My typical TV watching is about 2 hours a week.  I share this with you because, last night half of my weekly TV watching time was spent on a new CBS series, Undercover Boss.  The premise of the show is a "C-Suite" boss goes undercover in his/her company to see what the front-line workers are doing and how the corporate policies are being implemented.  read more »

I just read a very interesting article entitled A Helpful Guide to Failure in Philanthropy. By Robert Wood (@lblumenthal) with Johnson Foundation. In this article he talks about failing with style and failure as success. When I first read that I was a little concerned; I mean really, how do you fail with success?  He had successfully captured my attention so I continued to read. As a student, we are prone to trying new things, taking a few risks and building portfolios. Much of what we take on has such steep learning curves and we are bound to have mini blunders along the way, so if I can learn how to turn these blunders into "success" - I'm all ears.

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Fabian Pattberg is a CSR specialist providing online resources in the area of sustainability.

His recent blog post - Sustainability Reporting Season 2009 highlights a few recent CSR reports.  The companies highlighted range from Microsoft to Henkel.  In these reports you will find what these companies are doing in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability.  While this typically looks at environmental and social issues, there is a growing trend amongst companies to move more towards corporate citizenship.

Enjoy the read, let me know your thoughts?  Are these companies you are currently investing in?  How does the CSR reporting influence your investment choices?

Last weekend I was working on taxes... Well, the first half was spent thinking... (couched for procrastination)... Thinking because doing would imply that I actually pulled all the pieces of paper out of their respective files and assembled them in some sequence to give to my accountant.  By the end of the weekend I did end up pulling papers out files and sorting the various documents.

But, while I was thinking about taxes I was also thinking about my own charity, both through Dexterity Consulting and me personally.  My father taught me to, "Pay Myself First".  You know, the idea that you put 10% of each pay-cheque aside (this was a reasonable request until I became self-employed... hmmm...).  My conscience taught me, with distinct influence from our Judeo-Christian society, that I should also put 10% aside for "Repairing the World," however I determine what those repairs should be.  Then I was introduced to Imagine Canada and their Caring Companies program.  This is a group of corporate citizens who have committed to investing 1% of their pre-tax dollars into community organizations.  A copy of the commitment document is attached at the bottom of this blog.  I invite you to join Dexterity Consulting and 120 other companies across Canada is making this commitment.

A few months ago I had to submit my renewal to Imagine Canada for my commitment.  I hadn't given much thought to what this would look like as it is just second nature to how I operate.  I am proud to share with you that last year Dexterity Consulting donated over 75% of revenue in cash and services!!! 

Dexterity Consulting provides a flexible workplace for its employees to engage in volunteer activities in the community during "regular work hours" as well as donating a portion of contract services time to charities that align with our corporate values of effective Community Economic Development.  In addition to these in-kind supports, Gena Rotstein and Dexterity Consulting made cash donations of $1,644. 

As a small company targeting individuals and other small and medium sized businesses to help them strategically and tactically invest in community projects it is important to me, and those who associate with Dexterity Consulting as staff and associates, that strengthening our communities (however we choose to define them) is at the core of our work.  Thank you to everyone who made this amazing accomplishment possible.

Organizations we supported in 2008:

ChristmasFuture, The Safe Haven Foundation, The Calgary Inter-Faith Food Bank, Canadian Humanitarian, and programs/services supported Calgary Jewish Community Council.

We are currently reviewing our commitments for 2009 and will be updating the charities we support in the coming months.

There are five stages of corporate philanthropy:

1. Cheque-book Philanthropy
2. Strategic Philanthropy
3. Community Investment
4. Corporate Social Responsibilty (CSR)
5. Corporate Citizenship

Social capital is the thread that ties these concepts together.  Using this concept businesses can recession-proof their companies.

In my previous post Bullet-Proofing your Corporate Karma, I presented five ways for you to ensure that your community reputation stays intact during this down-economy.  This post looks at how you can take your community partnerships to a new level in a down economy.

From a business development perspective, charities are going to be impacted by the recession just as businesses will be.  They will have fewer dollars to communicate their message and fewer avenues to share their story with (as companies pull out of community projects, decreases the community contact).  When you look at this contracting market there is opportunity for your business to jump into this void.

What does this look like?

1. Cross-promotions: Charities need new and creative vehicles to tell their story.  Your company has the marketing vehicle and the need to connect with a new market.  By evaluating what type of client you are looking for, you can source out the types of charities that your client will be attracted to.  Negotiating a cross-promotional package is a win-win-win for: your business, the charity, and the client that you are attracting (you are supporting the charity that they are supporting).
2. Employee Cost Reduction: On average it costs Canadian companies, 3x an employees' salary to train someone who leaves within the year (this obviously decreases the longer an individual stays with a company).  This is an expense your businesses cannot afford... in any economy.  One way to retain employees and to cut costs associated with those individuals, is to shorten the work week while connecting with your community partner.  What does this look like?  You can offset the expense of that person by having him/her "work" for a charity that is aligning with your business.  In essence, this individual is now acting as an ambassador, both for your company and for the charity.  You are minimizing the costs for the charity by providing them with an employee so that more money is going towards what their mission is.  There are two ways you can save money - by donating the value of the hours of that person to the charity you can garner a tax credit OR you can negotiate a shorter work-week with that individual generating an actual cost-savings.  The result: You are strengthening your position within community which will directly correlate to your bottom line.  One final justification for this work-schedule model is - studies have shown that Gen Y'ers would sooner have a day-off for volunteering than financial compensation.  Playing into that emotional paycheque is just as important as financial compensation.

These are just two cost-effective ways of Recession-Proofing your company.  I would like to hear how you are using community partners to shore-up your business during these tough times.

One of the first things to go during a tough a economy are the "little extras" within your company.  Many businesses, small and large, see community investing as one of those "little extras." 

During weak economic times, Community Investing and CSR policies and activities should NOT be considered a perk.  What these two company standards offer, are a place to hang your hat in community and a method of leveraging your brand when your competition is handing out pink-slips.

One company that is not only honouring their commitments, but has said that they are going to be expanding their company (and hopefully therefore their community connections) is West Jet.  In an interview on last night's news, Sean Durfy, President of West Jet informed the media that during a recession, discount airlines actually fair quite well.  In fact, he feels that they will be looking at expanding their services within North America and Internationally (Mexico). 

Here are five things that you can do to Bullet-Proof Your Company's Social Karma:

1. Honour your previous commitments to the best of your ability
2. Communicate openly with your community partners and identify other ways to leverage your company brand without compromising integrity
3. Share your concerns with your employees - some of them are also committed to the same charities that you have partnered with on a corporate level
4. Review your community investment and CSR policies to ensure that they still align with your company's values.  Make sure you share your findings and encourage feedback from your employees, clients, community partners, shareholders and other interested parties
5. Last, but not least, highlight the important things that you have been doing within community and how they have strengthened your business overall.  By showing how your community engagement has positively impacted your bottom line (staff retention, increased sales, etc.) you can justify the "little extra" that your company has put back into community

What are you doing to strenthen your company's social karma in this economy?  I look forward to hearing your suggestions and sharing them with the rest of the readership.

In an article written by Konrad Yakabuski entitled, The Kindness of Corporations in today's Globe and Mail, he shares his opinion of how CSR is not only about companies doing good.  My initial response was, well of course.  A company's key responsibility is to its shareholders.  The main purpose of a corporation is to generate revenue thereby giving a return on investment to those who have supported it financially.

 (Photo provided by: williamcho)

So how has CSR become so important over the past few years?  Is it the Al Gore effect?  This is what I think.  I think there is a value shift occurring in North America.  This value shift is playing out in the collective consumer consciousness.  Shareholders of corporations are part of that collective value shift so they are demanding changes in the boardroom.  Employees are part of that value shift and are looking for a more meaningful experience (the next promotion is not enough and nor is the pay).  I believe that consumers/clients of the corporation are the ones that are pushing the shift from the grassroots (see the book Mid-Course Correction by Ray Anderson).  And we cannot forget the vendors who are also part of the equation as their companies are going through the same pressure changes as the ones to whom they supply.

So what is happening with the charities in all this?  And the social enterprises that are seeking venture capital? How is government policy being affected by the corporate social responsibility movement?  I think that as a result of the CSR concept there are truer partnerships between charities and businesses.  Charities are using their corporate partners to help lobby government for social and environmental change (in Canada, charities are limited in the way and amount of lobbying they can do).  Businesses are using charities as a way to identify new markets, not just to "clean-up an image" or make face-time for a cause.  Government is rarely the leader of change.  They react to the voting public.  Policies are set because there is an undercurrent that is driving the policy.  It is somewhat oxymoronic to call government members leaders - they really follow in the grand scheme of things.  But that is neither here nor there.

Social enterprises are at an even greater advantage in today's market.  As the values of investors shift from simply looking for the next Oracle, these social enterprises can not only show how they are going to have a financial return on investment, they can also show that at the core of their business is community interests.  The direction that the business sector is shifting is one that CSR is not going to be an add on once the company is making money, but it will be an intrinsic part of developing a business plan.