 You know sometimes we think of organization in this as the standalone things. They just are kind of an inanimate object They they're out there on their own and the rules are totally separate for them But the truth is organizations just like people in a sense exist in a community And and so there's a lot of overlap between where that organization operates and what their goals are and those of the community In which they are surrounded and which they serve so so really when we're talking about something like corporate and social Responsibility we're talking about where that overlap is at what obligations that organizations have within their community You know in the same way that communities may have in some sense an obligation of the organizations and supporting them, but What is the obligation is that that's going to be the focus of our topic today is what is the obligation of an organization? Any organization a company a nonprofit an NGO anything at all What is the obligation of that organization within the community that they serve and that's where we exist in the sense of corporate social responsibility So that's what we're going to talk about in our discussion today's is the idea of corporate social responsibility what the Obligations of organizations are here and and how we might enact those more effectively So first of all just a brief definition of corporate social responsibility or CSR as it's sometimes known The voluntary actions taken by a company to address the economic social and environmental impacts of its business Operations and the concerns of its principal stakeholders. So there are a couple of things we're going to break down here First of all, these are voluntary actions. These are not things. We're not talking about things that are Mandated by the government or by the corporate charter or anything like that These are voluntary organizations take our voluntary actions taken by those organizations To fulfill these kind of obligations and they address economic social and environmental impacts of both the business Operations and the concerns of its principal stakeholders. So we'll break down what we mean by that And and the fact that it does impact the business operations and the profitability of an organization But we also have to be concerned with the principal stakeholders and so what our stakeholders who are stakeholders? We're gonna we're gonna dig into that a little bit more But this is where we're coming from when we talk about CSR This is what we mean the voluntary actions taken by a company to address the economic social and environmental impacts of its business operations and the concerns of its principal stakeholders So when we talk about CSR we're gonna approach it specifically from the public relations aspect then and so we need to look at What's known as the triple bottom line sometimes you hear people say well the bottom line is this and most of the time They're talking about Profitability does the company make money? But the truth is there are three bottom lines that we need to be concerned with The first is people we I mean as organizations we exist to kind of serve our publics, right? I mean, you know In essence either you're there to sell some something or some service to something to the people Or you're there to serve the people in a more like a service-oriented way if you're a non-profit or whatever But but there are people involved no matter why you cut this up no organization exists or has any kind of Function really without the without people at its core So we need to be concerned with who are the people that are involved in our organization Who are the people being served by organization and and what's the bottom line there as far as the people that we're serving and how that Impacts the efficiency and effectiveness and the overall profitability of the organization in general So so we need to be concerned with people as part of our bottom line We also need to be concerned with a plan. We have an obligation to our planet Whether that's again locally or globally or and or both right We exist on this this hunk of rock and and so we have an obligation just like we do when you're a homeowner You have an obligation to take care of your home and and that you you care for your yard and you care for the upkeep of your Neighborhood and then the people around you You know you have to be concerned with that because it affects their property values and it's all interconnected We have an obligation as organizations to look out for our planet as well and make sure that we are being environmentally responsible and being good stewards of the resources that were being provided by by the earth and by by all the the Items that we pull from it and that we use around us So we have an obligation to the planet as well every organization has that as part of their bottom line So that's the first two the people on the planet are the first two parts of the triple bottom line And the third is profit now remember that no organization first of all exists without At least breaking even right even nonprofits doesn't mean no profit. It means they're not there to to specifically to incur profit but but but they can't very well exist without no money coming in Very few organizations can exist without any kind of profit whatsoever without some sort of income So they have to be concerned with that in the bottom line and and when you talking about Corporations, I mean as much as we want to say, you know, this company is a lot to do this and ought to that Their bottom line is if they're not making money, they're not going to be able to serve anybody It's sort of like when you think about when you're on an airplane if you've flown on an airplane They give you that feel at the beginning and talk about how if the oxygen masks deploy You should put yours on first and then put your child's on if you have a child traveling with you And that's because if you're fiddling around with the kids mask and you can't get it on and you're losing oxygen And then you pass out before the kids mask is on you're gonna be no good to anybody You're dead weight then right so so you need to put yours on first and then focus on putting the child's mask on We have to ask organizations. We have to first of all be concerned with okay Are we able to pay the bills? Are we able to keep the lights on? Are we able to pay our employees? Are we able to to do these things and make money? We have an obligation as an organization and as a business to make sure that we have as much coming in as we have going out If not more right to benefit the stockholders and depending on what what model of organization You're using you may have that obligation as well. So we have to be concerned with profit It's naive to say that well We just aren't gonna pay any attention to profit profit has to be there has to be there in the mix But that's why we have this triple bottom line all of these things need to be considered We can't totally exclude any of them. We have to be concerned with developing all three of those in the bottom line That's what responsible organizations do and so socially responsible and corporate, you know corporations So CSR will be concerned with all three of these things in the triple bottom line and the people the planet and the profit All and how they intersect and are affected by that organization So if we narrow in a bit more on how does this you know How is this affected by public relations or rather? How is public relations affected by all this? Public relations and CSR it comes down to knowing your public's identifying and managing opportunities Counseling executives and publicizing those results then so when we think about knowing your public's we talk about that a lot in public relations Who are you serving? Who are you trying to reach? Who is you know your target audience here? Who can we have the most impact on and and so who are we focusing on? We have to know our public's and knowing our public's and corporate spot social responsibility means Who is affected by this organization if you're running a factory? Who's the who's the neighborhood that surrounds you? Physically surrounds you who's around you got to be conscious of your neighbors in that way who are your competitors? Who are your customers? Who are your these people that are all affected? Who are your employees that make up your your organization? So you have to know your public's and know who we are serving Who are we trying to be socially responsible to and for we have to know that in advance? We got to identify those public's that's always an important aspect in any facet of public relations But certainly here in CSR as well. We need to know our public's then we have to understand that the public relations can help identify and manage these opportunities if you just on the most basic level look at you know when when Non-profit organizations go to a big company in the area for donations Most of the time they're going to be dealing with somebody in that sort of public relations role Even if they don't have that title of public relations, that's still part of their function in essence in that organization. So Every PR person has to know and anybody engaged in this has to be a PR person really in the sense They have to be able to identify and manage those opportunities Recognizing first of all who your public's what's important to them What issues are important to to your organization as well as to your constituents there both employees and Neighbors and so forth Identify what those opportunities are and that you can get involved in and can can have a hand in and can have an impact in and then Manage those you can't say yes to everything. So you've got to be able to manage those opportunities as well Then we also have the role of counseling executives a lot of times the role PR So to take that broader look and say okay, this is going to be good for our organization It's going to be good for the community as well and good for for the planet or whatever But this is going to be good for our organization and be able to explain why To executives be able to explain to executives This is how this serves not only our publics and not only our community, but but our organization as well This is how this is a win-win for all of us And then we do need to be able to publicize those results and sometimes people are like, oh, no You shouldn't do these we should be more modest than that But the truth is if you're doing something good, it's an organization It's not only good for your organization to let people know but it's good for whatever effort you are serving To let that organization or to let the community know that hey We're working on this and there's an effort going on behind this and and we're a part of it So there's all kinds of reasons that you should publicize your results in Effective ways and not just plaster it all over the place and not just look for all the credit But but there's a lot of benefit for all sides when we can effectively Publicize those results as well So that's a role of public relations in CSR as well so as you can see public relations is involved in a lot of different areas in in Corporate social responsibility. We have a lot of different functions to serve there So we need to be involved in all of these things Something we've talked about before is the the just you know within the last few minutes It's the centrality of stakeholders and stakeholders are the various individuals or groups who affect or are affected by an organization Okay, so we can look at a variety of different groups that make up Who we are as stakeholders, right? So there are for example societal stakeholders people who are you know from our society who are impacted by this Are the communities? I've mentioned that we the where your business is located government agencies that are impacted by or that impact your industry The media is part of your societal stakeholders. They have an interest in knowing what's happening and and what you're doing how you're responsible for it non-profits in your area non-profit organizations that are partnering with you the with you for certain efforts can be a part of that NGOs or non-governmental organizations meaning nonprofits that that seek to serve Larger efforts outside of the government that meaning they're not controlled by the government, but they're Sometimes fulfill a role that we might associate with the government in terms of providing mass relief to an area or something so all of these are societal stakeholders and our broader society as a whole these are folks who in part have something to gain or something to lose or are impacted by our Efforts and conversely that we are impacted by them as well. So they're societal Stakeholders there are also organizational stakeholders people within the organization Directors executives employees members that are affected by all this so and that have an impact on this We're drawing on these folks for their for their impact and and putting them to work for this But they are also affected by what our organization does. So they are certainly stakeholders in our organization They're they're critical stakeholders that come from within our organization and then also Not to be left out, but they're economic stakeholders There are our customers that we need to can be concerned with our creditors the people who depend on us to make money so that we Can benefit them as well our competitors are impacted by what we're doing So they are also stakeholders in our organization our suppliers and distributors. So the the Items we have coming in and going out that to produce this product or provide this service in unions If that's a part of your organization, those are all economic stakeholders. They have an economic stake and you know, again, that profitability Aspect of the triple bottom line these are people who are going to be affected and affect us economically By these things. So we have to be concerned with all of these different kinds of stakeholders organizational economic societal They all are impacted by what we're doing and we are conversely impacted by what they are doing This is an open system, right where it's not just Closed off and we only affect ourselves and we're only affected by ourselves almost every organization has these This open system where it's affected by things that are going on outside of it And also then has an impact on things outside of it. So there are lots of different stakeholders and they are Really important part of of of what we do as an organization Okay, so let's talk for a minute about how we practice and put into practice corporate social responsibility How does this show up in organizations? What are some ways that we can enact corporate social responsibility or CSR? So one of the ways that we can do that is through direct cause promotion You may be familiar with this Subaru share the love Events and things that they do and so basically this is a choice of Subaru is made to support a few specific Organizations including some that are close to my heart pets I always love when they have their pet commercials on and they're supporting pet causes. I think that's very important So to me, that's that's significant That says something to me about Subaru about something they've chosen to do to promote that cause to get involved in that cause Financially but also in terms of marketing and tie it into their organization They've decided that's part of their organizational ethos and this is what they want to be involved in this one Part of what they want to be known for and what they want to share with their Audience who's seeing their their ads and things so you can get involved in direct cause promotion Then something that's important to to use an organization or whether it's directly affected or not directly Connected or not. I mean pets aren't necessarily directly connected to it's Subaru But at some level somebody has decided this is an important cause and we want to be involved in that so They've gotten involved in that kind of cause promotion where they're they're providing money and resources and marketing and all kinds of things to this cause and and And getting involved in the promotion of that cause You also have just more specifically direct corporate philanthropy It is where you see those big checks, right? Those big checks come out organization gives out a big check to the test to a nonprofit or something or to a cause Because they believe in that cause or because somebody's asked them for that money or And they want the publicity from under whatever but for whatever reason, you know, sometimes companies will donate money Which is great. I mean they have some money. Most organizations have money set aside for this So so, you know, I've been involved in lots of nonprofits that have been supported by many many community businesses some local some national and and global and they all are typically very generous with the so corporate philanthropy is another area of corporate social responsibility ways to get back just directly financially again, you know Economically give back to your community or to a cause then you can also get involved through community volunteering I'm really pleased to say this has been a part of every job. I've had I've been amazed by this that they set aside every organization I've ever worked for has set aside time for employees to say, okay This amount of hours per year. We want you to go out and volunteer Pick a pick a cause. Sometimes they don't care what it is. Sometimes they'll have a group Effort too, right? I lived in a community Few years ago that was affected by a tornado went through the community and the community college where I was working said, okay This day these two days were not the college is going to be closed We'd like everybody to go volunteer and do what they can to help with this tornado relief And so we spent two days large groups of us Volunteering in whatever capacity we could so community volunteering and it doesn't have to be after a massive event like that Sometimes organizations just say, you know, today's gonna be a day to give back So please find the local organization to donate your time to or we're gonna have this effort So it could just be a cleanup effort or something So there's all kinds of ways that people get involved in and organizations can support that through community volunteering And finally another category broad category we have is that we can engage in socially responsible business practices A lot of times you'll see these kind of logos around that indicate that an organization is fair trade certified or cruelty free Or whatever indicating that they've taken a stand on a certain practice. And so they are they are they're dedicated to to Performing what they do within these responsible business ways whether it's carbon footprint or it's you know Organic farming or whatever it is non pesticide growing things It just depends on what the organization is and what they do But they can engage in every organization has the opportunity to do what they can to be involved in socially responsible business practices Whether that's environmental whether it's just you know for the community at large whatever that responsible practice might be So there are different areas and different ways that we can engage in corporate social responsibility and CSR Lots of different ways that we can do that So there are a few different building blocks of corporate social responsibility and things we need to consider when we're an Organization getting involved in these things. We need to think about fit. Is this a good fit for our organization again? You know cars don't have anything to do with pets necessarily directly, but somewhere along the line Subaru's decided This is something that fits their corporate ethos something that that works for them It's a good fit for them. And so they've they've engaged in that that pet project I'm so and supporting pet causes. So that's a good fit for them. They've decided We got to find an or something that's a good fit for our organization We got to find something that can get buy-in both from our employees and from the community at large I'm from all the stakeholders that we serve something that's going to get buy-in right something that has legs meaning it's going to get Some traction. It's going to go somewhere. It's going to make a difference not only in You know what our organization is trying to achieve but also with within the In the environment within the economic impact within those triple bottom It's going to have legs. It's going to make a difference in some way for some group of people or for the environment in some way or whatever it is It's going to it's going to have traction. It's going to get somewhere We have to make sure it fits our objectives our strategic objectives What we're trying to accomplish as an organized organization that has to it should fit into our strategic plan and our strategic efforts in some way and then measurement awesome ought to be something that can be measured in some way whether that's time spent volunteering or whether it's the amount of you know Return on investment you're getting for your donation is this money having this kind of positive impact What kind of weights can we measure the impact of this because we need to be able to report this out as organizations we've got to be able to report this out and Identify it to our stakeholders and say specifically. This is how we're having an impact in our community When we're communicating CSR communicating corporate social responsibilities There's a few things we need to keep in mind again Communicating this is a big part of our role as public relations folks. So a few things to keep in mind here First of all, we need to be authentic when we're engaging in these responsible practices or whatever We want to avoid what's called greenwashing, which is just slapping a pain You know a green layer of pain on something this comes from the environmental area where you know an organizational do something Just so they can say well, we've reduced our carbon footprint by this much But they haven't really done anything to impact Overall the environment they're just doing that so they can they can say that it sounds good And that's greenwashing if there's no real impact. There's no real meat behind it. Then we don't want that We want to be authentic. We don't want to greenwash. We want to Be very authentic in what we're doing and the impact that it's having and and so when we're communicating CSR We want to be authentic about how we're communicating it and what we're communicating We need to back our words with action, you know, my mom is from Missouri and She grew up in Missouri and the state motto there is that that Missouri is the show me state So my mom always used to say I'm from Missouri. You got to show me. You got to show me So back your words with action. Don't just talk about things that you're doing Act like you're from Missouri and show them right and show, you know, act like they're from Missouri I guess and show them and pretend they're from the show me state, right? We got to back our words with action and and really let people be able to know what we're doing But not just talk about it. We've got to actually do these things then, right? We also need to be transparent. We need to be transparent. We need to be clear with people What's happening and and show them and not not do things in the shadows not do things that have to be in the shadows We want to be transparent. So here this is what we're doing This is how we've given back and this is what that means for us and be transparent with all these things We need to know our audience again We have to identify those publics identify those stakeholders and And and know how to communicate with them know what we're communicating with them. What's gonna have impact with them We need to create a dialogue as well. Remember public relations is not just a one-way street We need to create dialogue. We need to have interaction and let people know what they think about our efforts and and And and be able to communicate With them and not just to them or at them So we need to create that dialogue and create a space for that two-way sense of communication and Along with that we need to listen and collaborate We need to be able to identify what's important to our audiences and what's impacting the world around us and what people are Saying about us and then collaborate with folks when that's important Most things are done in collaboration with other folks most successful efforts can be done in partnership And and you can rely on the expertise of others you can provide your own expertise But but we can collaborate with others when we know what's what's happening. What's going on? And finally we need to engage our employees again. This is an important part of our stakeholders And so we need to communicate with our employees. What's happening? We need to have them be a part of this entire effort not only in having input on what's happening and but being actively involved in how it's happening and and And you know so that they are products we need to engage our employees so that we have that buy-in and so that we're Incorporating a very very important group of stakeholders in our organization in this effort Since you can see corporate responsibility has a lot to it It's at the same time very simple but also very complex But really just has to do with being a responsible part of the world around us just like we are as individual citizens We have the same obligations really as organizations to be responsible and how we use our resources how we care for those resources how we you know benefit those around us and and Help our communities in whatever way we can If you have questions about corporate social responsibility feel free to email me. I'd love to hear from you there in the meantime I hope that this will give you some new perspective on this important role of Organizations because it's not just about how many widgets you can make or what service you provide It's about how we impact the greater society around us and so that's where we we come to these principles in organizations of Corporate social responsibility and how we impact them as professional professional public relations practitioners