Helping companies develop and strengthen their business
About CSR
Corporate social responsibility or CSR refers to a series of business concepts that are generally understood to be important to the short, medium and long term success of a business or organisation. In particular, it refers to the responsible and effective management of the environmental, health and safety and social aspects of the organisation’s activities.
Why should my organisation adopt a formal approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) matters?
Many organisations informally develop CSR policies as part of day-to-day business. This often occurs as a natural result of risk management, product development or human resource activities.
Adopting a formal approach to CSR matters can help a business enhance its brand reputation and better understand its own credentials in this important area. You will find this approach also brings time and cost saving opportunities. Any organisation that tenders for public-sector contracts must explain its approach to CSR in great detail. Having this information completely prepared, consistent in detail and quality with the other communications of your organisation, means that no time is wasted and no mistakes are made through rushed preparations.
What does formal adoption involve?
- Firstly, the development of an overall CSR strategy and policies that cover all related areas of opportunity and risk within the business and its activities. The strategy and related policies should be formally adopted at board level.
- Secondly, the design and development of systems to ensure that the adopted strategies and policies are carried out.
- Thirdly, the rollout of the described strategy, policies and systems.
- Fourthly, the communication and reporting of the organisation’s CSR strategies, policies, systems and performance to all its key stakeholders in a coherent manner.
How we can help
While working with our clients we apply our extensive knowledge base and skill set to develop and put in place an effective corporate social responsibility strategy and policy framework. These cover all related and important areas of risk and opportunity associated with current and future business activities.
We support our clients with the development of CSR management systems through our extensive partnership network and contacts.
We also supply a wide range of communications and reporting services which focus on CSR matters.
Quality advice from an experienced team
We recognise the importance of producing high quality reports and are experts in this field. This is why our service has a track record of being associated with international reporting awards.
The production of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) report is an activity that even the most well resourced organisations can find daunting. It can be difficult to find an advisory service that possesses the extensive project management and technical capabilities required to undertake this exercise effectively all under one roof.
Why CO3?
We have an established reputation in this area, delivering our service and supporting our client reporting to best-in-sector levels. Moreover our services are delivered quickly, effectively and at highly competitive rates.
Many CSR reports are difficult to navigate and hard for many stakeholders to understand as a result of insufficient attention being paid to their format and the application of complex language. The reports we have been involved in stand out from the crowd because they are easy to follow, interpret and comprehend.
We are a forward-looking company and apply our well established knowledge of internet technology to assist our clients with online CSR reporting and applying this technology to distribute the information and enter into dialogue with key stakeholders.
Understanding and reaching your target audience
Issues
Many organisations find it difficult to communicate their corporate social responsibility (CSR) credentials effectively. There are a variety of reasons for this. One is because the language associated with the concepts is often technical and difficult to comprehend. Another is that it is often hard for in-house communications teams and their advisors to obtain a strong understanding of the information required by their key stakeholders.
Consequently much of the CSR information produced by many organisations is hard to understand. It is frequently distributed in a form which is unappealing to many audiences. Information is commonly presented in insufficient detail for certain stakeholders prompting suggestions of “spin” and “greenwash”. Many listed companies miss an opportunity to demonstrate their credentials in this area to their investors. This important audience is becoming increasingly interested in CSR strategies, systems and performance as they are seen as natural indicators of management ability and the effectiveness of risk management strategies.
How we can help
Our CSR communications services have been developed with these issues in mind and are specifically tailored to our clients’ needs once we gain an understanding of their particular circumstances.
Our communications services
- Development of communications plans, strategies and timelines
- Project management
- Writing copy
- Crisis management
- Production of online content
- Stakeholder mapping
- Communicating our clients’ CSR information to the investment community
The scope of our services combined with our knowledge base, skill set and our creativity means that we are able to deliver a rather different level of support to that offered by many other organisations.
Who to speak to at CO3
For more information about our communications services, or to discuss a particular issue, please contact Hayley Brent-Isherwood or Tim Purcell.
Tailored support services for third sector organisations
We offer public relations and communications support to third sector organisations (charities, social enterprises, community interest companies and other bodies with a social purpose).
A key aspect of this service is the private sector background of our staff, combined with our extensive knowledge of the third sector. This means we are also able to help our clients develop relationships with the private sector, through our proven understanding of how large companies approach corporate social responsibility (CSR) concepts.
Our service portfolio includes:
- Development of a communications and media strategy
- Media profiling
- Applying our extensive range of contacts to broker relationships for our clients
- Brand and corporate image development
- Online communications including website project management and day-to-day maintenance of content
- News and information distribution and feedback
- Wider stakeholder engagement and interaction
- Crisis communications management including the development of systems
- First point of contact service for the media
- Media monitoring
We would be happy to discuss any specific issues or requirements you may have.
