Is Corporate Citizenship Measuring Up: The Latest Data

May 15, 2010 5:32 PM ET

Alice Korngold's Blog

A new survey of trends in corporate citizenship in Silicon Valley reveals a distinct change in recent years. The 2010 Corporate Citizenship Report, a collaborative project of the Entrepreneurs Foundation and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, also makes comparisons between Silicon Valley practices and national trends, as reported by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy in their 2008 report, Giving in Numbers.

I've been monitoring the valuable surveys that have been taking the pulse of CSR trends since they were first conducted in the early 2000's. When I began consulting to corporations on CSR and publishing best practices in the early 1990's, the field of CSR was a new frontier.

The benefits to companies engaging in robust corporate citizenship programs still hold since the early 90's. Companies that were the earliest adopters recognized the opportunities to develop leadership, facilitate team-building, enhance an appreciation of diversity, foster loyalty to the company and a sense of community, build visibility and the brand, as well as good will, and strengthen communities.

And the key principles for establishing corporate citizenship programs that maximize the win-win-win for the company, employees, and the community continue to be the same almost 20 years later: having leadership from the CEO; aligning the company's corporate citizenship program with the corporate mission; engaging employees in choosing causes that they care about for their volunteer service; integrating human resources, public relations, marketing, and other relevant departments in implementing corporate citizenship; and measuring and reporting on program results.

What is new and different over the past few years...

See continuation here....http://bit.ly/duae7p

Korngold Consulting LLC assists corporations in building fully integrated, high-impact CSR strategies, including leadership development through nonprofit board service.  Korngold Consulting trains and places business executives on nonprofit boards, and consults to nonprofit boards and leaders to strengthen governance for financial and strategic success.

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