By Stephanie Ellis-Smith

How does a business make good on its desire to “give back” at a time of great need and great polarization? I hope this blog post offers a few insights for business leaders and those interested in corporate giving to get started. 

Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Philanthropy are terms that many, especially if you're in the business world, are familiar with. A pretty interesting primer on the connections between the two practices states that modern day CSR has its roots in traditional corporate philanthropy. Like most things, the world today is more complicated and multifaceted, so philanthropic leaders in the corporate sector are juggling a lot: a bigger push for corporate activism from consumers, demands from employees for more personal engagements around values over the bottom line, and an increasingly competitive global marketplace where doing well financially is more difficult than ever.

The Harvard Business Review describes CSR as “a self-regulated framework that has no legal or social obligation for corporations to actually create positive impact for the groups they purport to help.” But I’ve been reading about a newer methodology, Corporate Social Justice (CSJ), which attempts to require greater accountability from corporations trying to “do good”. CSJ practitioners consider their impact on a wide breadth of stakeholders: executive leadership, stockholders, employees, vendors, and anyone else who is connected to or influenced by the company. This new approach to address the bigger and more systemic issues we face today “requires deep integration with every aspect of the way a company functions.” 

Consumers and Americans at large are more conscious than ever of how what they buy can be a statement of who they are and what they believe in. Products can either help or hurt the most important issues that we face as a society: climate change, racial equity, wealth disparities, immigration, reproductive care, I could go on. Given the level of complexity in navigating these hot button issues, one might ask why are businesses still game to wade into these treacherous waters? Here are two key reasons that our team at Phīla has noticed:

First, to attract talent: Millennials, as the largest generation, and Gen Zs moving into the workforce, all want to work at places that contribute to the common good. And it’s not just the young folks who are pushing for a triple bottom line. The majority of human resource executives see it as a great tool for employee engagement and retention.

Second, to strengthen their voice: organizations with a clearly defined social purpose, typically experience more growth, have higher customer satisfaction, and have a reputation as champions for their community. Philanthropy is increasingly a key component to a strong brand. 

Now that you have an idea of what motivates a company to do this work, we can talk a bit about how it can be done successfully.

First, start with WHY. As we always say to our clients, no one has to engage in philanthropy. Getting comfortable with doing a deep dive into motivations is key. What exactly are you looking to get out of it? Do you want to financially support some really incredible work that's already happening in your community? Do you want to engage your employees with volunteerism? These kinds of questions are important to ask yourself because they will determine what type of nonprofit organizations you might work with, who should be involved, and what level of engagement (internally and externally) will be necessary. 

You can find lots of advice and advisors who will tell you how to develop a program in a quick and easy fashion that has a big return on investment, but Phīla does not believe in shortcuts. In this day and age, insincerity and slapdash programming are easily detected and you could end up doing more harm than good to your business. Take time to ask yourself the right questions at the outset and we guarantee you will save time (and probably heartache) in the future.

Decide on your goal or vision. When deciding on where you will have impact, it is not enough to simply settle on the vision that your CEO or founder is partial to. Vanity projects will only get you so far. Instead, create a thoughtful and intentional process that brings together customers, employees, or anyone else you believe to be keys to success, to determine which issues lie at the intersection of the company’s mission and the unmet needs of your community. Spending time on deciding how the values the business espouses connect with your philanthropy will make it easier to make decisions in the long-run.

The objective of this exercise isn’t to arrive at a goal that sounds impressive. In fact, the simpler it is, the better. The goal is to arrive at a vision for your community that your company is best equipped to play a part in creating. The temptation is to jump right in to picking issues and organizations to support, but in reality, having a program you can be proud of and that has longevity requires learning about your community, listening for understanding from your stakeholders, and building trust. It takes time.

Don’t be afraid to take a stance. At this moment, during fears of a looming recession, a fragile political environment, and worker burnout, taking a stand means you won’t make everyone happy. The company must be prepared to decide if it is okay with losing business from certain groups since taking money from those groups would run counter to its philanthropic values and strategy. Being consistent and knowing the issues at hand here is extremely important. A couple of examples of how businesses take a stand on issues important to them are companies who give employees the day off to vote and telling customers why; or retailers who actively reach stock suppliers of color and state why they find it necessary. You get the idea.

Establish mutually beneficial partnerships with organizations by doing the legwork to understand your company’s role in the broader ecosystem surrounding that goal. Identify key communities where you want your presence felt and get to know it on a deeper level by listening. Learn how the issue you care about has had an effect, past and present. Think about what you really want to get out of your relationship with the community. If it's a big employee-driven, social justice initiative that the company really wants to step into -- like what Patagonia did with their environmental focus --  then that affects the kinds of conversations you have with nonprofits. That's going to be your much larger, maybe national, organizations that can meet you eye-to-eye, head-to-head, and give you the type of partnership you really need. 

Conversely, if you're looking to be embedded in a community, then that's a different kind of conversation with maybe smaller organizations. Savvy businesses understand the need to partner with nonprofit experts on the issues they care about, and even more so if they are looking to engage with communities of color. It is important to ensure that these are not token partnerships, but authentic and mutually beneficial for both the business and the local partner. (For a deeper dive into embedding racial equity into corporate social responsibility, check out a webinar I participated in hosted by Benevity called Turning Statements Into Action.)

Kristin Jarrett, Social Impact and Equity Strategist at Spotify, advises large and small businesses to meet with nonprofit organizations and ask them about what big problems they are trying to solve and how you can help. She wisely suggests that businesses stepping into the social sector should plan to “do some backwards planning and create ideas around how you could collaborate to really support them (i.e., nonprofits) in their mission.”

Finally, regularly check in on your progress. Philanthropy is an ongoing commitment to achieve a vision of justice or equity in partnership with one’s community. Build accountability into the process from the start. The same diverse group of stakeholders who help set the vision for the program can also set the metrics by which you’ll measure your performance. While there is no legal obligation to meet these metrics, relationships with stakeholders — especially employees and external communities — are regulated by trust. Continued failure to meet stated goals damages this trust and sours the brand. Better to not do it at all if you can’t dedicate real time and energy to this involved, yet potentially very rewarding, process. 

In its best form, corporate giving is a healthy and mutually beneficial relationship between the business and the communities with whom they interact. The relationship is also driven by the growing desire of socially-aware consumers and employees to do better for their stakeholders and the world at large.

As you consider embarking upon this work for the first time or refreshing your current programs, you will no doubt find joy in connecting your company with your community in new and meaningful ways with a fresh perspective.