The ‘sweet spot’ where corporate social responsibility meets corporate social strategy – where financial interests coincide with environmental, philanthropic and social interests.
I first heard the word combination “emotional profit center” from my friend Noni Verbiscar-Brown at Global Partners for Development. She was using it in the context of how someone decides what “cause” to support – how they know that they’ve found the right place for them- that place where the reward that comes back from the giving is greater than the gift.
With Noni’s blessing I have expanded the EMOTIONAL PROFIT CENTER™ into a business context. It’s the “sweet spot” where corporate social responsibility meets corporate social strategy- where financial interests coincide with environmental, philanthropic and social interests. It’s what happens when a business figures out that standing for something beyond the bottom line is strategic, and accepts responsibility for the wellbeing of the people it touches directly and indirectly, and the planet it thrives on.
If a business’ financial profit centers are the products and/or services they sell that lead to a positive financial outcome for their constituents, then the ‘emotional profit center” is made up of the programs and initiatives they integrate into their business that lead to a positive emotional outcome for their constituents.
Peggie Pelosi
Vision Keeper - Orenda Connections
GLOSSARY: From CSR to CSS (Corporate Social Strategy)
In the last few years as we at Orenda have immersed ourselves in our work, we hear (and have created) many terms referring to this connection between company and cause. If you’ve ever wondered what they actually mean, we’ve put together this glossary of the terms we use most often, and what they mean to us.
Corporate Social Responsibility: A company’s obligation to be accountable to all of its stakeholders in all its operations and activities with the aim of achieving sustainable development, not only in the economical dimension but also in the social and environmental dimensions.
The Center of Corporate Citizenship at Boston College
Sustainable Development: Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Brundtland Commission, 1987
Corporate Social Strategy: A company’s action plan for achieving global sustainable development through philanthropic and environmental commitments.
Peggie Pelosi
Strategic Corporate Philanthropy: Connecting a company with a relevant cause and integrating that partnership into the corporate culture, creating an Emotional Profit Center™ for the company and all of its constituents.
Peggie Pelosi
Emotional Profit Center™: The sweet spot where corporate social responsibility meets corporate social strategy – where financial interests coincide with environmental, philanthropic and social interests.
Peggie Pelosi
Creating the Emotional Profit Center™
through Strategic Corporate Philanthropy- Connecting Company and Cause
In our book, Corporate Karma: How Business Can Move Forward by Giving Back we outline each one of the following steps, but for the skimmers out there…here’s the snapshot
- Leadership
Make sure the CEO and Management/Executive team are on board with the program, and that CEO is willing to be the “voice”. Create a project team to devlop the program and make sure there’s a “champion” or project manager.
- Company/Cause Connection
Decide how you’re going to Give back and go green. In supporting a cause, refer to the following checklist to get it right.
• Is the cause Relevant to your business purpose?
• Is your plan Focused on one cause or many?
• Is your cause Local or global in reach, and what is important to you about that?
• Is there Good chemistry/vibe with the charity team?
• Is there Financial transparency and responsibility?
• Are there Volunteer opportunities?
• Do Faith and Religion show up in their work, and does this matter to you?
• Can they provide Tax Receipts to donors?
• Do you need a private corporate Foundation?
• How will you Manage Expectations?
- Employee Engagement
In evolving from corporate check-writing philanthropy to strategic employee engagement programs, consider the following ways for employees to participate:
Financial:
• (optional) automatic payroll deduction
• In-Kind product contributions
• Fundraisers
• Cause Days
• Corporate Fund Matching
• Specific/Custom product revenue contributions
Other Contributions:
• Skill Exchange
• Volunteer time
- Communication Plan
Communicate your program internally with consistency and continuity, providing updates and feedback on the results of your contributions. Consider embedding this message in all corporate communications,
• Create a “brand” for your corporate giving
• Plan a Launch event, and continue to communicate through:
• Ongoing events
• Website
• Webcasts
• Newsletter/ezine/blog
• New employee orientation
• Visuals in the workplace
• Recognition Program
• External Marketing
- Measurement
If measuring the impact of the Emotional Profit Center™ is important, you can do it:
Quantitatively; through surveys
Qualitatively; through focus groups, or simply by
Checking the Pulse: measure:
• Employee contributions over time
• Employee volunteer participation
• Employee event participation
• Feedback
• Awards
• Media Hits
Why CSS?
For those still asking the question why a company needs a corporate social strategy, here are some stats:
64% of businesses surveyed maintained that community investment makes a positive difference to a company’s bottom line.
Report from the Center of Corporate Citizenship at Boston College and US Chamber of Commerce 2005
81% of Americans consider a company’s social
commitment when deciding where to work
Cone Institute 2004
72% of Americans would choose to work for a company that supports charitable causes
87% of employed students over the age of 18 said the same thing
Deloitte 2004
Over 50% of MBA students would accept a lower salary to work for a socially responsible company
Net Impact 2006
When a thousand Americans were asked whether they
would accept a lower salary or earn “enough” doing
work that makes the world a better place, 86% chose
the latter – a steep increase from ten years earlier
Universum, Global Employer Brand Specialists
2006
79% of millennials (born between 1979-2001) want to work for a company that cares about how it impacts and contributes to society.
61% feel personally responsible for making a difference in the world
Cone Millennial Study 2006
Based on responses of 6,823 private-sector American employees, nearly 75% they believe their company should help people living in extreme poverty outside of the United States.
Millennium Promise/ Careerbuilder.com 2007
charity at WORK
In response to our charity partners requests, Orenda is excited to announce our charity at WORK division. Our charity at WORK group designs the blueprint for charities to offer employee engagement programs to their corporate donors. This offering allows the charity to show up “corporate ready” for partnership, and meet the evolving corporate social strategy interest in creating an Emotional Profit Center™. For more information about our charity at WORK program, contact info@orendaconnections.com
Anita Roddick: A pioneer in Corporate Karma
My earliest awareness of a company standing up for a social cause was The Body Shop. Last month corporate responsibility pioneer and Body Shop founder Anita Roddick, passed away unexpectedly.
Jeffrey Hollender, President and CEO of Seventh Generation, friend of Anita Roddick wrote recently:
She was one of the first people to ever stand up and say she was running a responsible business. And in doing so she gave birth to a movement that continues to this day and that, I believe, is going to be instrumental in ensuring the world we leave to coming generations is healthier and more just than the one we live in today. And that’s kind of the way I think about it. Anita Roddick believed she could help save the world. And she always tried her damndest.
When the Body Shop was founded, the ideas it embraced and the principles it embodied were brand new. There weren’t any models to follow. There weren’t any rules of engagement. The Body Shop was an anomaly and so different from any company that had come before it that no one in the business community knew quite what to make of it. In fact, if anyone thought anything about it at all it was that it was simply an aberration that would vanish as quickly as it came. But Anita had other ideas….
Read the entire article
‘Tis the Season’: gifts that give
As the holiday season approaches, here are just a few of our favorite charity gifts that feel good.
The Nature Conservancy
Canada: Click here
USA and International: Click here
World Wildlife Fund
Canada: Click here
USA: Click here
Anywhere: Click here
Global Partners for Development
www.gpfd.org
Canadian Hunger Foundation
strategicprofitsinc.com
Charity:
http://www.charityis.org
and if you’re thinking about giving a magazine subscription, check out:
www.goodmagazine.com
Events of Note:
The Ninth International Conference on BUSINESS and CONSCIOUSNESS
January 25-29, 2008
Santa Fe, New Mexico
“where profit and purpose come together”
www.bizspirit.com
Canada China Environmental Forum
Nov. 1, 2007
Toronto, ON
www.canadachinagreen.com
CBSR Fifth annual Summit on CSR
Nov. 7, 2007
Toronto, ON
www.cbsr.ca
Great READING:
Getting To Maybe,
by
Francis Westley,
Brenda Zimmerman and
Michael Quinn Patton
Many of us have a deep desire to make the world around us a better place. But we tend to think that great social change is the province of heroes – an intimidating view of reality that keeps ordinary people on the couch. The trick in any great social project- from the global fight against AIDS to working to eradicate poverty in a single Canadian city – is to stop looking at the discrete elements and start trying to understand the complex relationships between them. By studying fascinating real –life examples of social change through this systems-and-relationships lens, the authors of Getting To maybe teae out the rules of engagements between volunteers,leaders,organizations and circumstance – between individuals and what Shakespeare called “the tide in the affairs of men”
www.resalliance.org
The Globe and Mail
IDEAS: REASON AND THE LIMITS OF SYMPATHY
What makes us care
When a dog is abused, thousands of dollars pour in, yet the people of Darfur are still displaced and starving. Why? A new study finds that appealing to our nobler sentiments can actually get in the way of doing good.
pragmasynesi.wordpress.com
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In this edition:
The EMOTIONAL PROFIT CENTER™
The ‘sweet spot’ where corporate social responsibility meets corporate social strategy – where financial interests coincide with environmental, philanthropic and social interests.
Read the story 
GLOSSARY: From CSR to CSS (Corporate Social Strategy)
In the last few years as we at Orenda have immersed ourselves in our work, we hear (and have created) many terms referring to this connection between company and cause. If you’ve ever wondered what they actually mean, we’ve put together this glossary of the terms we use most often, and what they mean to us.
Read the story
Creating the EMOTIONAL PROFIT CENTER™ through Strategic Corporate Philanthropy- Connecting Company and Cause
In our book, Corporate Karma: How Business Can Move Forward by Giving Back we outline each one of the following steps, but for the skimmers out there…here’s the snapshot.
Read the story
Why CSS?
For those still asking the question why a company needs a corporate social strategy, here are some stats:
Read the story
charity at WORK
In response to our charity partners requests, Orenda is excited to announce our charity at WORK division. Our charity at WORK group designs the blueprint for charities to offer employee engagement programs to their corporate donors. This offering allows the charity to show up “corporate ready” for partnership, and meet the evolving corporate social strategy interest in creating an Emotional Profit Center™. For more information about our charity at WORK program, contact info@orendaconnections.com
Thank you Anita Roddick: A pioneer in Corporate Karma
My earliest awareness of a company standing up for a social cause was The Body Shop. Last month corporate responsibility pioneer and Body Shop founder Anita Roddick, passed away unexpectedly.
Read the story
Click here to read what Jeffrey Hollender, President and CEO of Seventh Generation and friend of Anita Roddick, wrote recently.
‘Tis the Season’: gifts that give
As the holiday season approaches, here are just a few of our favorite charity gifts that feel good.
Read the story
EVENTS of Note:
The Ninth International Conference on BUSINESS and CONSCIOUSNESS
Canada China Environmental Forum
CBSR Fifth annual Summit on CSR.
Read the story
Great READING:
Getting To Maybe,
by
Francis Westley,
Brenda Zimmerman and
Michael Quinn Patton
Read the story
The Globe and Mail
IDEAS: REASON AND THE LIMITS OF SYMPATHY
What makes us care
Read the story
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