Corporate Social Responsibility: A Strong PR Tool
.
.
.
.
.
By: Maya Lindsay
In today’s world, many companies are always focused on ways to look good in the eyes of the general public. One of the great ways to boost the positive view, besides using the promotion of one’s products or services, is by having initiatives for corporate social responsibility, also known as CSR. Corporate Social Responsibility is the belief by most companies and corporations to uphold a positive responsibility toward the community, whether it’s socially, ethically or environmentally.
Benefits of CSR
- CSR can cause a company to be viewed more favorably than others that do not have CSR initiatives
- A CSR initiative can create a great tool to brand your company and publicize efforts through social media
- CSR can build a great workplace environment for employees
Some examples of CSR include donating money to charities, making environmentally friendly products and doing community service. Two companies that succeeded in the area of CSR are the Starbucks Corporation and the CVS Caremark Corporation.
Starbucks Corporation
Starbucks is known to handle almost every aspect of Corporate Social Responsibility, including community building initiatives, ethical sourcing, environmental safety initiatives and publicly promoting its efforts by keeping a global responsibility report on file. In the community, Starbucks is giving back by being involved in community service, using its foundation to allow access to clean water and foster education in China, and creating a program titled, Create Jobs for U.S.A., where “it gives customers, partners and businesses an opportunity to support job creation across the country.” Starbucks also is invested in the social responsibility of its products. Items such as coffee, tea and cocoa are ethically sourced in a way that promotes a long term supply of said items.
CVS Caremark Corporation
In April of this year, The CVS Caremark Charitable Trust, a private foundation created by CVS Caremark Corporation, announced to the public that $2.6 million in grants has been awarded to 66 non-profit organizations across the country to provide them with much-needed funding. Funding from the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust supported initiatives such as access to health care by rewarding grants totaling more than $680,000 to support a wide range of services from wellness programs for military veterans to breast screenings for underserved woman. CVS also will support the area of coordinated care by giving $285,000. This money will support programs that are implementing coordinated care for children with disabilities. Other key areas that it will help fund are early intervention services for children and inclusion opportunities so children of all abilities are able to learn, play and succeed side-by-side.
In closing, these examples alone show how important it is to give back to the community and also how rewarding it can be in return to give back.