How to Develop a Corporate Community Investment Policy and Strategy

How to Develop a Corporate Community Investment Policy and Strategy

Introduction Vision statements Corporate Community Investment CCI policy development Strategy Screening for fit Tests of consistency Key elements of a CCI policy 12 steps to effective consultation Links with brokers and intermediaries Conclusion and further reading Comments

Introduction There are a number of issues which companies will want to consider before embarking on the process of drawing up a policy and strategy for community investment. These will include concern about specific social issues, an understanding of the aspirations of your employees the skills they offer and how they could be developed - and relationships with stakeholders. There are other fundamentally practical issues such as time and resources implications, but at this point, you will be concerned about how you create a programme that suits your business needs, both internally and externally, and succeeds in bringing benefits to the community. As we pointed out in the first booklet in this series, How to Get Started. Such programmes must be part of the corporate culture and business planning process for the company. They will not succeed if they are simply added on. Vision statements Let us begin with your Vision. Vision statements give employees an understanding of where the company is going and where it wants to be in the future. It provides a foundation for synergy and cooperation. A vision has many dimensions, amongst which are: direction, focus and goals enduring qualities that go beyond the daily routine they can be communicated to others and ultimately carried out A vision is an idea of where the company should be in five or ten years time and should be realisable. The following are vision statements from some highly successful companies involved in corporate community investment. Whitbread mission statement To be a leader in the field of partnerships between business, the community and the public sector, demonstrating that working together for the common good is a responsibility of the Company and good business practice Diageo 4 core values: be the best passionate about consumers proud of what we do freedom to succeed

DHL Values We excel in the services we provide to our customers We have a can do attitude in everything we undertake We aim to be reliable We are willing and able to change in pursuit of continuous improvement We work together to achieve success We are open and honest We trust and respect our colleagues We value everyone s contribution We recognise our social responsibilities We enjoy what we do We take pride in our professional approach We balance our work and home lives Johnson & Johnson s Credo We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses and patients, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services. In meeting their needs everything we do must be of high quality. We must constantly strive to reduce our costs in order to maintain reasonable prices. Customers orders must be services promptly and accurately. Our suppliers and distributors must have an opportunity to make a fair profit. We are responsible to our employees, the men and women who work with us throughout the world. Everyone must be considered as an individual. We must respect their dignity and recognize their merit. They must have a sense of security in their jobs. Compensation must be fair and adequate, and working conditions clean, orderly and safe. We must be mindful of ways to help our employees fulfil their family responsibilities. Employees must feel free to make suggestions and complaints. There must be equal opportunity for employment, development and advancement for those qualified. We must provide competent management, and their actions must be must and ethical. We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work and to the world community as well. We must be good citizens-support good works and charities and bear our fair share of taxes. We must encourage civic improvements and better health and education. We must maintain in good order the property we are privileged to use, protecting the environment and natural resources. Our final responsibility is to our stockholders. Business must make a sound profit. We must experiment with new ideas. Research must be carried on, innovative programs developed and mistakes paid for. New equipment must be purchased, new facilities provided and new products launched. Reserves must be created to provide for adverse times. When we operate according to these principles, the stockholders should realize a fair return.

The Sony Pioneer Spirit "Sony is a pioneer and never intends to follow others. Through progress Sony wants to serve the whole world. It shall always be a seeker of the unknown. Sony has a principle of respecting and encouraging one's ability... and always tries to bring about the best in a person. This is the vital source of Sony." Akia Morita Corporate Community Investment Business in the Community s Principles of Corporate Community Investment provide a framework upon which an organisation's Corporate Community Investment (CCI) can be managed and improved. They help to provide a common language and understanding. The Principles are aligned to the EFQM Business Excellence Model and are designed to enable a company to: develop a new community investment programme evaluate current performance identify both strengths and areas for development set targets for improvement benchmark performance against best practice provide the background setting for demonstrating commitment to internal and external audiences The Principles of Corporate Community Investment Enablers Results People People Results Leadership Policy & Strategy Processes Community Partner Results Key Performance Results Partnerships & Resources Society Results Innovation and Learning

CCI Policy Development Initial business review Community needs assessment Audit existing activity and processes Assess community investment options Produce a revised policy Announce Commitment Deliberate how community involvement can help achieve your business objectives List your key business objectives Identify business goals Long term vision Areas of problem or opportunity Likely barriers Seek the opinion of your key stakeholders Assess critical community need Activity undertaken by other companies, NGOs, and government agencies Take stock of existing activity Use acknowledged methods such as PerCentClub or London Benchmarking Group model Audit your current processes Consider an independent evaluation of your current activity Study other companies view of best practice Think about where you want the company to be in the future Brainstorm activities to reach a vision of the business in the community Think about how you are going to manage the programme Define the company s limitations and agree budget parameters to prioritise budgets Avoid raising unreasonable expectations. Incorporating community views Aligned to business objectives Based on best practice Based on a detailed understanding of current activity Launch the first public commitments to the community The above diagram demonstrates how your company can go through the process of developing a policy. It begins with an initial business review and ends with your commitment enshrined in your policy. The processes illustrated allow you to go through the various stages of audit, assessment and review. The diagram also suggests how you might approach each process and who you should consult. Although time factors are not built into this diagram, we advise that you do set yourself a timetable. It would be so easy to set CCI policy development to one side when faced with other business demands. On the other hand, make sure that your timetable is realisable. You will probably want to meet with other senior colleagues in order to plan the timetable and to make sure that the process does not conflict with any other major developments that might have to take precedence.

Strategy You will need to consider the main elements of your strategic approach. Do not overlook the organic component as it is likely that you have employees who are already involved in community work, or wish to be, and this is something you can build on. The main strategic questions you will want to ask yourself are whether: your programme is to be aligned to business objectives? it will be themed; i.e. associated with your core business activity? you have specific aims for the programme, such as human resources objectives? this programme should have Flagship status? The information you gather should be synthesised into a single, simplified summary statement, which will form the basis for developing your own CCI strategy. The technique for achieving this is usually known as the SWOT Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Strength Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Developing an effective CCI strategy is essentially a matching process in which the company seeks to identify community investment opportunities to which it can harness its skills, time and resources to maximum effect and to the benefit of both the business and the community. Your strategy should give everyone a clear sense of direction and purpose. Screening for Fit It is undeniably the case that some social and community issues will fit some companies better than others. Take, for example, Homelessness. Below are

some of the companies who have become involved in campaigns to help the homeless, and what they believed they could bring to the campaign. High Fit Resources Whitbread: Beds, other furniture Sainsbury: Food Location Bain & Co: Strand Customers Jigsaw: Young professionals Corporate / Brand Image Timberland: Rugged, socially conscious Corporate ethos Marsh: Risk : Empowering people to fulfil their potential Tests of consistency Once you have begun to formulate your policy, you will want to test it both internally and externally in the following respects: Are the goals achievable? Are the goals and policies responsive to broader societal concerns? Do the goals and policies match the resources available to the company relative to competitors? Are the goals and policies consistent with the organisation s ability to change? The questions posed above are a reality check which will require honest answers. If you have any doubts about whether your policy can fulfil this test for consistency, then you ought to look again at your goals and policy. Key elements of a CCI policy Your policy should contain, at the very least, the following elements if it is to be clearly understood. Remember that clarity is the key not just to communicating

what CCI is all about, but also to providing a spur to action because everyone understands what can or needs to be done. 1. A statement of the company s commitment to community investment and the reason for that commitment 2. Written recognition of the value of voluntary activity undertaken by employees as private individuals. 3. Guidelines on employee involvement in decision making if projects are to be supported both by company money and employee time, will employees be involved in choosing the projects? what form will this involvement take? 4. Set parameters for who can get involved could family members or friends be included? if they are, how will you handle insurance liability? 5. A policy for Time-off will the company give paid time-off for employees volunteering? if so, will this apply to all employees? how much time is to be given off, and under what circumstances? 6. A policy for Contributions in Kind and Gifts in Kind what limits will be placed on their availability? 7. Matched giving to what level will the company match raised funds? will support only apply to employees who volunteer or fundraise for causes that fall within the company s contribution policy? will all employees be eligible? is payroll giving available to employees? 12 steps to effective consultation In the very first guide in this series, we stressed how important it is to consult with all the stakeholders involved with your company. There is overwhelming evidence from many companies that consultation is the key to ownership of the programme and that a sense of ownership brings with it purpose, direction and energy. We recommend, therefore, that you take the following steps: 1. Identify and define stakeholding groups in the organisation 2. Draw up a priority listing. Whose views are most important for the long term success of the programme? 3. Review several alternative means of canvassing opinion 4. Allocate a clear budget for consultation 5. Set objectives now for your next consultation exercise 6. Start with qualitative, in-depth interviews, which should include employees 7. Review this exercise before deciding whether you should carry out interviews with a larger sample or go for a quantitative approach, which will entail sending out questionnaires, probably to most, if not all, people employed by the company 8. Communicate the fact that a consultation process is underway, and invite comments/contributions 9. Ensure that a presentation of your findings is made to the most senior management group possible 10. Publicise your findings as widely as possible.

11. Develop an action plan on the basis of the findings and make this plan widely available 12. State when you will next undertake a consultation exercise and make sure that you do it on a regular basis Source: The Future Foundation/BT taken from Ashridge s Making Community Investment work Most CCI programmes will require that you build links with local community organisations, and for this, brokers and intermediaries can be most helpful. They can also be consulted during the policy development process. We recommend that you read another booklet in this series, Working with Partner Organisations. Conclusion and further reading We appreciate that the steps you must go through to enable you to draw up your company s policy and strategy for CCI require time and application. But there are a number of issues involved, which you will need to look at carefully. These include stakeholder attitudes and practices, resource and time implications, corporate culture, business objectives as well as the all-important choice of community programme to be supported. You will be aiming to put together a programme that makes sense for your business and everyone involved in it, and makes a tangible and much appreciated contribution to the needs of the community. You will want to get this right from the very beginning. If you start with the basic principles of audit, consultation, review, and planning, driven by your vision and objectives, your policy will emerge and will be all the more robust for having been through these careful processes. At this point we recommend that you read: How to Get Started How to Conduct Staff Surveys How to Communicate Corporate Community Investment How to Work with Partner Organisations For a full guide on the practicalities of starting various schemes, we suggest you read How to Develop an Employee Community Involvement Programme. Comments If you would like to comment on this booklet, or any other in the series, or if you need further information, please contact the CCI Team at Business in the Community.