CSR more than just charity

Even with the global financial crisis, some companies remain committed to their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs.

“Having a CSR program is like hitting two birds with one stone,” said Pacita Juan, member of the advisory council of League of Corporate Foundations (LCF).

“The CSR programs of companies aim to help people and at the same time attract business investors.”

The foundation is a membership association with more than 70 operating grant-making corporate foundations and corporations, seeking to provide business solutions to social problems in the Philippines through CSR. Thus, the foundation represents private sector involvement strengthened with public sector partnerships and multisectoral approaches in various development sectors, including the arts and culture, education, environment, health, enterprise development and CSR research.

Quality of education

One good example is foundation’s committee on education, where the foundation is working with its private sector partners and Task Force 57-75.

Mario de Riquito, project head of Task Force 57-75 explained, “We all know the problems of Philippine education, but the real problem is the scarcity of resources. These include shortage of classrooms, books, school supplies among others. [Task Force] 57-75 is a private sector-led movement that aims to reverse the education crisis through focused interventions and school-community action toward system-wide performance improvements.”

He added that the 57-75 was symbolic. The figure 57 is the national average score of public-elementary school pupils in the National Achievement Test, while 75—though commonly known as the passing mark—symbolizes the state of education and the national average score the project wants to achieve in the next five years.

The reversal of numbers represents what the campaign is trying to do—turn things around and take the Philippine education out of its present sorry state.

The campaign emphasizes the importance of community involvement and how it can unravel local resources and energies for improving the performance of public schools and their students, while making the schools more accountable.

“Since we are in the business sector, we want to harness the corporate business to help address this [education] problem,” de Riquito said.

Effecting change

One company that made a big impact on a community through CSR is the Binalot Fiesta Foods Inc., an all-Filipino company that sells 12 of the most popular Pinoy dishes as budget meals. Besides being affordable, its banana leaves packaging are environmental friendly compared with the non-biodegradable styrofoam box used by other restaurants.

Binalot recently launched a community livelihood project that aims to provide employment to the underprivileged residents of Barangay Buhanginan in Nagcarlan, Laguna. Residents there were trained on how to plant, harvest and process banana leaves for Binalot’s use. In return, that restaurant buys the banana leaves for use in packing its food products.

Rodney Oriel, a father of three, said he was able to send his children to school because of stable income from harvesting banana leaves. Oriel, together with 16 other workers, collects about 4,000 pieces of leaves every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And on Tuesdays and Thursdays, their wives cut the leaves based on Binalot’s needs.

Oriel and his team produce 200 bundles from every harvest, which they sell at P90 per bundle. There are 25 pieces in each bundle.

“May pang-araw araw na kaming panggastos at pang-aral sa aking mga anak [I can now meet our daily needs and even send my kids to school],” Oriel said.

Captain CEO

Pacita Juan said the League of Corporate Foundations has always believed that the chief executive officer, or CEO, was the best ambassador for a company’s CSR program.

“We [foundation officials] want the chief executive officers to always be aware of their own CSR,” she added. “Common problems arise when sometimes the CSR project is not aligned to what the CEO believes in for his company, which prompts halt to the project.”

For Juan, the so-called triple bottom line—people, planet and profit—is a practical and effective method in conducting CSR.

She added that for a business to be sustainable and lasting, it should also consider the betterment of the community and the environment, and be financially rewarding at the same time.

“Sustainability is living while making others live,” Juan said.

To educate businessmen more about CSR, the foundation and its members are set to meet from July 8 to 10 to discuss strategies in achieving business goals while addressing the plight of the unprivileged people.

Dubbed as “The 8th CSR Expo 2009 Business Unusual: S.O.S. (Skills. Opportunities. Sustainability),” it will be held at the SMX Convention in SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

The roster of guest speakers include experts from leading multinational and local companies with academe and civil society presentations by William Kramer from the Global Challenge Network, Tony Tan Caktiong of Jollibee, Federico Lopez of First Gen, and Annie Garcia of Shoe Mart.

Among the topics to be discussed are opportunities for green products, linking the value chain to the base of the pyramid, new business development and accessing bigger markets.

The expo will also tackle matters on social and environmental agenda such as education, pandemics-preparedness, business continuity and reforestation.

“CSR is not just philanthropy, it is more than giving the excess money of the company,” Juan said. “It is helping the people who need long term assistance to live.”  –Johanna M. Sampan, Reporter, Manila Times