causenation

Mark Feldman pumping water while visiting development projects in Zambia

Today is World Water Day. I’ve been working on clean drinking water issues for years and was inspired to check in.

Unfortunately, the world water crisis is as dire as ever: 

• Nearly one billion people lack access to safe drinking water.
• Almost 4,500 children die each day to water related diseases.

There are no simple solutions.  Water issues are complicated by geographies, politics, cultures, and poverty.  Not only is water essential for life,  but access to safe drinking water is directly correlated to improvements in personal health, educational achievement, and worker productivity. 

Over the past several years, corporate interest in water issues has moved from being cold, to warm, to now being “hot.”  We’ve been watching three positive trends: (more…)

You won’t be surprised to hear that another set of indicators from the Conference Board point downward for 2009.  Corporate philanthropy will dive this year – thirty-five percent of companies surveyed by the Conference Board said they would make fewer grants this year and another twenty-two percent are considering reductions. 

However, there is also good news for causenation.  In this time of need, companies and individuals are embracing volunteerism.  Forty-five percent of companies in the Conference Board survey say that they will be increasing resources dedicated toward corporate volunteerism.  USA Today reported this week that applications are soaring at government-funded service programs like Peace Corps, Teach for America and Americorps.  Buoyed by the President’s call to action and uncertainty in job market, community service is coming of age again. (more…)

It’s almost Spring and a new wave of CSR-related rankings have been hitting the presses. Fortune Magazine just released its 2009 World’s Most Admired Companies and 100 Best Companies to Work For lists.  Business Week unveiled its Top Customer Service Champs.  And Friday, CRO Magazine gave us its 100 Best Corporate Citizens.   Not to be outdone, the Financial Times and JustMeans just released their new 2008/2009 Corporate Social Innovation Award Winners.

If you doubt that senior executives are paying attention, watch how quickly the companies ranked near the top of the lists share these rankings on their websites and through press releases.  Although the lists still tend to be rather subjective, making the list is a badge of honor that is driving internal business decisions.  Great!

We are just starting to analyze these lists to look for trends.  All we can say is that we hope that more and more companies try to claw their way to the top of these lists through innovative CSR practices.

What interesting trends have you uncovered in these lists?

Don’t waste another minute – we actually don’t think it matters what you call it. Citizenship. Sustainability. Corporate Social Responsibility. Corporate Involvement.

The labels are all around us, yet they are the least important part of the equation. No one label is exactly right, and none of them are wrong. This evolving discipline represents diverse objectives, strategies, tools, initiatives, and intentions.

Labels aside, what is imperative is that each organization brings its values into practice; embraces them as their own; and does so with a shared vision and common language to set goals, develop strategies, implement programs, and monitor progress.

In the end what is really important is that as professionals we each lead, teach, and communicate in a way that makes sense for our organizations, so that our stakeholders can play their role in strengthening business and impacting society.

What are you calling “it,” how does that work for your company?

causenation is a forum hosted by the team at Cause Consulting, a business strategy firm that advises companies and nonprofits on how to strengthen business and impact society.

At causenation, participants in the rapidly evolving corporate citizenship movement can draw inspiration; make sense of the trends that shape and reflect our progress; and share tales from our collective journey.

Over the past twenty years our writing team has had a broad range of experiences in the corporate citizenship space.  We have worked inside companies, inside governments, and inside nonprofit organizations.  We have had the opportunity to study, learn from, and to serve as advisors to hundreds of companies and nonprofit organizations.  Today, we are passionate about sharing our experiences and collaborating with others to develop new solutions to business and social problems.  We are looking forward to being a part of causenation.

Contributors to causenation include: (more…)