A Deloitte employee survey found the vast majority of pro bono volunteers reported their service improved their communication, leadership, and other skills.(9)
  
• A longitudinal study found that well-designed volunteering was effective at developing cross-cultural competencies.(10)

Improved company reputation and sales

• A BCG study found that, even though Gulf State consumers aren’t as oriented toward conscious consumption as their European or U.S. counterparts, it’s still the case the majority will consider adjusting their behaviors in accordance with a brand’s actions on societal issues.(11)
  
• An IBM study found that half of global consumers say they’ve paid a premium—an average of 59% more—for products branded as sustainable or socially responsible in the last 12 months.(12)
  
• A 2021 global survey found that 85% of respondents have shifted their purchase behavior toward being more sustainable in the past five years.(13)

In summary, engaging your employees in pro bono service can be a win-win way for your company. To learn more, contact us!

Ever wonder if there’s a simple action your company can take to combat child labor, modern day slavery and other workplace human rights abuses in developing countries? Good news! There is.

You can shift your corporate purchasing to products are certified to be free of human rights abuses by third parties. These certifications provide independent verification that products have been produced in compliance with certain social and environmental standards. By purchasing certified products you will move from perpetuating existing human rights abuses to combatting them. Following are the principal bodies that certify products:

• Fairtrade International: Fairtrade certification ensures that workers are paid a fair wage, have safe working conditions, and are not subject to discrimination or forced labor.
  
• Rain Forest Alliance: Rain Forest Alliance certification ensures that products are produced in a way that protects the environment and supports the communities where they are grown.
  
• B Corporation: B Corporation certification is awarded to companies that meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. B Corporations are committed to using business as a force for good and creating value for all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
  
• Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS): GOTS is a certification program that sets standards for organic textiles, including cotton, wool and silk. GOTS certification ensures that textiles are made in an environmentally and socially responsible way, from the growing of the raw materials to the final product.
  
• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC): FSC is a certification program that promotes responsible forest management and ensures that products made from wood and paper come from sustainable and responsibly managed forests.
  
• Social Accountability International (SAI): SAI is a certification program that focuses on improving working conditions and promoting social responsibility in the workplace. SAI certification covers a wide range of industries, including apparel, electronics, and food and beverage.

Of course, all certification schemes have limitations. They may not cover all aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and will sometimes fail to ensure full compliance, for example. Nevertheless, there’s little doubt that purchasing CSR certified products is step in the right direction toward creating a just and sustainable global economy.

Pro bono service – also known as pro bono work, pro bono volunteering or skill-based volunteering – is the provision of professional or technical services to social-purpose organizations or individuals free of charge. The best-known model of pro bono service is offering the professional services a company sells, such as legal counsel, free of charge. There are, however, many other pro bono models, including:

Project-based team engagement
In project-based team engagement, teams of employees deliver a standard deliverable to nonprofit partners, such as a website redesign or strategic plan development, over a few weeks or months. For example, SAP has a program in which teams of employees spend a week working full time with a Black-owned business on business development and related topics and five weeks working at part time.

Serve-a-thons
In serva-a-thons, programmers, designers or other specialists collaborate intensively during one or several days to create solutions for nonprofit organizations or charitable causes, such as a new app or refreshed website. Cisco’s “Hack for Good,” for example, develops apps, products or other innovative solutions for nonprofits over a period of time lasting no more than a few days.

Board service
Board service involves employees serving on the board of directors of a nonprofit. For example, Unilever’s "The Compass" program invites all employees to serve on nonprofit boards, either individually or in teams, and trains and provides other support to those who sign up.

Service sabbaticals
A service sabbatical is when an employee takes a leave of absence from their job to serve full time at a nonprofit, typically for one to twelve months. Patagonia, for example, offers employees a two-month paid sabbatical to support an environmental nonprofit.

In summary, whatever your company is, there’s likely a suitable way for it to engage in pro bono service. To learn more, contact us!

A standard element in a company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) is disaster response. Disaster response varies in helpfulness, though. Fortunately, experts suggest that avoiding a few common mistakes will help ensure that your company’s disaster response is truly helpful:

• Operating without a plan. Effective disaster response starts well before disaster strikes in the form of a plan. For guidance on developing one, see a prior post.
  
• Making unhelpful donations. Donating the wrong in-kind products or volunteer help can do more damage than good by taking up valuable time in those delivering assistance. Donate only what respected organizations suggest and remember that the most effective donation immediately after a disaster is almost always cash.
  
• Overpromising. Minimize the risk of good intentions leading to promises that your company can’t keep by committing only what you’ve establish as feasible (ideally in the disaster response plan, per bullet one).
  
• Short-termism. Disaster recovery lasts years. The most effective assistance, therefore, does as well.

In summary, whether your company is responding to earthquakes in Europe, floods in South America or famine in Africa, try to start with a plan, donate what is known to be helpful, commit only what you can deliver and remain involved long-term. These tips will help your companies CSR be truly helpful. As always, feel free to contact us for further assistance.

Being a corporate social responsibility (CSR) professional involves answering many questions. Is involving 40% of employees in volunteering good? Is it vital to offer volunteer grants (making monetary contributions to the organizations where employee have volunteered)? Should community engagement be discussed at the company board level?

Good news! We just published a report on how the Civic 50 Colorado and the Civic 50 US, companies honored for their exceptional community involvement at the state and national levels, answer these and many other questions. The Civic 50 Colorado 2022 Report presents dozens of CSR data points over the last four years. These quantitative benchmarks from the best performers in CSR can help CSR professionals find answers to their questions.

For example, the Civic 50 honorees answers to the above questions follow:

• Yes! Involving 40% of employees in external volunteering (as opposed to internal engagement such as employee resource groups) annually is excellent. The Civic 50 Colorado involve, on average, 34% and the Civic 50 US involve 22% of employees in external volunteering. Additionally, Civic 50 Colorado involve 58% and the Civic 50 US involve 45% of employees in volunteer efforts that are part of the company’s internally oriented community engagement (e.g., employee resource groups, company-sponsored issue education, training and awareness building).
• No, it doesn’t appear essential to offer volunteer grants for a CSR program to reach excellence. Forty-six percent of Civic 50 Colorado and 32% of Civic 50 US companies don’t offer volunteer grants.
• Yes, presenting on community engagement to the company’s board is a best practice applied by 62% of Civic 50 Colorado and 90% Civic 50 US companies.

​Have other CSR questions? Download the free The Civic 50 Colorado 2022 Report! As always, feel free to contact us for assistance with your CSR.

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) refers to creating and maintaining a workplace environment that values and respects the differences among employees, provides all employees a sense of belonging and promotes equal opportunities for all. While a successful DEI program is a sophisticated endeavor that typically takes years to build, following are five productive places to start your DEI journey:
​

1. Recruiting and hiring: A high-impact DEI practice is to implement targeted recruitment and hiring strategies. This may include actively recruiting from underrepresented groups, such as women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community. It might even involve blind hiring practices, which remove identifying information from resumes, to reduce bias in the hiring process.
2. Employee resource groups (ERGs): ERGs can be effective at providing support, resources and a better workplace experience to underrepresented groups of employees. They are typically organized around a particular identity or affinity, such as race, gender, or sexual orientation. They provide a platform for employees to connect with others who share similar experiences and advocate for issues that are important to them.
3. Training and education: Consider providing personal and professional development to employees that helps them understand and appreciate the benefits of diversity and create an inclusive work environment. This can include workshops, seminars and webinars on unconscious bias, cultural sensitivity and microaggressions.
4. Policies and procedures revision: Many existing policies and procedures undermine DEI and, thus, require revisions. This can include updating codes of conduct, anti-discrimination policies and performance evaluations procedures.
5. Metrics and accountability: It’s never too early to establish DEI goals, associated targets and tracking metrics. Common goals include diverse representation at top levels of the organization, diversity of new hires and retention of minority employees.

We hope the above options spur ideas on where to start, or proceed with, your DEI efforts. As always, feel free to contact us for assistance.

No one can predict the future, but a review of the recent past suggests the following three corporate social responsibility (CSR) topics are likely to be highly important in 2023:

1. Team member involvement in CSR. Increasingly, employees want their work to make a meaningful contribution on others or society, or to promote social purpose, per research.
2. Disaster response. Climate change is making natural disasters, including fires and floods, more frequent and grave. Companies, therefore, will likely be expected to intensify their disaster response efforts. Learn more in a prior post.
3. Workplace inclusion. Survey research finds that workers are more likely to accept a job and promote their employer to others if the workplace is inclusive. In other words, managing inclusively is a highly important CSR element to the functioning of a business.
   

In summary, whatever your 2023 CSR plans, try to have them give proper consideration to employee involvement in CSR, disaster response and workplace inclusion.

Want assistance planning your 2023 CSR strategy? Contact us!

This year, which Colorado’s companies have performed best in created a culture of service and dedicating themselves to building a better tomorrow? The answer, according to our Civic 50 Colorado award program, is:

Collectively, the Civic 50 Colorado donated to Colorado causes over $80 million in combined monetary and in-kind giving and over 160,000 employee volunteer hours. They also promoted community engagement through workplace diversity, equity and inclusion programs (98% offer this), formal practices to support voting and related actions (98%), employee paid time off to volunteer (80% offer this) and other efforts.

The Civic 50 Colorado assessment criteria are modeled on the national Points of Light Civic 50 award. Companies are rated based entirely on responses to numerical and categorical questions normalized by number of employees when relevant (to ensure size does not provide an advantage). Each applicant receives up to a possible 1,000 points in each community engagement dimension: investment, integration, institutionalization and impact. The 50 applicants with the highest total score are awarded Civic 50 Colorado honors. Human judging is not part of the determination. In 2022, companies with Colorado operations, community engagement programs and a minimum of 15 employees in Colorado were eligible to apply.

Congrats to the 2022 Civic 50 honorees!

Learn more about the Civic 50 Colorado and stay tuned for the quantitative report (or see the 2021 report)