causenation

Cause Consulting is proud to announce its #3 spot on the CR Top Ten in Communications and Advertising List appearing in the January/February 2010 issue of Corporate Responsibility Magazine. 

“This list evaluates firms, segment by segment, against their peers based on customer feedback and rates them based on their ability to help public companies keep their corporate responsibility promises,” according to CR Magazine. The list is based 100% on customer organization responses to an online survey that is recorded anonymously.   

We’re honored to be on this prestigious list in the same magazine issue that unveils the CR 100 Best Corporate Citizens List,® recognizing companies working hard at corporate social responsibility every day.  Our team is passionate about our work and committed to developing innovative strategies and initiatives in the corporate responsibility field.  We deeply appreciate our clients’ participation in this survey and are grateful for their ongoing support and partnership.  Learn more at Cause Consulting.

You must take five minutes this weekend to watch this inspiring short film created by 16 year-old David Were about his realities living in the largest slum in Kenya.  I have been working on the Adobe Youth Voices program since its inception four years ago, and I am continuously inspired.

This and ten other youth produced films are being celebrated this week at Lincoln Center in New York City as part of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival.  Over a hundred additional films are uploaded at the Adobe Youth Voices Gallery.  In the past week the New York Times, Wall Street Journal,  WABC TV and other news outlets have shared these films with millions. 

Every few weeks I hope to highlight a few Adobe Youth Voices films in a causenation blog.  Adobe Youth Voices is the company’s global signature philanthropic program empowering youth to create media for social change.   Read the rest of this entry »

Congratulations to our client the Boston Beer Company for receiving the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy’s (CECP) prestigious Founder’s Award for Excellence in Corporate Philanthropy.  This award recognizes the Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream® program for its demonstrated CEO leadership, dedication to measurement, successful partnerships, and innovation.

We are proud to be a part of the Samuel Adams team and honored to work on this exciting program that supports low and moderate income micro-entrepreneurs in the food and beverage industry.

Each year CECP honors three companies. In 2010, Boston Beer won in the smaller company category (under $2bn in annual revenues) and shared the stage with Intel’s Teach Initiative and General Mill’s African Women and Children’s Hunger Program.

To learn more visit:  Center Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, CECP Press Release, Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream, CNN feature, Boston Globe OpEd, Jim Koch on CNBC, Cause Consulting Case Study

Scale is the “hot” word and theme that is permeating my work, research and interactions with my peers from the CSR and philanthropy arenas.  How do we scale proven nonprofit models?  How do we scale green business models and innovations?  How can companies take great philanthropic programs and scale them across the globe?  The list of questions goes on…
 
Recently, I joined 75 business leaders in Washington, DC as part of the Progressive Business Leaders Network to share our voice around key policy issues with select representatives from Congress and to hear from them about current “bills in the works.”  We tackled many issues, including sustainability, education, workforce issues, financial reform, among others in a jam packed schedule.  It turns out that no matter the conversation, we consistently returned to a discussion about the challenge of scale. Read the rest of this entry »

Last Thursday was the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day, a day that celebrates our planet. 

Earth Day has recently been used as a convenient opportunity for businesses to express their pledge to environmental consciousness and promote their up-and-coming green products.  Historically, many of these marketing campaigns were designed to appeal to  eco-conscious consumers, and could be perceived as “greenwashing.”  Last Thursday, we expected nothing less than the status quo.

What did we see instead?  Read the rest of this entry »

I just returned from judging the 2010 Cause Marketing Forum Halo Awards.  And the winners are…. 

Actually, I am sworn to secrecy.  Sorry!  Finalists will be announced June 3^rd at the Annual Cause Marketing Forum Conference.  There truly are some amazing programs to look out for.

One of the best things about being a part of the cause-related world is that our collective field is constantly innovating, evolving, pushing the limits of what might be possible and, ultimately, raising the bar for all of us who practice in this space. It is an amazing experience to be part of a discipline that is old enough to recognize some best practices, yet still young and agile enough to be the source of fertile ground open to exploration. Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t miss an Op-Ed in today’s Boston Globe entitled “Microfinance is a Solid Investment in Economic Growth.”  The piece, written by Jim Koch, Founder and Chairman of The Boston Beeer Company, and Gina Harman, CEO of ACCION USA, describes the power of extremely small business loans to help lift the fate of entrepreneurs. 

Spreading the word and getting others engaged is a core part of the Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream program, and we are proud to be partners in creating and bringing this program to life.  Through this initiative thousands of  lower-income food and beverage  micro-entreprenuers are receiving business coaching and access to new networks and capital.  Since the program’s inception in 2008, over 250 New England jobs have been saved or created through loans made by the Samuel Adams Microloan Fund at ACCION USA.  Visit the program’s website for more information or to refer an entrepreneur looking for a loan.

Boston Beer Company Founder Jim Koch responds to President Obama’s State of the Union Address on CNBC’s Main Street Business. Jim talks about the company’s community initiative – Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream – that is creating jobs in small businesses through the power of micro-lending.  We are proud to be a part of the Samuel Adams team. Click to learn more on the program’s website, watch related video, or read other related causenation posts. 

The continued research statistics about the continued momentum of the CSR movement and companies’ progress despite a down economy is encouraging.  But recently I saw first-hand that momentum in action – and that was more exciting than any statistic.

A few weeks ago,  I spoke at Simmons College School of Management  at a seminar in CSR theory taught by Dr. Shuili Du, a CSR researcher and professor of marketing.  I found the students smart and well informed and their questions and comments insightful. What has me all jazzed up, though is what happened after I left the class. Read the rest of this entry »

My dad has given me many lessons over my lifetime and one of the ones I always seem to draw on is:  Do not confuse someone’s method with his motive.

This came to mind recently when Goldman Sachs announced a $500 million philanthropy initiative to help small business owners through higher education scholarships, access to capital and mentoring.  There is little doubt expressed by journalists and bloggers all around the country that what is motivating Goldman is a desperate need for good will coming out of months and months of revelations around the company’s role in Wall Street’s financial meltdown.

Goldman appears to have begun to embrace what we in causenation always look for from corporate America – transparency. Read the rest of this entry »