By Jacqueline C. Cavnar, MBA, COO of The Rural Partnership

No matter the moniker placed on it or the department in which it is housed, Corporate Social Responsibility—executed well—works.  Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the deliberate inclusion of public interest in corporate decision making.  Consider CSR the conscience or soul of the organization.

Successful CSR programs result when CSR principles permeate corporate governance.  What are the corporate mission, the values, and the goals?  Does the organization ascribe to an ethics statement?  Do employees hold their fellow employees to the same standards and accountability?  Does management nurture that environment?

Ben & Jerry’s, the ice cream manufacturers, carry the banner for companies who live, breathe, and, well, eat CSR.  Since the company’s inception in 1978, the founders incorporated social and environmental mission-driven values into every aspect of the organization.   From ensuring that Ben & Jerry’s employees earn a livable wage, which outpaces the national minimum wage, to seeking global vendors with like-minded values, Ben & Jerry’s attracts customers who also share these values. 

CSR never works when it is forced or contrived.  At the other extreme, what has society reaped from Enron to Bernard Madoff?  Thanks to such corporate disasters, organizations now face greater federal regulation, added expenses of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, employees decimated without retirement plans, and nonprofits that have eliminated services.

What is your little CSR voice saying to you?