5 Examples of Effective Corporate Social Responsibility Projects

Business today isn’t just about profit. Your customers, employees and peers alike increasingly expect your organisation to be socially responsible and contribute to the greater good through transparent, ethical business practices. 

This post details five examples of effective corporate social responsibility projects to help you better understand the concept at a high-view level.

1.    Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Programme – Starbucks

For decades, Starbucks has committed to promoting ethical and social responsibilities. It aims at creating a product that is beneficial to its customers and the environment. 

Starbucks started the Coffee and Farmers Equity (C.A.F.E) programme that set guidelines to improve product quality, economic and social responsibility, and environmental management.

C.A.F.E stipulates buying guidelines that ensure all coffee bought by the company is sustainably grown and adheres to their quality standard. The standards are tracked across all suppliers, and currently, the programme includes more than 400,000 coffee producers in 28 countries.

Takeaway:

Investigate your supply chains and design an effective Corporate Social Responsibility project to improve the lives of those your business directly impacts daily. 

2.    Worker Well-Being Initiative – Levi Strauss

Levi Strauss’ Corporate Social Responsibility initiative is called the Worker Well-Being Initiative. It aims to develop a more sustainable supply chain and improve workers’ lives. 

WWB is unique in that it is employee-driven. The company regularly studies its workers at a local level to discover what is needed to improve their engagement, health, and productivity. Levi Strauss then collaborates with non-profit organizations and NGOs to deploy programs that meet employee needs.

Takeaway:

Your workers make your company. Take time to determine what your employees want and need and how you can provide them with the relevant skills and tools to improve their lives. 

3.    XEROX Community Involvement Programme

XEROX has been recognized over ten times as one of the 100 most ethical companies. The printing giant engages in many CSR initiatives, with their longest-running and the most notable program being the XEROX Community Involvement Programme (XCIP).

Through this Corporate Social Responsibility program, Xerox finances community development projects undertaken by its employees in their local communities. Besides, it allows employees to take a paid leave to fully concentrate on the project under the Social Service Leave Programme.

Takeaway:

Allow employees to take some billable hours every year to participate in local community development. Share the outcomes with the rest of the organization to motivate more people to participate.

4.    1-1-1 Philanthropic Model – Salesforce

The technology giant Salesforce is reputed in the realm of philanthropy among corporates. In their longest-running programme dubbed the 1-1-1 philanthropic model is based on a simple yet powerful idea. 

Salesforce gives 1% of their revenue, 1% of their product, and 1% of their employees’ time to the non-profit sector and community.

Currently, it’s awarded more than $406 million in grants to philanthropic causes, and its workforce has logged over 5 million volunteer hours. As the company rakes in more revenue, it stands as a prime example of the idea that social impact projects and profit-making can go hand in hand.

Takeaway

Considering your product, revenue, time, or all and setting a percentage to contribute to society is a powerful long-term Corporate Social Responsibility project if you’re serious about making real change. 

5.    Once is Never Enough – Google

The Nature journal reveals that data centres use approximately 200 terawatt-hours every year, representing about 1% of global electricity consumption.

Google has one of the largest data centre networks globally and recognizes the responsibility that comes with it.

They have implemented the following to mitigate the issue:

• Create servers that last longer by building them from the ground up.
• Selling old servers on the secondary market.
• Recycling components from old servers into new ones

With these efforts, Google became the first world’s biggest corporate to achieve carbon neutrality.

Takeaway

See what direct impacts your business has on the world and create a powerful Corporate Social Responsibility to offset any accidental damage you may do. 

Digital Inclusion & CSR

Building an effective Corporate Social Responsibility programme can be expensive and time-consuming if you get it wrong. 

At UpSkill Digital, we have an experienced social impact team that will help you scope, build and deliver scalable programmes that drive measurable impact.

Reach out to us today. We’re excited to start working with you.