Philanthropy

As CSR and sustainability have shifted from the margins to the mainstream in recent years, they’ve become even more complex and controversial topics. At Gibbs & Soell’s Sense and Sustainability Summit on Tuesday in New York, CSR advisors and media specialists tackled some of the key issues.

Even the terminology and scope of these areas was up for discussion. The panelists favored a more holistic definition not limited to environmental and philanthropic initiatives. Laura Gitman, managing director at BSR (Business for Social Responsibility), noted that traditional metrics are no longer enough and that ESG (environmental, social and governance) indicators should be used. Bryan Walsh, senior editor at TIME magazine, observed, “It’s strange to label sustainability as though it’s a separate part of business.” Diane Brady, senior editor at Bloomberg Businessweek, said she equates sustainability with long-term profitability. Below are other key takeaways.

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Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

UBM, parent company for PR Newswire, has partnered with the city of Anaheim, C.A. and other local organizations for the Business4Better Conference, an event focused on best practices, tools, and networking for corporate social responsibility programs. The conference will take place May 1 and May 2, 2013. Click here to learn more.

Peppercom co-founder Steve Cody is busy raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and trying to earn the title of 2012 Man of the Year in the process.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society funds research into blood cancer drugs, advocates for public policy to advance the treatment and eradication of blood cancers, and helps with patient services. The Man & Woman of the Year campaign is a 10-week competition between a group of candidates, each vying to raise the most money (minimum, $20,000). Participants craft a campaign with the nonprofit’s staff and attend various events throughout the course of the competition.

Cody most recently hosted a stand-up comedy show in New York, has hosted a wine tasting event, and continues to collect donations at this URL. The competition runs through May 17. You can check out a complete list of competitors here.

Edelman has launched its eighth global practice, Business + Social Purpose, which will bring together the CSR, sustainability, and citizenship areas under one umbrella. The new practice will be led by global practice chair Carol Cone, who will work with regional leaders and 125 staffers to serve companies, NGOs, nonprofits, and other organizations.

The practice will provide services including brand and corporate citizenship strategies, reputation and image management, and sustainability. Clients include Adobe, Brita, PNC Financial Services, and Southwest Airlines.

Besides the services offered to others, the firm launched Edelman Citizenship in July of last year, which published its first Global Citizenship Report and donated $5.1 million in cash and pro bono services.

After the jump, we’ve got a few infographics with results from the 2012 Edelman goodpurpose study.

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MWW Group has released its 2012 Corporate Citizenship Report, the fourth year the firm has done so. The report outlines the companies and nonprofits MWW has partnered with, the volunteer work that staff members have done over the past year, and gives an update on its “MWW Green” initiative, which launched in 2008.

The report is available here. To accompany the report, the agency has also launched a CSR site, that you can access here.

Primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall is serving as the spokesperson for Disneynature’s new film Chimpanzee, which follows the story of Oscar and his chimp family in the African forest.

Goodall appeared on the red carpet for the movie’s premiere in Orlando on Friday, and has been making the rounds with the media, including a stop at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Clip after the jump.

Profits from the movie’s opening week will go to the Jane Goodall Institute. Other Disneynature films include Earth and Oceans. Each of the film’s has been accompanied by a charitable donation. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that The Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund has made a total of $20 million in donations. Seriously, how can you resist that little face?

The movie opens this Friday, which is just before Earth Day on Sunday, April 22.

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You may have started to see a lot of blue Facebook profile photos pop up on your news feed. As part of its annual fundraiser for Autism Speaks, Toys “R” Us is incorporating the nonprofit’s “Light It Up Blue” awareness campaign into its efforts.

Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us each have apps that will transform a supporter’s profile picture  into a blue autism awareness message. (Sample here.) The profile picture swap began this week; the awareness program began on March 1 and will continue through April 30.

This is the sixth year that Toys “R” Us has supported Autism Speaks. Donations to the cause can be made at Toys “R” Us stores and online. So far, the tally is more than $1.2 million.

Monday April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day. To commemorate the occasion and raise awareness, Autism Speaks asks people to shine a blue light like those seen in prior years at the Empire State Building and the Paris Stock Exchange. This is the organization’s third year with the “Light It Up Blue” campaign.

Since last we wrote about the massive popularity of the Kony 2012 campaign, the documentary video created by the group Invisible Children has gone on to become the most viral video in history. Focused on the Lord’s Resistance Army and its leader Joseph Kony, the video reached 100 million views in just six days, beating out Susan Boyle, Lady Gaga, and Rebecca Black.

But that massive viral wave has come with criticism as well as global notoriety. Responses have come from all directions — from the government of Uganda to the leaders of Invisible Children. Moreover, it appears that Jason Russell, the co-founder of Invisible Children and the filmmaker behind the documentary, has cracked under the pressure. He’s been caught on video ranting while taking a naked walk on the streets of San Diego.

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Corporate social responsibility and marketing with a higher purpose were central themes at the Global Marketing conference on Wednesday in New York. The event, hosted by the Association of National Advertisers and World Federation of Advertisers, was held during Global Marketer Week. Senior marketing executives from around the world discussed how CSR applies to their brands.

“The fundamental shift to purposeful marketing from the 1970s mantra to deliver shareholder value is now underway,” according to Marc Mathieu, marketing SVP at Unilever. Jim Stengel, former global marketing officer at P&G, further noted the need for a new business model since “only nineteen percent of Americans have confidence in big business, according to a Gallup poll.”

More talk about why CSR is so important these days after the jump.

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Marketing firm BBH Labs has kicked up some SXSW controversy for its “Homeless Hotspots” test program. Homeless people have been at the conference wearing t-shirts that announce they are “a 4G hotspot” in order to sell a connection. The seller keeps the proceeds.

According to the firm, the “charitable program” is an extension of another, Underheard in New York, which gave four homeless men prepaid cell phones in order to tweet their stories. In media outlets all over the world and comments on the BBH Labs blog, it has been criticized, with Wired writing, “It sounds like something out of a darkly satirical science-fiction dystopia.”

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