What's New in Corporate Social Responsibility

2017 is a big year for CSR trends. Corporate is realizing the use of making a good social impact in business. Who is stepping up to the plate?

Tim Mohin, chief executive at GRI, echoed the belief that sustainability will remain a priority for corporations: “2017 will obviously be a year of great changes!

Dell’s chief responsibility officer, Trisa Thompson, provided her take on why commitments to sustainability will not waiver: “Completely regardless of the global political environment, corporations will continue the march toward sustainable production because it makes sense and is a business necessity.”

Dalila Wilson-Scott, SVP of community investment at Comcast and president of the Comcast Foundation, predicts that corporations will “become more proactive voices and take actions in support of equity, both internally and in communities.”

Liba Rubenstein, SVP of social impact at 21^st Century Fox, predicts a continued shift toward ‘impact’: “I have long hoped that the increasing ubiquity of CSR would mean that, in order to cut through the noise and be recognized, companies would have to get more sophisticated in their approach

The circular economy

One area where government policy showed promise in 2016 was incentivizing businesses to increase resource efficiency. Author Andrew Winston explained in Harvard Business Review: “With a growing population and ever-rising demand for resources, it’s becoming necessary to find ways to eliminate waste and reuse valuable materials endlessly.

Even Spotify is using music to make a social impact.

The director of social impact Kerry Steib says that: “The programs we create start with the idea that music is often a way into exploring something new — a new perspective, idea, culture, or perception of yourself. These explorations can result in increased knowledge, empathy and action.”

She also notes that “As a company, we need to approach social impact with a deep sense of our unique perspective and value to the issues we care about.” Agreed, Ms. Steib.

Why do CSR programs need to add mobile in their strategy for social, community, and communication reasons?

Socially:

70% of all adults are using 1+ social media platform (and that means mobile apps). That means that as a company most of your consumers will have their phones ready. Phone access means mobile fundraising. That is where we come in.

Community:

58% of crowd sourced gifts are on a mobile device. More than half of fundraising for non profits is coming from mobile!

To be competitive businesses need to tap into mobile.

Communication reasons:

Mobile is a strategy for crowd sourcing for your company. With climbing sustainability responsibilities, companies are being forced to incorporate CSR into their corporate strategy. With a mobile platform one can communicate much easier with a majority of users.