CSR Resources From Various Initiatives

A resource for corporations & other businesses

that want to make a commitment to social responsibility

by Jayne Cravens
via coyotecommunications.com & coyoteboard.com (same web site)

CSR Resources From Various Initiatives

Below is a list of academic-based programs and institutes and nonprofit organizations focused on corporate social responsibility, or some aspect of such. For the most part, these are programs that approach corporate philanthropy in a traditional way - corporations and businesses pushing for nonprofits to work a certain way, per the corporate view of how issues should be approached, corporations focused on CSR and philanthropy in order to provide "leadership" in their communities, however they might define their communities, corporations looking at CSR primarily as a way to increase profits and customers, etc.

3BL Association is the organization that generates the annual “100 Best Corporate Citizens” list.
Boston College Centre for Corporate Citizenship - one of the prominent leaders in the CSR field. While some online resources are available only to members, even non-members can find valuable information on the site, particularly under the Conferences & Events and Knowledge & Events tabs.
Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) is a global nonprofit organization that seeks to help businesses operate in a way that contributes in the creation of “a just and sustainable world” through implementation of their suggested strategies.
Business in the Community a British outreach charity promoting responsible business, volunteering, and CSR.
CSR Europe says they are the “leading European business network for Corporate Social Responsibility”.
CSR News covers international news items related to corporate social responsibility. While the German site is updated more frequently than its English counterpart, both are great sources of current events and up-to-date information.
CSRwire along with Justmeans.com, Triple Pundit, is part of the 3BL Media family of companies and platforms, raising awareness for CSR and sustainability initiatives around the globe.
Center for High Impact Philanthropy, University of Pennsylvania. Provides analysis on a broad range of causes (e.g., U.S. education, global public health priorities like malaria or child survival rates, effective disaster response), as well as challenges faced by all those seeking social impact (e.g., How to define social impact goals, measure and manage progress, estimate the social return on investments). Also provides educational programs and consulting.
Charities@Work is an alliance of three nonprofit organizations that collectively represent more than 3,000 of the leading health, environmental, international development, and community nonprofits. Charities@Work "bridges the corporate and nonprofit sectors in order to achieve greater social impact." The annual Charities@Work Employee Engagement Summit brings together corporate citizenship and employee engagement professionals to learn and network, share promising practices, discuss the latest trends, and create greater social impact together.
Corporate Knights is a Canadian-based print magazine and interactive web site.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Advice for ethics, strategies & operations from Jayne Cravens (coyotebroad / coyote communications). This advice regarding CSR - financial donations, in-kind donations, employee volunteering or taking on community roles as a representative of a company, such as serving on an advisory board at a nonprofit or government group - is different from most, and maybe all, of the other advice you may have been reading or hearing.
Ethical Corporation is a British company that addresses CSR and other issues.
Harvard Kennedy School of Government (The CSR Initiative) provides original content used by students for research papers and publications.
Points of Light Foundation Corporate Resources provides a roundup of pro-corporate news regarding CSR.
Stanford Social Innovation Review publishes articles on social business, global issues, nonprofit management, employee volunteering, social entrepreneurship, and more.
UN Global Compact is a “strategic policy initiative for businesses” that matches current strategies and operations with “ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption”.
Workforce.com is not a nonprofit or academic institute, but I'm including it anyway because it's my favorite resource regarding practical information about corporate social responsibility, especially regarding employee volunteering..
Nonprofit AF is a web site, with a Twitter feed and Facebook account, that explores what it is like to work in nonprofits, including fundraising, working with donors, special events, community engagement, donor cultivation, program implementation, outcomes and metrics, etc. - but usually does this exploration in a very funny or provocative way. On Facebook Nonprofit AF featured this question in July 2020: What is the most ridiculous thing a donor or funder said to you? The answers are hilarious and... sad and should be read by all corporate giving and foundation program staff. And on Twitter, at the start of the pandemic in the USA, the #CrappyFundingPractices of several foundations got special attention, like those of the United Way, Region's Bank, or the Amelia Peabody Foundation.

I have a CSR Twitter list that is a curated list of Twitter accounts related to corporate social responsibility. It's public, so you can subscribe to it and keep up-to-date about discussions and announcements related to CSR.

Also see:

A history of the Smart Valley initiative
In 1994, perhaps earlier, an initiative called Smart Valley was launched in California. Smart Valley was a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization focused on creating an "information infrastructure" in Silicon Valley, California - Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, San José, Santa Clara and the surrounding area, creating projects to enhance the quality of life in Silicon Valley. Smart Valley's projected included SmartSchools NetDay and PC Day, Smart Voter, to help people learn about upcoming elections, Connect 96: The Global Summit on Building Electronic Communities, the Public Access Network (PAN), a Telecommuting Initiative, and the Smart Valley Webmasters Group. Smart Valley was also affiliated with the nonprofit organization Plugged In, one of the first digital divide efforts, working to bring "the tremendous technological resources available in the Silicon Valley to youth in low-income communities" in East Palo Alto and SV-PAL, the Silicon Valley Public Access Link.

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