Page 12 - Economy_CSR

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Community involvement can take many forms: supporting a local charity with financial contribution (see
Philanthropy module), organize a local event, volunteering in a local school or community projects,
mentoring, give a financial contribution or get involved in reconstruction after a natural disaster etc. Most
companies engage in community actions that are directly related to their products. For example,
a restaurant can give food to a local homeless shelter, a building company can give free material to
a community project linked to construction.
1

Community involvement asks for great investment in terms of time, skills and resources and is a process to
be followed on the long term in order to achieve sustainable change, long-lasting results and social impact.
Investing in community engagement, diversity and inclusion require consistency, an ongoing presence
and follow-up to be effective. But they have an equally long lasting result on company branding, they can
2
induce demographic and societal shifts and even increase profits.
3

2.3 CSR, diversity and social inclusion inside the company

A strong diversity and inclusion strategy is often one of the main elements of an organization’s overall
corporate social responsibility (CSR) program. As recruiting and retaining talent becomes more challenging,
especially for SMEs, valuing diversity and inclusion can be a differentiating and valued characteristic. It fur-
ther stirs a sense of belonging among employees who feel they are respected and have aligned values with
their employer and colleagues. This influences positively their engagement and long term commitment to
the company.

1 https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/corporate-social-responsibility-local-community
2 https://diversitymbamagazine.com/organizations/linking-diversity-and-corporate-social-responsibility-a-lost-opportuni-
ty/
3 https://rsmus.com/economics/rsm-middle-market-business-index-mmbi/corporate-social-responsibility-and-the-mid-
dle-market/diversity-and-inclusion-hand-in-hand-with-csr.htmla