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By Catherine Lawson Business reporter
8 March 2016
Cute baby animals covered in oil washing up on beaches; pensioners thrown into
poverty; "dieselgate". What do all three have in common?
Before scandal struck, the three corporations concerned - BP, Enron, and
Volkswagen respectively - were all judged to be among the world's top companies
for their corporate social responsibility (CSR) work.
As a result of corporate scandals like these, the credibility of CSR - firms
giving something back voluntarily to local communities - has taken a beating.
Critics dismiss it as a way of glossing over corporate malfeasance - a mere PR
tick-boxing exercise.
But now technology is forcing companies to up their game and interact with
communities more directly and effectively.
Nowhere to hide
Platforms such as Kritical Mass have certainly given a fillip to the idea of
crowd-supported philanthropy, attracting individuals and corporate sponsors to
its projects, whether that's saving vultures in Kenya or bringing solar power
to rural communities in west Africa.
Sponsors can offer funding, volunteers, expertise or marketing. So rather than
imposing corporate ideas of "do-gooding" on communities in a patronising
manner, firms can simply respond to demand.
HelpfulPeeps has pushed its volunteering platform into more than 40 countries
worldwide, connecting people who want to share their time, knowledge and skills
with each other for free.
In the UK, online platform Neighbourly connects community projects and
charities with companies and people willing to volunteer their resources. For
example, Starbucks has pledged 2,500 days of volunteering and has so far backed
70 community projects.
Neighbourly founder Nick Davies says there's value to be had from encouraging
staff to volunteer. First, people who volunteer are happier at work; second,
there's a commercial case for it: "It's quite easy to prove that businesses
that do the right thing also do well."
Mr Davies believes that we have entered an era of internet transparency in
which consumers are starting to flex their muscles and expect companies to do
the right thing - not just be seen to do the right thing.
Judging by the strong public appetite for supporting good causes and
campaigning against injustice on sites such as Change.org, Avaaz.org,
JustGiving and GoFundMe, his assessment appears to be correct.
And LinkedIn says millions of members have signalled on their profiles that
they want to serve on a non-profit board or use their skills to volunteer.
Tackling hunger
Aware of this groundswell of good will, Mr Davies founded Neighbourly 18 months
ago as way of helping companies engage with consumers locally.
One of the platform's projects involves helping retailer Marks & Spencer
redistribute surplus food to those who need it most.
By tackling the issue at a local level, Neighbourly has already connected 100
Marks & Spencer stores and plans to have the retailer's entire network active
by the end of 2016, says Mr Davies.
"We've already connected 40 tonnes of food or 56,000 meals already," he says.
"By the end of the year we could absolutely have redistributed a million meals
through the use of technology just with Marks & Spencer."
Technology is also being used to advance women's rights in the developing world
with initiatives like Samasource.
This not-for-profit organisation gives computer-based data projects to women in
areas where traditional gender roles may prevent them from pursuing careers.
Since 2008, Samasource has trained and employed more than 3,000 women through
data projects with companies such as Getty Images, DropBox, Microsoft and
TripAdvisor in countries including Haiti, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and India.
Sharing expertise
Tech companies in particular are offering expertise and skills to good causes
as way of making a tangible difference.
For example, in January, Microsoft announced that through its new organisation,
Microsoft Philanthropies, it will donate $1bn-worth ( 700m) of cloud computing
resources to serve non-profits and university researchers over the next three
years.
Microsoft president and chief legal officer Brad Smith said: "We're committed
to helping non-profit groups and universities use cloud computing to address
fundamental human challenges."
And data analytics specialist Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) has offered
its data-crunching skills to help the Capital Area Food Bank charity distribute
food more efficiently to hungry people around the Washington DC area.
APT used data to develop a "hunger heat map" to help CAFB target resources and
plan for future demand better.
In another project, APT helped The Cara Program - a Chicago-based charity
providing training and job placements to people affected by homelessness or
poverty - evaluate what made its students more employable.
APT boss Anthony Bruce says: "In these 'data dives' APT employees use their
analytic skills to distil actionable insights from the data that the charity
collects. These insights are empowering charities to identify efficiently which
of their strategies are most effective at fulfilling their respective
missions."
Sustainability the new CSR?
Stephanie Draper, deputy chief executive at Forum for the Future, believes
sustainable business practices have already replaced CSR.
"Companies need to view [sustainability] as a core business issue - something
that drives the business context," she says.
The UN's 2015 Sustainable Development Goals initiative has been successful in
getting businesses to think about solving social problems, she believes.
For example, the Toilet Board Coalition is a global business-led coalition
backed by Unilever that aims to tackle the world's sanitation issues through
profitable, market-based initiatives that harness the latest technological
innovations.
And Launch, an open platform jointly founded by Nasa, Nike, the US Agency for
International Development, and the US Department of State aims to provide
support for start-ups and "inspire innovation".
In the age of internet transparency, it seems corporates no longer have
anywhere to hide - a spot of CSR whitewashing is not going to cut it anymore.
Technology is helping to bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots.