Research, Reports & Publications

ACCP Releases Making the Case for CSR Toolkit; Builds Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility

The Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals (ACCP) releases Making the Case Toolkit, to aid corporate citizenship professionals in building a data-driven business case for the importance of corporate social responsibility.
Jan 27, 2021 8:30 AM ET

January 27, 2021 /3BL Media/ - The Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals (ACCP) today released Making the Case for CSR, a toolkit aimed at corporate citizenship professionals. Making the Case for CSR is an online resource that includes curated, recent statistics from 25 sources and presents them in easy-to-use data points and infographics. This toolkit equips industry executives with a powerful and compelling data-driven case for corporate social responsibility (CSR) critical to gaining support and representing the interests of key stakeholders, including consumers, employees, CEOs and Board members, and investors. The kit is available via download from ACCP.

“A global pandemic, the racial justice movement, and an economic downturn place corporate social responsibility at the forefront of the business world,” said Carolyn Berkowitz, president and CEO of ACCP. “Stakeholder expectations of what it means to be a good corporate citizen and drive social and environmental impact have never been higher. The Making the Case for CSR toolkit is one more way ACCP continues to advance the field of corporate responsibility and empower CSR professionals to increase their impact in the community and in their companies.”

The 10-page online toolkit contains research data from ACCP as well as other highly reputable CSR researchers, nonprofits, and foundations including, but not limited to: Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP), Deloitte, Edelman, Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing, National Association of Corporate Directors, Rocket Social Impact, and World Economic Forum. Data from the toolkit can be incorporated into internal and external presentations, speeches, and proposals.

Following is a sample of important datapoints found in Making the Case for CSR:

Audience

Business Case

Consumers:

Consumers hold business accountable for their role in society. This is especially true as generations transition.
  • 70% of millennials say they have changed their purchasing habits in support of causes or social issues of interest, while 72% of Gen Z consider a company’s purpose when deciding what to buy. [Achieve and the Case Foundation, 2020]

 

Employees:

Employees want to work for good corporate citizens.
  • Research shows 88% of employees believe companies must focus on purpose and not just profit. [Cone Communications, 2020]

 

C-Suite/Board Members:

Corporate executives overwhelmingly believe it is urgent for business to be a critical part of driving solutions.
 

 
  • 80% of CEOs believe business has more of a responsibility than ever to address pressing social and environmental issues. [Porter Novelli, 2020]

Investors:

ESG investing has grown more than 10X since 2010 and accounts for one-third of all U.S. investments under professional management.

 
  • 75% of investors say sustainable investments have become more important to them over the last five years, driven by the younger generations. (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2019)

To download a copy of the Making the Case for CSR toolkit, visit the ACCP website.

The Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals is the membership association for companies committed to corporate citizenship, and a career-long resource for purpose-driven professionals. ACCP advances the field of corporate citizenship and serves as a strategic resource for its community of impact-driven professionals from 220 member companies—including Fortune 500s and mid-size companies—so that they can do the most good in their companies, their communities, and around the world.

ACCP logo