Here's how you can effectively communicate the impact of your CSR work to the public.

Cuando iba en secundaria, le pregunté a mi papá si me dejaba salir con mis amigas, él me preguntó que qué de bueno les iba a dejar con mi presencia. Evidentemente, no se me había pasado nunca eso por la cabeza, pero este simple gesto me ha ayudado a plantearme continuamente en mis relaciones: ?qué de bueno le puedo yo dejar a esta persona? Estoy convencida que en el nivel corporativo pasa exactamente lo mismo. Siempre tienes algo bueno que aportar a los demás. Lo que necesitas es la voluntad de aportarle, un poco de empatía y asertividad.

Transparency and storytelling are key. Sharing real stories of beneficiaries and data-driven results builds trust and inspires others.

Optus has a great and innovative CSR initiative called "Donate your data," where customers can donate some of their unused data to people in need. It costs you nothing and takes 5 seconds. The company then shares the impact you helped create with stories, videos, and images. People want to be involved in a company that does good for the world, and capturing it in stories and visual evidence is critical to keeping them engaged.

Short form video content is being preferred by Meta and it prefers B roll over fully polished content. This is great news for all positive social and environmental content. Make sure to share personal stories and interest stories, this helps as people featured can share on to their own networks. Include a strong call to action! So many times I see great content with no real CTA. How do you want people to feel? What do you want them to do next? Aim for three strong messages.

Impact is imperfect- which is why it is important to communicate openly and honestly. Inviting feedback and comments is a great way to build a community of practice, sharing challenges as well as best practices. That shifts the conversation from PR to learning, something we could all use more of.

Hay que informar sobre las iniciativas y escuchar y responder a las preocupaciones y sugerencias de la comunidad. Al adoptar una postura de apertura y transparencia y al demostrar cómo el feedback del público influye en las acciones de RSC, se fomenta una relación de confianza y se promueve una participación más activa y significativa del público.

It's important to understand while measuring short term goals, it's the output or outcome that is measured, not the impact. Impact is long term and the measurement of impact needs to be done over a period of time. Measurement should also be done for indirect aspects. For example, measuring the success of a sanitation program in school not just includes "how many children used a toilet, but also the indirect benefit of how the attendance improved, how their participation improved, just to name a few."

The most impactful way is to get people to see and experience firsthand. Whether it is for a community or a decision-maker to be convinced about say an agricultural innovation you want to scale up, the most convincing way is to get them to visit the field and see for themselves and discuss with those who have done it. Not always possible, but must be done when at all so. Vidoes, pictures, stories etc. are substitues we use when we cannot make this happen.

Telling an informed, engaging, transparent, and data-based story is critically important. Telling that story with support or reinforcement from trusted influencers is also crucial. Enlist your corporate partners to contribute a quote or testimonial. Have a neutral third party (like an academic or NGO) critically review your story and weigh in a collaborative, constructive way. This helps the story move from entirely self-serving to more authentic and believable. When choosing partners to enlist, the Edelman Trust Barometer is a great resource to help identify the most trusted entities in specific geographies. The Globescan Sustainability Leaders Survey is extremely useful to understand which companies and NGOS are seen as leaders.

Partner with Government departments to implement CSR initiatives, it will benefit the really marginalized populations as mandated by CSR Law in India.