4 Ways Corporations Can Fight for Social Justice
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4 Ways Corporations Can Fight for Social Justice

Social impact is not beyond reach for successful companies. Corporations don’t need to be the big bad wolf. Given the right tools, there are simple decisions even a multinational corporation can make to support economic and social justice. Here are 4 ways that allow your company to be a part of the social impact ecosystem.

  • Corporate Social Responsibility 1.0
  • Next level: Corporate Social Impact (CSR 2.0)
  • 4 Ways Companies Can Fight for Social and Economic Justice

Corporate Social Responsibility is not about giving to society, it is about transforming society.

?KEY TAKEAWAYS??

Impactful CSR can be achieved :

  • Adopting the right approaches to address the social and economic justice that are most pressing to the community.
  • Adopting the collaborative process of joint-decision making, relationship-building, and learning from stakeholders for shared ownership of challenges and solutions.

Corporate Social Responsibility?1.0

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a big deal. Fortune 500 companies spend about?$20 billion on CSR?annually. What’s more, CSR is consumer-driven. Customers want to buy from socially-responsible companies. Common CSR practices are things like:?

  • employee giving and volunteering
  • philanthropic giving
  • carbon footprint reduction?
  • diversity and inclusion?
  • socially-focused branding
  • improved labor, environmental practices in your supply chain

Are measures like these really transforming society? Are they impacting local economic and social justice issues? To do that, we need to take CSR to the next level.

Next level:?Corporate Social Impact (CSR 2.0)

To be transformative, programs need to address the social and economic justice that is most pressing to the community. While this may sound obvious, CSR activities often suffer from one-way communication. Traditional CSR doesn’t require listening to the community.?

Have you ever seen public exercise equipment that nobody uses? The community likely has more urgent social and economic needs.

How about the altruistic buy-one-give-one policy of?Tom’s shoes? It may have put local shoe sellers out of business and didn’t produce evidence of improving kids' lives.

Next level CSR, or CSR 2.0, can’t be tone-deaf when it comes to impact. Programs must address critical social or economic justice issues. These could be:

  • Economic justice: poverty eradication, income equality, equal opportunity employment, etc.
  • Social justice: voting rights, racial injustice, climate change, LGBTQ+ rights, etc.

Harvard Business Review defines?corporate social justice?as, “a reframing of CSR that centers the focus of any initiative or program on the measurable, lived experiences of groups harmed and disadvantaged by society.”

This is far more than just “giving back” to the community, it’s about transforming society. Through a?collaborative process?of joint-decision making, relationship-building, and learning, companies can make a more profound impact.?

4 Ways CSR Companies Can Fight for Social and Economic Justice

1. CSR companies need to take a stance

Take a stance on an important social and economic justice issue. Not just one the CEO wants, but one that fits your company's expertise, employees, and community.?

In 2021, Texas-based businesses such as American Airlines, Microsoft, and?Unilever?voiced opposition?to the state’s support for voter restriction laws.

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