There was an interesting post by Michael I. Norton and Jill Avery, Making Charity Pay, in the Harvard Business Review.  Certainly worth a read. What really started me thinking was the first sentence in the last paragraph, “Third, conduct careful experiments.”

Cause Marketing is on the rise and I would say rightly so.  In addition to being a source of revenue for the partner NGO, studies, such as the...

Many people are confused as to what sustainability means and how it applies to business.  To some, they hear sustainability and it means renewable energy to them.  To others it may mean organic farming practices; however, to another person, sustainability  might mean energy efficiency or responsible purchasing in a supply chain.

Social media engagement offers the opportunity to define and...

For the first time in quite a while I’ve noticed a distinct lack of cute / comedy cat posts (albeit somewhat distorted by buckets of ice water) and a stronger impression of more purpose based flashes in the social media world.

My gut, if backed up by more than a little professional insight into the data, feeling is that we may at long last be turning a social good communications corner. The activist world had too long preached at its audience to save the whale / panda / water / energy / planet to only see early plateauing of resulting engagement. Those...

The US biofuels industry has not covered itself in glory. It has consumed billions of dollars in taxpayer dollars, as much if not more from investors and in return delivered economic and environmental benefits that are murky at best, at least according to its critics.

You’ll hear a different story ...

In nature, nothing goes to waste. The excrement of one species (forgive me if you are reading over breakfast) becomes food for another.

Why can’t we design the industrial economy to be like nature?

This isn’t a new idea. During the American Revolution, iron pots were melted down to make armaments. I take notes with a pen made out of recycled bottles. The gospel of “natural capitalism” or “cradle to cradle” has been spread by  such pioneering...

“I once went down to Neil’s ranch and he rowed me out into the middle of the lake—putting my life in his hands once again. He waved at someone invisible and music started to play, in the countryside. I realized Neil had his house wired as the left speaker, and his barn wired as the right speaker. And Elliot Mazer, his engineer, said ‘How is it?’ And Neil shouted back . . . ‘More Barn!’” —Graham Nash, talking about how Neil Young first played him Harvest...

As companies  embed corporate social responsibility into their businesses, the value of working with CSR consultants isn’t always clear.

In many cases, companies don’t need to hire outside consultants. For example, if you understand your company’s social purpose, your communications team should be able to get the...

Using social media for sustainability communications means finding ways to engage your audience and get them paying attention to you.  It may sound simple, but there are so many tools and strategies an individual company to take.  What is the right playbook?

“Corporations can take insights from social movements to create authentic sustainability initiatives that inspire consumer participation and propagation.”

This was an introductory to a recent GreenBiz article, How to Engage Consumers: 5 Lessons from Social Movements.  In this discussion, the author presents a parallel...

The end of corporations giving money to charities and getting nothing in return is close at hand.

As the pressure to quantify all results intensifies, businesses are finding that the most meaningful social change happens when they stick to the business of business. This is evident in the way corporate social responsibility has evolved. Once primarily a vehicle for corporate philanthropy, CSR as it is practiced today usually consists of...

As much as I try to telework to minimize our firm’s environmental footprint, there are times when I just have to travel to meet client needs.  So I fly.  A lot.  I can, like most frequent flyers, recite the safety briefing from memory.  On a recent trip, it occurred to me there are gems of wisdom in that briefing that we can apply to the world of corporate responsibility, if we look at them creatively. 

“Don’t Leave Your Baggage Unattended” - You often hear this announcement in the holding...