They say we are living in "unprecedented" times! Short hand for "its never happened before and no one really knows what to do", however the turmoil that has hit the banking world and has caused huge falls in global share prices is bound to have a knock on effect on corporate and individual philanthropy.
Now more than ever the sustainability of businesses in the changing world is a major concern for key stakeholders and often corporate giving is a tick in the box and the signing of a cheque. Bigger issues like attracting and retaining talented individuals, consumer loyalty and keeping ahead of the ever-emerging local and international competition has business consumed. We are spending our time constantly reacting to issues rather than seeing them as opportunities for positive, sustainable change.
The Times editorial (London, Tuesday October 14th) states that the '…financial crisis has exposed capitalism's darkest imperfections. But it is still the best hope we have of creating wealth and opportunity for the many.'
To go beyond philanthropy we have to move away from a boom and bust society that is only chasing each quarter's sales target and toward creating a new kind of organisation that recognises its place in a wider society in terms of its responsibilities, its integrity and ability to sustain itself through positive, profitable activity.
I work for an organisation called Impact and over the last 12 months we have completely reengineered our business model around the concept of 'doing well by doing good'. We have called this new proposition, Creating and Leading Sustainable Enterprise and have been developing key leaders from global organisations with significant business results.
Take for example the leadership development programme that we ran for Senior Sony Marketing Managers in Europe - 'Mission Critical Marketing' that met Sony's objectives whilst addressing the marketing needs of a major charity, Sight Savers International. We brought together the two organisations in Geneva and tasked the Sony team with delivering a new marketing strategy for the charity in an approach to development that held enormous significance for all involved.
Louise Tunbridge, Senior Manager - People and Organisational Development for Sony Europe was delighted with the programme and when asked about the impact on the business said 'Using the parallel challenges within the NGO's brief, this event enabled us to address the challenges of strategic marketing in our organisation. Plus the team found extra motivation from the fact that their marketing expertise was able to really help Sight Savers.'
Another example is the leadership journey developed for Borealis to help prepare aspirant leaders to meet future challenges - 'Making a Difference'. At the heart of the experience and in keeping with Borealis' core values of being a good corporate citizen, features a challenging community action project. Participants have to take on coaching and mentoring roles with young people at risk from exclusion from school in a unique leadership development opportunity.
The exercise provides a challenging practical summary of leadership learning, including coaching skills, listening, engaging and inspiring. Crucially, Borealis benefits from an organisation-wide enhancement of leadership capability, coupled with a significant impact to the bottom line.
There is strong support for philanthropy and it definitely has a place in the CSR world but for organisations looking to make a sustainable difference in the world at the same time as delivering against the bottom line, long-term win-win relationships have to be the way forward.
So, is there now a new opportunity to create a more caring and responsible form of capitalism. Capitalism that is still governed by market forces, where making a profit is a key requirement for success but where a real long term engagement with social and environmental issues, creating solutions that benefit people and the planet, will better ensure the sustainability of the enterprise?
I wonder if the bonuses paid in the finance industry at the end of last year really reflects the value the organisations received - or was there something better the money could have been used for!?
Tiffany Kelly, Head of Innovation, Creating Sustainable Enterprise
Impact International, 14th October 2008
www.impactinternational.com