My Mission Trip to Ireland And The Importance of CSR

This past July, I went on a two-week mission trip to Ireland with an organization, Adventures In Missions.  Along with 23 other members of my team, we partnered with a local church to help run programs for the youth, where we made crafts with the younger children, played games, and spoke about our experiences in the U.S. We also went door-to-door in the local village to hand out invitations for the youth programs and various events at the church. We also had time to visit a local university, where we got to speak with several international students and university staff. In between running the youth programs and helping the local church, we got to travel to the homes of some of the elderly people in the village. Through these experiences, I got to give back to the local community and develop meaningful relationships with the people in Ireland. Every time you travel, near or far, you have the opportunity to network, and I am happy to say I have connections in Ireland. 

Returning from my mission trip, I had a better understanding of the importance of corporate social responsibility. CSR is becoming more important to corporations as a way to give back to the community and develop relationships with their publics. When corporations implement CSR, employees feel more engaged within the company. It gives employees a sense of purpose and motivates them to do their best work. CSR is also a great way to show your customers how you are giving back.

More and more, companies are looking for employees who have a desire and willingness to volunteer and give back to the community. Any time you are able to volunteer and give back some of your time to people in need, go for it. You’re not only helping others, but you are giving yourself opportunities and experiences to learn from, which will in turn help you land your next internship or job!

This guest blog was written by PRowl staff member Megan Healy.

CSR: The Good, The Bad and The Laugh-Worthy

A wildly successful Saturday at the Temple University Invitational: A Taste of Philly PR left me with new knowledge, connections and inspiration. One particular session stuck with me and I'm hoping you'll see why. Scott Tattar, a local PR professional with over 30 years of experience including working for Ketchum, owning his own firm and most recently presiding over the PR department at LevLane Advertising, spoke to the group at the Invitational about corporate social responsibility.

Tattar defined CSR as "how you create love for a brand that creates a sustainable relationship between you and the community" and noted that a lot of people go right to thinking about eco-friendly and green initiatives when they hear corporate social responsibility. While we would never discourage being more kind to the environment, that's not exactly what a successful CSR program initiates.

Some essentials of CSR are:

• Empowering the customer
• Clarity of focus
• Targeting the buying community

Some good examples of CSR programs were mentioned during the conversation, including Target's Red Card program that allows customers to donate 1% of their total cost of purchase towards the school of their choice and Target will match it. This is a successful CSR initiative because it's empowering the customer as well as staying community-focused.

Poor examples of CSR initiatives were mentioned as well. Learn from the mistakes of others, right? Burger King has a program that donates proceeds to fighting childhood obesity. As good of a cause as it may be, that is just one big oxymoron and doesn't exactly empower the customer.

I came away from the session with a full understanding of corporate social responsibility that I didn't have before, and I hope you get the same from my post.

Can you think of any great (or terrible) examples of CSR programs? We want to hear from you!