The four core areas of CSR: community
One of the most visible components of CSR is Corporate Community Involvement - a cooperation between a business and one or more community organisations (whether locally or further afield) which helps to address business and community needs for mutual benefit.
Community engagement involves a number of different forms of monetary and volunteering support:
Volunteering
Both skilled and unskilled time and expertise given to an organisation during normal working hours, including pro-bono work. Volunteering can help a community organisation carry out project, improve operational structure and attract supporters. A business will find that it can help with staff retention, skills development, team work and enhancing brand reputation. Heart of the City encourages strategic volunteering that addresses both parties' core needs on a long-term basis.
Corporate giving
These are donations made through company funds. Some companies create foundation arms of their company and set up grant giving procedures.
Staff and matched fundraising
Allowing your staff to raise money on company time, for agreed an comapny-wide causes or for individual staff members' causes, can increase staff retention and help with team building. As with volunteering, Heart of the City believes that a well-planned giving policy maximises the impact on staff, community organisation and company.
Payroll giving
Payroll Giving is a way for your employees to make regular payments to charity directly from their pay. Donations are deducted from their pay before tax is deducted which means that the charity receives more than if you pay for example through direct debit.
Gifts in kind
Gifts in kind can make a huge difference to charitable organisations, and can also form part of your environmental policy, i.e. its better to give an item away than to throw it away.