CSR Done Right

http://www.socialbrite.org/2010/04/22/4-examples-of-corporate-social-responsibility-done-right/

I was searching online for examples of initiatives that organizations have been taking to help improve society when I came across this link. It lists four major companies that are very well known and gives us their major areas of focus when it comes to social responsibility. I was actually surprised that I was already aware of three of these four organizations initiatives mainly through social media and the media in general.
The first organization that is mentioned is Molson Coors Canada. Molson Coors has used CSR to advance its brand and take advantage of social medias such as Twitter and Facebook to do so. I support Molson Coors as a company since they produce my favourite beer, but I also support their initiatives to promote responsible drinking as I always drink responsibly. Molson Coors has actually spent more money on responsible drinking education and advertising then they have on alcohol centered events. During the holiday season of 2008, the Toronto Transit Authority cancelled its New Years Eve free ride transportation due to budget cuts and Molson stepped in and donated $20,000 as the first of many private donations to the cause.
The second organization that is mentioned is Tyson Foods. Tyson has committed their brand to relieving and ultimately ending childhood starvation. They have also been using social media to spread their cause and a good example of this is their blog. Tyson launched a campaign in Austin Texas where they agreed to donate 100 pounds of chicken to the Capital Area Food Bank for every comment posted on their blog. They received 658 in only two hours, that’s 65,800 pounds of chicken donated and the success of this campaign led to it being repeated in Boston and San Francisco.
The third organization that is mentioned is Haagen-Dazs. As an organization Haagen-Dazs has been raising awareness about the alarming disappearance of honeybees. They created a website to raise awareness about the issue and it is beautifully animated and the reason that this disappearance is so important is because honeybees are responsible for pollinating one - third of all the foods that we eat. The company is also donating a portion of the proceeds from its new Honeybee brand to research on the topic. This relates back to the core of the organization because honeybees are necessary for the production of their products.
The fourth and final organization mentioned is Greenopolis. Greenopolis is an organization developed to educate people how to be more environmentally friendly as they go about their daily lives. Greenopolis has the slogan “Learn. Act. Reward. Together.” Their website as well as their social media presence offers daily updates on many recycling facts and statistics.
What I have learnt from this article is that organizations do not need to take every measure to become sustainable in order to be socially responsible but that there is always a way to link some sort of CSR initiative to the core values of your organization. I also learnt that social medias such as Twitter and Facebook are great methods to use to relay your information on to your customers and to get them involved in CSR as well.

By Jason Mulligan