In 2018, we launched the Civic 50 Colorado in partnership with Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service. The Civic 50 Colorado recognizes the 50 most community-minded companies in Colorado. Companies with 15 or more employees in state are eligible to apply. The application is free and closes on August 15th. Winners will be announced in the fall.

The Civic 50 Colorado is a unique opportunity to gain recognition for your community engagement program, take a leadership position in corporate community involvement and to share their best practices with the broader business community. Many companies have also said that the process of taking the survey and receiving their complimentary individual scorecards with information on their rankings helped them understand how they could improve their processes and strategies in the future.

To learn more, access support resources and apply, go to our website.

If corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one of your responsibilities, you might pine for guidance in this rapidly evolving business function. You might have questions like, “What foundational principles do I use to make decisions?” or “What policies or programs should I consider?” or “What’s a reasonable target for employee participation in volunteer activities?”

Good news! Our partner organization, Points of Light, asked an esteemed group of CSR experts these questions. Their responses led to The Civic 50 framework, which is reviewed annually and updated as needed. Both The Civic 50 Colorado award program and its national counterpart, The Civic 50 US, are based on the framework. Therefore, in addition to having access to conceptual guidance through the framework, you also have access to performance metrics of US and Colorado award-winning CSR programs on the framework.

So, what does the Civic 50 framework suggest? At a high level, it specifies that strong CSR program have four dimensions:

1. Investment. How extensively and strategically the company applies its resources to community engagement, including employee time and skills, cash, in-kind giving, and leadership.
   
2. Integration. How the company’s community engagement program supports business interests and integrates into business functions, or how it “does well by doing good.” This includes leveraging the CSR program to boost employee engagement and brand marketing, for example.
   
3. Institutionalization. How the company supports community engagement through its institutional policies, systems and incentives, including volunteer time off policies, matching gift grants and board service training.
   
4. Impact. How the company measures the social and business impact of its community engagement program. This includes tracking if the community and the business are better off because of the CSR program.

To dive deeper into these dimensions and the associated metrics from state and national Civic 50 honorees, download the full Civic 50 Colorado 2021 report. You might also wasn’t to sign up for The Civic 50 Colorado mailing list.

When companies donate to nonprofits, it’s usually one of three thing: the products/services they sell, volunteer hours or cash. Pharmaceutical companies donate medicine and law firms donate pro bono legal services – and almost all donate volunteering and money. Businesses, however, are also trove of other assets that can also be repurposed for good. Below are 20 examples.

Donating Items (beyond the company’s commercial products/services)

• Furniture or computers being retired
  
• Waste that can be converted into good (e.g., Caesars Entertainment donates partially used hotel soap to be sterilized and donated to families at high risk of infectious diseases due to poor hygiene)
  
• Marketing, sales or other department-specific competencies
  
• Unused office, warehouse, cargo or other space
  
• Surplus cafeteria food to hunger organizations

Offering Space as a Communications Tool (used for marketing, education, etc.)

• Parking lots (e.g., one automotive shop on a major road offers it to nonprofits to hold fundraising car washes)
  
• Elevator walls, floors, sides of buildings, backs of chairs, bathroom mirrors, cubicle dividers and other building surfaces
  
• Keycards
  
• Presentation cards
  
• Backside of presentation cards
  
• Sides of vehicles
  
• Placemats

Sharing Internal Programs and Processes

• Including nonprofits in bargaining with vendors to help (for example, Timberland includes its key nonprofit partners in its negotiations with telecommunication and health insurance firms to secure lower prices for them)
  
• Offering unfilled training spots to nonprofit staff or others (Aetna)
  
• Making internal management tools available to nonprofits, such as a job candidate interview template or a meeting facilitation guide (IBM)
  
• Extending internal mentoring programs to external individuals, such as nonprofit staff or first-generation college students (Timberland)

Shifting Operations

• Renting office, retail, manufacturing space in marginalized areas to support their economic growth
  
• Reducing carbon footprint, plastic production and solid waste
  
• Hosting beehives (that employee volunteers can manage) to help counter colony collapse disorder
  
• Giving better shelf space to minority-owned brands

You get the idea. There are an infinite number of novel contributions companies can make to charitable causes! What might your business contribute?

If you’re interested in deepening your corporate social responsibility (CSR) expertise, here are three recommended reads.

Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take by Paul Polman and Andrew Winston
Net Positive is a deeply helpful and easy-to-read blueprint on what business leaders should consider including in their CSR. Every business leader will benefit from the ideas within it, even if they are not yet ready to institute them fully.

Purpose Work Nation: Leading Organizations in Service of Our Nation's Powerful Purpose by Brandon Peele
Purpose Work Nation offers leaders a novel pathway to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at their organizations based on the nation’s powerful purpose of “E Pluribus Unum.” It helps companies free their work cultures from mistrust and divisiveness. Purpose Work Nation is research-backed, elegant and as American as apple pie. Read it to bring out the most productive and inspired work across the full diversity of your workforce.

Do Good at Work: How Simple Acts of Social Purpose Drive Success and Wellbeing by Bea Boccalandro
What type of CSR works best for employees? Do Good at Work answers this question. It weaves rigorous evidence, captivating stories, pen and ink illustrations and more than
100 real-world examples into concrete ways CSR practitioners and managers can help team members ignite a sense of purpose.

All three books are critically acclaimed and have Amazon ratings of close to a perfect five out of five stars. So why not curl up with a good book that will deepen your CSR knowledge?

     Carbon credits were first introduced at the 1997 United Nations Kyoto Protocol, the first global agreement to cut carbon emissions. A carbon credit is a permit that allows the owner, a company, to emit a certain amount of CO2 or other greenhouse gas. This might sound like an undesirable transaction but it actually helps limit net carbon emissions. Imagine a company emits 100 metric tons of carbon in a year and would like to offset those emissions. It can purchase a carbon credit that uses some method of carbon capture to offset 100 tons of emissions. Companies can buy or sell carbon credits – or even create more by funding new carbon offset projects. Carbon offsetting was found to be an effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reputable studies. The four main types of carbon offset methods are:

• Forestry and conservation: capturing carbon by planting new trees or protecting old trees that would release carbon when cut down
• Renewable energy: investing in solar, wind or hydro energy to help grow renewable energy and decrease reliance on fossil fuels
• Community projects: these help develop energy-efficient technology in underdeveloped areas around the world
• Waste to energy: the process of capturing methane (from landfills, human or agricultural waste or small villages) and converting it into electricity

     Each of these methods offsets carbon damage by creating carbon repair that otherwise may not have happened. When companies or organizations buy carbon credits, they are helping to fund these projects that cannot be funded on their own. Carbon credits can be used for businesses that are required to lower their carbon emissions by legal regulations or for companies looking to improve their corporate social responsibility (CSR).

     Carbon credits are a way for companies to maintain operations while managing greenhouse gas emissions. Participating in carbon credits can help your company in many ways:

• Help reduce your carbon emissions
• Strengthen your CSR
• Improve your social license to operate
• Help you stand out to your stakeholders by differentiating yourself as a sustainable company

     Despite these pros, there are also criticisms of carbon credits. For example, what if the development of wind power in that small village would have happened without the trading of carbon credits? Also, are the carbon measurements accurate? And are we truly offsetting as much as we're emitting? All of the concerns are valid and should be addressed when trading or creating carbon credits. Nevertheless, for small companies starting their sustainable strategies, carbon offsets can be a good option. There are even companies, like Radicle, that help track your emissions, lower your emissions, create carbon credits and trade carbon credits – all in compliance with regulatory and environmental standards. Bottom line? If you want to reduce your carbon emissions, consider carbon credits.

We are thrilled to announce the publication of a research report detailing the practices of the Colorado companies that earned 2021 state-level recognition for their corporate social responsibility (CSR): the 2021 Colorado Civic 50.

What can we learn from Colorado’s best CSR exemplars? The report has dozens of data points, but some of its most applicable lessons for organizations looking to improve their CSR include:

• Build workplace diversity, equity and inclusion programs, as 98% of the Civic 50 Colorado have.
• Offer employees paid time off to volunteer, as over three-quarters of the Civic 50 Colorado do.
• Aim to involve a third of employees in your CSR, as the Civic 50 Colorado, on average, do.
  

These actions, however, are only a sliver of the practices the Civic 50 Colorado have in place. To learn more, download the full report.

​On February 24, the world watched Russia invade Ukraine. While there are many factors at play, we can all agree that this is a horrifying experience for those living in Ukraine. Many business owners and managers are watching the events unfold via the news and other media channels feeling powerless. How can we do our work while so many are suffering across the globe? Fortunately, there are some steps companies can take to help those affected:

1. Reach out to your stakeholders. If your company has employees, contracted workers, suppliers or partners in Ukraine or affected neighboring countries, reach out and extend help in any way possible.
2. Encourage your employees to donate. Provide legitimate organizations for your employees to donate to, such as Ukrainians of Colorado, GlobalGiving or Save The Children. If possible, show your support – and do more good – by matching employee donations.
3. Give your employees a day off to attend a protest. Allowing employees to take time off to go to a local protest could assuage their feelings of helplessness, facilitate stronger inter-employee connections and boost company moral. To find protests near you, search Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using relevant hashtags (#Ukraine, #nowar, #StandWithUkraine) and Google.
4. Leverage any capacity to help your company has: Your company may have the ability to support Ukraine in its own way. For example, Airbnb is providing free temporary housing for up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. However, you do not need to be a large company to help. Your company may have a niche authority they can leverage. King Soopers’ liquor store in Glendale, for example, pulled Russian vodka from its shelves and a bakery in Canada baked cookies featuring the colors of the Ukrainian flag and is donating all proceeds to the Ukrainian cause.
5. Allow affected employees to take time off. Allow employees with family in the Ukraine or otherwise directly affected by the crisis to take time off to grieve, process or sort out their situation. Your employees are one of your most important stakeholders. Supporting them is an integral part of any strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) program.
6. Get creative! If none of the above options are a good fit for your company, find one that is. Might you purchase art from Ukrainian artists to refresh your office for the upcoming return to in-person work? Or take your team to this Denver immersive experience that raises funds for Ukraine? At the very least, your company can make a statement of solidarity.

In summary, your company can help tilt the fate of Ukraine toward peace. In fact, leveraging our business resources to support Ukraine (and others in similar situations) is considered by some experts a requirement for best-in-class CSR. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy may have said it best: “We are all people of this world. We should be together, we should be strong and show solidarity.”

April is Global Volunteer Month. It celebrates the power of people who tackle society’s greatest challenges, including employee volunteers. Following are a few ideas to help your company make it a great month.

1. Encourage participation
Global Volunteer Month is a great time to highlight your year-round volunteer service opportunities. Consider ramping up communications or enrolling middle managers as advocates, for example.

2. Give credit where credit is due
Shouting people out for their volunteer contributions is a great way to celebrate Global Volunteer Month. Consider hand-written notes or emails from senior leaders to volunteers. Additionally, sharing stories and photos of volunteers internally will brighten the workplace culture and inspire others to start volunteering.

3. Spread the word
Don't have the time or resources to plan anything new right now? Don’t worry, a simple social-media campaign is low-burden way to celebrate Global Volunteer Month. Points of Light has a great marketing kit to get you started. Your campaign could, for example, share stories and accomplishments of your employees or build awareness for a cause that your company values.

4. Become an Activation Partner
If you already have a plan for this April’s Global Volunteer Month, share it with Points of Light. It will promote it through their social networks!

For more Global Volunteer Month ideas, explore the Points of Light’s Global Volunteer Month toolkit.

In 2021 we saw a 5% increase in resignations over 2019. This phenomenon is referred to as the Great Resignation, a term coined by Texas A&M professor Anthony Klotz. Klotz believes it’s a consequence of pandemic disruptions releasing pent up employee dissatisfaction. As we’re all painfully aware, the pandemic postponed weddings, canceled sporting events, wiped holiday celebrations off the calendar, normalized work at home, made grieving an everyday emotion, frayed mental health and generally upended our lives. Has all this jarring resulted in more of us quitting our jobs? If so, what are the criteria that we now use to determine if we will quit? A 2021 Edelman study identified the three drivers of the Great Resignation. For some, it’s compensation. These individuals left their jobs because they were not satisfied with their pay and perks. Others have left their jobs because they wanted to continue working from home, live in a rural area, parent full time or otherwise change their lifestyle. The number one reason people have left their jobs, however, is lack of purpose (learn more). The relationship between purpose and retention has long existed. For example, pre-pandemic research uncovered that workers with a sense of purpose had 40% higher retention. Klotz’s analysis, however, seems to apply here. The pandemic unleashed record amounts of purpose-oriented action.

​Given that purpose is so central for employees, how can employers provide it? Good news! CSR (corporate social responsibility) is one solution. There’s evidence that simply participating in employee volunteering, for example, boosts sense of purpose at work by 33%. What’s more, CSR benefits the company in ways other than retention as detailed in a prior post.

In these trying times, CSR might just save your business from being a victim of the Great Resignation.

It’s no secret that businesses are primarily motivated by money. Virtually every corporate decision is strongly influenced, if not fully determined, by a financial cost-benefit analysis. Until recently, most business leaders assumed that corporate social responsibility (CSR) was an expense that had no financial upside. Yet, as covered in a prior post, studies have established that CSR drives higher employee attraction, retention and engagement - all of which help the bottom line. Furthermore, another post on this site linked CSR to customer spend and loyalty. If all of this is true, CSR would be expected to lead to better financial performance. Is there evidence that it does?
There is! A 2020 study involving over 250 European companies, for example, concluded that “companies pursuing CSR policies financially outperform their peers.” What’s more, this positive impact holds up even during periods of economic crisis. Similarly, 2019 research conducted out of the University of Chicago discovered that a $1,000,000 investment in CSR will likely be pay off for companies with as few as 411 employees. Put another way, it appears that investing $2,400 per employee in CSR is profitable! Furthermore, a 2016 study found that CSR is linked to lower investment risk and higher stock returns.

It’s no wonder, then, that many leading brands - including Deloitte, S&P Global and UPS - pursue meaningful CSR. CSR seems to the new secret sauce for financial success. To make the business case for your company’s CSR, download “Making the Case for Socially Responsible Business” by ACCP or contact us!