The days of “the business of business is business” may be dwindling. Companies are no longer expected to merely earn a profit, said Ira Jackson, dean of the Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA. Companies are also judged by their contributions to the world around them. Nowadays, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is about much more than simple corporate philanthropy. It’s about addressing social, economic and environmental challenges, and making our communities stronger.
Jackson explained, “Companies today are under intense pressure to rebuild public trust while remaining competitive in this global market. The current events only sharpen and highlight the need for corporations to act responsibly and ethically in greater regard for society as well as sensitivity to investors and citizens.”
Jackson is co-author (with Jane Nelson) of Profits with 
Principles: Seven Strategies for Delivering Value with Values (Doubleday, 2004), which was described by Tom Peters as “a stunning achievement…and a survival guide for business executives and a survival guide for capitalism itself.”
The book profiles 60 companies that are gaining and sustaining competitive advantages and driving shareholder value by incorporating CSR. Companies such as Google, Proctor & Gamble, General Electric and Toyota are not only actively involved in their communities, but make CSR an integral part of their company’s culture and mission.
According to Jackson, “Acting responsibly, ethically and transparently is indispensable to achieving the kind of bottom line every business wants. Great companies have been doing this for a long time. CSR doesn’t have to be cost inhibitive. However, it can no longer be a secondary consideration or nice to have; it’s now an expected way of doing business.”
Recent research shows that 69 percent of Americans feel corporations should invest more in their communities. This survey, completed late last year by TBA Global Life Pulse Poll, only confirms the direction that TBA Global LLC and other smart companies are heading. TBA Global is one of the world's leading producers and marketers of connective brand experiences.
In addition to enhancing or improving the company’s public image, Alison Smith Jenks, vice president of marketing for the San Diego-based TBA Global said, “CSR programs become incredible teambuilding opportunities and motivators, creating an environment where employees can feel good about their company and themselves.”
Rather than cancelling, many companies such as LexisNexis, a TBA Global client, are turning to community-focused meetings that bring employees together while giving back to their host communities.
What Is The Planner’s Role?
Jenks said adding a CSR component to a meeting utilizes the same steps necessary to design any program. “It’s not just something you throw into the agenda; it has to fit in order to work. We ask our clients the same questions whether the meeting includes a CSR event or not. We’d ask about their meeting’s objectives and goals, and then specifically their CSR platform.”
Other questions Jenks said planners should ask are: What is your company’s culture? Does your group 
like to get their hands dirty? Or do they prefer observing? How much time do you have in the program? What interests you, your attendees and your company? Do you have enough time to be transported to another site? Or is this a CSR program that you need to bring to the attendees? Which community outreach program fits into the company’s profile?
Then, Jenks suggests that planners work with a local partner to flesh out the greatest needs in the host communities. For example, she said, “Although TBA Global is headquartered in Los Angeles, we have 17 offices in major destination cities across the U.S. and in Canada. These are communities where we live and work. We’re personally connected to the pulse of the community, and we can fit the right CSR community outreach program for our clients.”
Despite their already robust CSR agenda, LexisNexis wanted to enhance their annual meeting by adding a community outreach program. A global information technology company located in Boca Raton, FL, LexisNexis is a good example of a responsible company that gives back to the community and prefers a hands-on approach to CSR — rolling up their sleeves and working 
alongside community members to make a difference. Last year, 180 of LexisNexis’ global executives who gathered in New Orleans for their annual meeting took time out to restore a playground that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
In Miami, at this year’s leadership summit, employees partnered with Hands on Miami to refurbish a crowded middle school in need of repair. Executives went above and beyond the initial request from the school, said Jenks. “LexisNexis felt that simply repairing the playground was inadequate. They worked with the community members and students to also plan and plant landscaping, paint hallways and common areas, and assemble and provide much-needed lunch tables. It’s about allowing the CSR event to stir the employees’ creativity and create bonds.”
Elizabeth Rector, senior vice president of corporate social responsibility for LexisNexis, explained, “We include volunteer events in our corporate and customer meetings donating our time and expertise because we want to make an impact in our local and host communities. In addition, these types of events forge relationships within the company between employees, managers and customers. Having these events makes for a memorable and substantial teambuilding experience.”
An Integral Part Of A Strategic Business Plan
 |
AirPlus International partners with Continental Airlines to host charitable missions to Nicaragua orphanages, schools and homes for the elderly.
Photo by Rana Walker |
Moreover, companies recognize that building social issues into their strategic plans is a good thing for their employees, their clients and the community at large. Rector said, “LexisNexis business leaders are also asked to include CSR into their business strategies. We want the concept of CSR as part of our overall strategic business plan.”
Rector noted that the company’s other CSR initiatives include partnering with hotels and other travel-related organizations with similar social responsibility philosophies. “For example, we would partner with a hotel that cares about the environment or their community by disposing of the meeting or conference trash in a green or environmentally friendly way.”
Jenks noted that there’s no magic formula to finding ideas beyond understanding and knowing the local community — and being open-minded. “If your schedule doesn’t allow for a hands-on program, then you can still do something good for your community by donating leftover floral arrangements to a local hospital or nursing home or arranging for leftover food and beverage to be donated to a local shelter.”
Make CSR The Focus Of The Meeting
AirPlus International Inc., a leading international provider of business travel payment and data management solutions, believes that successful business goes hand-in-hand with responsibility to the community and the environment. “We feel that when we care about the global community it shows our customers how we feel about their business,” said Rana Walker, the marketing and communications manager in the company’s Alexandria, VA, regional office.
AirPlus had been searching for a way to entertain their clients in a socially responsible way. When the opportunity arose to collaborate with their airline, car rental and hotel partners in a groundbreaking CSR event, they jumped at the opportunity. Their invitation list included 20 current and potential clients from
 |
Attendees from Solta Medical, a newly merged company, forged bonds during the “Great Team Challenge,” and joined hands to build computers for underprivileged children in the community.
Photo courtesy of PRA Orange County |
Fortune 500 companies.
“We called it a ‘familiarization tour of Nicaragua,’?” explained Walker. “AirPlus and our partners covered all transportation, hotel, food and expenses, just like any incentive meeting. However, this was nothing like your typical incentive. Personally giving a community much-needed relief was a life-altering experience for our clients, partners and our company.”
The group’s charitable mission in Nicaragua included visiting two orphanages — in Granada and Managua — to distribute food, toys, school supplies and clothing; one school — Gothel Valley Elementary School — to distribute backpacks with new uniforms and numerous school supplies to 128 students; and a home for the elderly — Isaac House — to distribute food, bed linens and much-needed medication. Rice, beans, sugar, oil and other items such as shoes and clothing, were also distributed to 200 needy families in the community of Veracruz.
This level of commitment may appear somewhat over-the-top to some planners, but according to Walker, the trip was hugely successful from a corporate standpoint, too. “In terms of return on investment, of the 20 that attended, not only did we deliver an impactful community project that no one will forget, but we forged relationships in that one week in Nicaragua like we never have in a typical resort-based incentive,” she said.
Walker reported that follow-up sales calls have been effective and that many are in the closing stages because of the personal relationships that were forged at this one CSR event.
“It’s a bond that you can’t create on the golf course,” emphasized Walker. “CSR is not just a fluke. It’s also a very sound business decision.”
After the Nicaragua trip, Walker created a special page on Facebook so that the 20 original attendees could stay in touch and receive updates on the program. So far, that online community has expanded to 85 members. Walker said that future trips are in the works and they already have a list of clients waiting to get involved in making a difference.
Walker said, “You don’t have to take your meeting to another country to create impactful CSR. Whether your meeting is based in a convention center or a hotel, you can open up the possibilities of making an impact at a local level, too, by focusing on what’s around you in the community.”
More Successful CSR Programs
Tara Schratz is the global events specialist for Hayward, CA-based Solta Medical, a global leader in the development of aesthetic products, procedures and services. Solta Medical was formed by the recent merger last summer of two major aesthetic industry companies. Solta’s first global sales meeting following the merger was held at the new Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Coast, CA.
Schratz said that CSR has always been a part of both companies. “With two different companies and cultures merging, it made business sense to continue the community involvement program as a 
teambuilding event. We wanted a give-back program that benefited the community where we held our meeting.”
With the help of Ashley McCormick, national sales manager for PRA Destination Management Orange County, a “Great Team Challenge” was created. McCormick reached out to their Los Angeles-based supplier, Feet First Entertainment.
McCormick said, “It’s all about building partnerships and working together to create and match the perfect charity to the meeting. Then, we can build on that platform to create a perfect experience to give back.”
The CSR program selected was a computer build, a twist of the bike-build program, incorporating teambuilding activities and stations to earn the computer parts. With an emcee hosting the event, attendees participated in various fun events, beginning with a hula hoop activity.
Schratz said, “The event was a way to engage 150 attendees around games to get them to relax and get to know each other. It turned into friendly competition and created bonds amongst our two merged companies.”
Once the computers were built, attendees were rewarded for their efforts. McCormick brought the underprivileged kids from Orange County Asian Pacific Islander Community Alliance into the ballroom to accept their computer gift.
“The ultimate goal of this project was attained,” said Schratz. “We wanted to build relationships between our two companies and foster pride in the new organization. And we wanted to show our company is deeper than making the product.”
The More The Merrier, The Larger The Gift
Last year, the Fogelman Management Group, a Memphis, TN-based privately held operator of multi-family apartment communities operating in 13 states and 23 cities, consciously made a decision to bring a sense of community to their annual meeting.
Pattie D. Woods, CAPS, vice president, training and development, and John Barber, vice present of real estate services for Fogelman Management Group noted that even though their individual properties are involved in local community service projects, from painting local shelters to donating toys, they wanted to 
use the corporate meeting to show their true CSR colors.
“At our corporate meeting,” said Barber, “we also credited our individual properties for their contributions, but we really wanted to make a corporate statement about being socially responsible as well.”
Woods reported that with 500 employees, 53 properties and 18,000 residents in apartment units, they knew Fogelman could bring it all together to make a huge impact at a corporate level. So they rallied their troops.
“We brainstormed, selected and contacted the Make-a-Wish Foundation as a recognizable charity in all our neighborhoods,” said Woods. “Prior to our annual convention, our local apartment communities and properties organized local fundraisers to our ultimate goal of making one lucky person’s dreams come true at a cost of just $5,000.”
From bake sales to pet contests at their apartment complexes, Fogelman Management Group raised money prior to even arriving at the annual meeting. The excitement grew locally and carried through to the annual event.
“When we began tallying the results,” Barber said, “we were amazed that our first time out we raised more than double our original goal. That meant we could fulfill two Make-a-Wishes!”
The culmination of the true teambuilding, community fundraiser occurred at The Peabody Memphis. The two young Make-A-Wish recipients who would later receive their wish of a shopping trip to New York City, arrived at the hotel unaware that it was all about them.
“Our special guest for the afternoon spoke on the topic of giving back and living rich,” recalled Woods. “Immediately following his speech, the attendees, dressed in logo T-shirt imprinted ‘Fogelman CARES,’ made their way upstairs.”
A Fogelman employee dressed as a bellman led the Make-a-Wish teenagers to the top floor of the hotel to an area decorated like a New York fashion show runway, lined with shopping bags of upscale stores and two large screens with slide shows of New York. All 120 attendees witnessed the presentation. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room, Woods and Barber said.
“Obviously it was a successful experiment,” said Barber. “Not only did we contribute to our local community, but our employees felt like they belonged to a company that cared and was part of the community, not just another apartment complex. In the end, that is what being socially responsible is all about.”
The Best Time For CSR Is Now
Alan Ranzer, executive director of the Bethesda, MD-based Impact 4 Good, a socially conscious corporate teambuilding company, said it’s never been a better time for planners to incorporate CSR into their programs. “Companies understand that in today’s environment of negative public perception for meetings, images drive customer decisions,” said Ranzer. “That’s why smart companies are focusing on promoting positive images with positive actions.”
Impact 4 Good partners with local Habitat for Humanity affiliates, community centers, schools and/or other community organizations to make the donation possible. Ranzer said that there’s a noticeable change in the idea and perception of a company’s CSR and its subsequent public image. Recently an
 |
Attendees build literacy awareness and bookshelves for community centers and conduct book drives as part of Impact 4 Good’s novel “Literacy Builders” program.
Photo courtesy of Impact 4 Good |
Impact 4 Good pharmaceutical client even wanted to get the media involved. “This traditionally socially responsible pharmaceutical client wanted to show something good in the midst of the bad. Their bike-build for charity was broadcasted through the local media channels, and it was a morale and teambuilder for the company and the attendees.”
Impact 4 Good has been a leader in creating community-impactful teambuilding programs. Most planners have heard or perhaps even incorporated challenges such as bike and beehive building for local charities. Ranzer said Impact 4 Good prides themselves on continuously researching and creating more community service opportunities for their corporate clients.
Impact 4 Good launched three new programs:
“Literacy Builders” is a two-hour activity with teams tasked to complete three literature-themed challenges to earn materials necessary to build bookshelves that are donated to a local community school. The program builds awareness of reading problems, and often includes a book drive prior to the event. A pharmaceutical client built 26 bookshelves and donated 1,900 books to Wilkinson Center in Dallas, TX.
“The Best Medicine” is designed to give at least a few moments of fun for children enduring hospital stays. Teams participate in medical-oriented tasks, such as “Operation” and “Wound Dressing Relay” to earn enough points to purchase materials to prepare piñatas stuffed with gifts, toys and games to donate to the children at hospitals.
“Fare to Share” helps participants comprehend the issue of hunger in the U.S. Teams prepare food to donate in cooking contests, and then the food is distributed to community soup kitchens or food banks, such as the DC Central Kitchen’s meal recycling and distribution program.
Corporate social responsibility in meetings is not just about improving the company’s public image, noted Ranzer.
“Community service gives attendees a warmth and joy for doing something good,” Ranzer said. “When CSR is incorporated into a meeting or event, it actually motivates the attendees and gives them increased feelings of satisfaction with their employer. Satisfied employees equal happy bottom lines for employers. CSR is a win-win for everyone.” C&IT