I believe that the fastest way to better the world is through business, but to expect companies to add cause to their mission just because of this belief is naive and lazy. To aid the conscious capitalism movement, my mission is to show companies like yours how they can grow (and change the world) by incorporating a social mission.
Since the beginning of January, I’ve been posting every week day and talking to more experts. Today I’m starting a series of topical interviews with authorities in cause capitalism–ranging from cause marketing and SRI to reporting and recruiting.
I am interviewing the following people in the next three weeks. Who else would you like to hear from and on what topics? Last week I spoke with reps from two financial organizations that offer socially responsible investments (SRI). Were the interviews helpful, specific enough, meandering? My goal is to bring you the answers to your questions and provide the evidence and tactics to help your company implement a social mission. Help me learn what I can do better. Email me your suggestions olivia(at)causecapitalism.com or leave them in the comments.
Upcoming interviews
CAUSE MARKETING: Interview series with Joe Waters, director of Cause and Event Marketing for Boston Medical Center and blogger at Selfish Giving. (@JoeWaters)
Part I: What is Cause Marketing? What benefits do for-profits and non-profits derive from it? 3 types of cause marketing.
Part II: Know why you’re in the game; assessing what type of cause marketing is right for your business (and whether it’s right for you at all); how to execute a great campaign.
Part III: Cause marketing and social media; measuring the success of your campaign.
CSR REPORTING: With Elaine Cohen from BeyondBusiness. Elaine helps companies with strategy, process implementation and reporting. She writes about CSR reporting on CSR-Reporting and CorporateRegister. (@ElaineCohen)
CSR & SUSTAINABILITY RECRUITING: With Ellen Weinreb, founder of Weinreb Group. For more than a decade Ellen has matched talent with opportunity for large and small companies including Levi Strauss, HP, Clorox, New Leaf Paper and Calvert Investments. (@SustainableJobs)
WHY CHARITABLE GIVING IS A SMART BUSINESS STRATEGY: With Maggie F. Keenan, Ed.D. of givingadvice. Maggie works with businesses to make an impact through strategic philanthropic giving. We’ll focus on how small businesses can leverage giving to grow their business. (@MaggieKeenan)
Who else would you like to hear from? What are you looking to learn? Email me or leave it in the comments.
I'm Olivia Khalili. I created Cause Capitalism to show you how to grow your business by incorporating a social mission. 
Sounds like a great series.
Looking forward to reading it.
Thanks.
Steve
I’m looking forward to it myself. I’ll post the first cause marketing interview tomorrow. Thanks, Steve.
I can’t wait for this series. I get so frustrated when companies say they do CSR “because it is the right thing to do, period.” Of course, doing the right thing is an important part of CSR strategy but it is not a scalable and sustainable strategy in itself. I would love to hear how these professionals you are interviewing deal with companies that have this limited mindset.
Melanie, I appreciate your interest. That’s such a critical distinction that you raise and something that Elaine Cohen and I spoke about today–CSR as a business strategy, not an act of goodwill. I will make a note to ask other professionals how they deal with companies who are of the latter mindset. What is your expertise? I love your 2 posts on leveraging employee volunteer programs in a down-economy. Great matrixes!
My expertise is in employee engagement in CSR programs and corporate social innovation strategy. I graduated last May with an MBA from UC Berkeley focusing in CSR. During my MBA, I worked at Johnson and Johnson in Community Relations. Most recently, I was working with Mission Measurement doing research and case studies for a book on Corporate Social Innovation. Before business school, I worked at Deloitte consulting in Chicago. I just moved back to Chicago and am trying to develop my network in CSR here. If you have any contacts in the Chicagoland area that you can share, I would be very appreciative.
Thanks!
Melanie, email me at olivia(at)causecapitalism.com. I do have some contacts.