Blackbaud Newsroom

The Blackbaud Institute Launches Human Social Responsibility Report

Today, the Blackbaud Institute released the Human Social Responsibility Report, which explores current corporate social responsibility (CSR) program demographics to understand the factors affecting program support. It also dives deeply into an exploration of employee giving and volunteering programs to understand where programs stand today. 

CSR programs operate at the intersection of business needs and societal benefits. And as their popularity has grown in recent years, they have continued to prove their value in multiple ways. One of which is that employees have clearly shown the importance of CSR programs when looking into prospective employers. Research shows that 76% of prospective employees state that they consider a company’s social and environmental commitments when deciding where to seek employment. Plus, 64% say they would rather not work for a company that doesn’t have a strong CSR presence, 75% claim they would take a cut in pay to go to work for a socially responsible company and 88% state they would be more likely to remain with a company that offers ways for employees to contribute to social and environmental causes. Additionally, CSR positively affects current employees as well.  

Key takeaways from the report include:  

  • Executive and managerial support is key to the success of a CSR program.  

  • Employee volunteering and giving programs offered together are more successful than those offered alone.  

  • Employees who have been on board for at least six months show higher participation rates, and CSR participation could be key to retention.  

  • Organizations that offer peer-to-peer fundraising options have a higher than average overall engagement rate within their CSR programs.  

  • Committing to measuring the impact of volunteerism and grants could open opportunities to improve current programming.