The Enterprising Moms

The following is a guest blog post by Jane Meier of Full Circle Partnerships on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Jane will be presenting at our upcoming workshop, Doing Well While Doing Good: Demystifying CSR on Tuesday, May 11th.  Get details and register at The Enterprising Moms.

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To a small business person, CSR can feel nebulous and intimidating, and therefore end up way down on the long list of to do’s!

While there is no one definition for CSR, here’s a good working definition:

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is operating a business in a manner that balances the social and environmental impact created by the business with the expectations of its “stakeholders.”

CSR is a big “umbrella” definition for many business practices.  It covers the gamut — from fair treatment of employees, to monitoring and maintaining safety standards of products, to minimizing natural resource consumption to volunteering and community partnerships.

At The Enterprising Moms’ upcoming event, “Doing Well While Doing Good: Demystifying CSR,” we’ll narrow the focus on two areas of CSR vitally important to a small business owner: Community Partnerships and Sustainability.

Community partnerships are an effective way to engage with non-profits and governments to accentuate and strengthen shared values.  A non-profit gets the benefit of donated time, services, and/or financial resources; and as growing business you form relationships and business contacts to build, strenghten and maintain your brand.

Sustainability should be a priority to all businesses, small and large, for many reasons, including that having a vibrant economy with enough natural resources is important to staying in business.  As business owners, it’s important to look at the resources we are using critically and make choices to minimize our impacts. 

We’ll discuss these topics and more at next week’s event.

In the meantime to jump-start your process, you could …

• Hop on Hands-On Network to peruse potential non-profit partners
• Watch this 2-minute Sustainability Cartoon that provides a concrete definition  to another mysterious buzz word
• Register for next Tuesday’s event, Doing Well While Doing Good: Demystifying CSR!

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Jane Meier is marketing consultant who loves helping businesses integrate marketing with Corporate Social Responsibility.  Whether seeking to build partnerships with non-profits, developing marketing strategy, or planning or implementing special events, clients hire Jane for her skills in partnership building, her attention to detail and passionate commitment to corporate social responsibility.