3 blocks to creating impact, and how to beat them

Welcome back, lovely people!

This week, we're delving into some of the blockers to creating impact.

Perhaps, you're struggling to attract socially-conscious top talent.

Or, your employees aren't getting involved in your CSR efforts, and your volunteering days are collecting dust.

Whatever it is, we’ve compiled our top tips on how to make your impact more tangible, and ultimately more effective, within your organisation.?

1 - Involve your team with your efforts.

If your CSR / ESG initiatives aren't even interesting to your team, how do you expect shareholders, or customers to care about them?

Creating a JustGiving page for your local charity is cool, sure.

But tbh, you need to be doing more on top of that.

News flash - your team don't really care about donating.

They don't see where their money goes, and at the end of the day, it's just another fiver out of their pockets.

Create a charity event or activity your team can get involved in. Make it exciting!

Even better, do it in company working hours, so they don't have to give up their unpaid evenings or weekends.

There's plenty of platforms out there to help you get started, like The Pledge Marketplace.

2 - Demonstrate the REAL impact of what you've been up to.

As we mentioned earlier, your team doesn't see where their donations go.

It could've been spent on printer paper, for all they know.

So, invest some actual time into your reporting.

Tell the story, don't just print the numbers in your end-of-year report.

Communicate more than just how much you raised.

What was the money spent on?

Was a community group able to afford a new space, as a result of your efforts?

How many people will they be able to support now?

How many lives were changed?

Hearing you raised ￡5000 for your local community group will make people stop and go 'Oh, nice.'

But hearing you helped 150 disadvantaged young people get access to food, shelter and a place to sleep will make them go 'Oh, wow!'

There's plenty of software out there to make this story-telling process easier too, like SID.

3 - Stop ticking boxes.

Look, we get it.

Everyone's doing it, you feel a bit behind, so you do a quick Google search and throw together the world's worst CSR strategy.

But unfortunately, audiences are wise to initiatives with no real thought behind them.

If you're just trying to follow a trend, or put something together with minimal effort, people will see right through.

Not only will this make you look like a bit of a donut, you're at risk of cancel culture, and being branded with the 'greenwashing' label.

Let's take ASOS, for example.

They introduced a 'Circular Collection' in an attempt to rebrand as sustainable and responsible. Which sounds great, right?

Well, it unfortunately became the subject of backlash online, and actually ended up negatively impacting ASOS' reputation.

Why?

Their efforts were not aligned with the brand itself.

Many said it was a bad attempt cover-up claims of the company working employees to the bone, and not a genuine effort to improve organisational sustainability.

"To claim true circularity and sustainability, ASOS must either support or create their own take back system, taking responsibility for the millions of garments they produce, or significantly scale back production so as to lessen the waste they ultimately create. Creating one small collection that cherry picks circular principles is akin to putting a plaster on a broken leg; a tokenistic move that doesn’t solve the issue in hand." - Sophie Benson, The Independent

In order to deliver real impact, your efforts should be genuine, planned out, and aligned with your core mission and deliverables.

Don't just run a single campaign, and label a small selection of your products as 'sustainable'.

Otherwise, shareholders will see right through it, and go elsewhere.

To summarise...

Invest time into crafting a strong, transparent CSR strategy. Your team, your brand, and the planet will thank you for it.

If you're stumped on where to start, we can help.

Make Good Grow have dedicated Impact Experts, willing to help you craft a winning CSR strategy, and integrate doing good into the lifeblood of your organisation.

Businesses have a responsibility to their community, and the environment.

So, don't get left behind.

That's all for this week folks! For more Good News, head to our blog.