United Parcel Service is perennially at or near the top of the Forbes 500 list of the most socially responsible companies. It’s the kind of honor that other organizations surely envy, so how does UPS do it? The short answer: A strong combination of environmental performance, stakeholder engagement and investments in the communities where UPS does business.

And then there is the PR part. How do UPS and other CSR leaders actually communicate their CSR programs? In talking with PR leaders in the space, it’s definitely not a matter of simply spouting statistics.

“It’s not enough for companies to say we do this and we do that,” says Leon Rubin, director of communications at JKG Group, the agency that has provided PR and marketing support for the Office Depot Foundation for eight years. “That’s a part of it, but you need to focus on ‘we do this, and this is what it means, and this is how it helps.’ That needs to be the underlying philosophy in CSR communications.”

COMMUNICATE THE TOTAL PACKAGE

For the Atlanta-based package delivery company UPS, its annual Corporate Sustainability Report is one of the centerpieces of the communications effort. “It’s really our best opportunity to engage stakeholders,” says Rebecca Treacy-Lenda, public relations manager at UPS. “It has a comprehensive amount of data, with a focus on accountability and transparency.”

“Comprehensive” is an understatement. Treacy-Lenda says that UPS engineers supply somewhere around a million lines of sustainability data from around the world. Of course not all of those lines get in the report, but what does has to be processed and made readable to stakeholders.

“The front part of the report is more magazine style, so we’re able to tell our story,” says Treacy-Lenda. “The back section is more formal reporting, so that our assessors and people looking for specific details can find it.”

BE A STORYTELLER

And the ability to tell stories is a key CSR communications strategy. For UPS, such stories are generated via the UPS Foundation, which has invested nearly $50 million in charitable activities since its launch in 2004.

“With the Foundation, our outreach starts internally with our employees,” says Treacy-Lenda. Communicating CSR to employees is a key strategy, says Robyn Hall, communications manager at Canadian Business for Social Responsibility, a national nonprofit. “Lots of research shows that employees want to work for a responsible employer,” says Hall.

In turn, employee-related CSR efforts make for good press, says Treacy-Lenda. “It’s a great vehicle to tell the stories of our employees and the people that they impact. This is how we extend the outreach beyond the press release.”

GET PERSONAL

Rubin agrees that it’s imperative to go deeper than a press release. “To effectively tell the story or communicate about a companies CSR programs, it’s important to focus on impact and the benefits of what an organization is doing,” he says.

And for Rubin and the Office Depot Foundation, that means personalizing CSR efforts. As luck would have it, the Foundation’s centerpiece campaign, the National Backpack Program, provides plenty of personal stories. The program distributes thousands of school backpacks containing school supplies to schools and nonprofits across North America.

“The overriding message is that this is a program that brings hope to kids,” says Rubin. “If it wasn’t for this program, some kids would be carrying their books to school in grocery bags. That’s what people understand.”

One recent story involves a group of young people who received the backpacks in 2001, and who have gone on to win national student awards.

CREATE COMMUNITY INTEREST

Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the CSR comms spectrum, outreach to CSR partners, customers, associations and school boards was what powered Cisco Systems Canada’s One Million Acts of Green campaign. “The whole focus was in reaching out to the community and inviting them to participate,” says Willa Black, VP of corporate affairs at Cisco Systems Canada.

Black believes in the power of face-to-face when it comes to communicating CSR. “You can’t totally rely on digital PR and social media to get the word out,” she says. “You have to get out and drive credible advocates to your program.”

Sure, digital and social media did help drive more than a million Canadians to make green choices, but partnerships with six environmental agencies were crucial in getting the word out, says Black.

NO CSR SILOS

Black also emphasizes the importance of a cross-functional group that sets top-line messaging and communications priorities. “Often our subject matter experts are included on the team,” she says.

“Communicators need to make sure CSR doesn’t end up siloed within a organization,” says Hall. “Communications should be shared throughout the company.” PRN
Looking for more strategic CSR content? Visit PR News’ Subscriber Resource Center at www.prnewsonline.com/subscriber_resources.html

[Editor’s note: Aug. 27 is the deadline to nominate up-and-coming PR leaders for PR News' 2010 15 to Watch; Sept. 3 is the late deadline.]

CONTACT:

Leon Rubin, [email protected]; Rebecca Treacy-Lenda, [email protected]; Robyn Hall, [email protected]; Willa Black, [email protected].

Keeping Your CSR Program On Track: Key Questions

Ever wonder if your organization’s CSR efforts are really on point? Here’s a set of key questions to refer to from Robyn Hall of Canadian Business for Social Responsibility:

1. CSR Trends: What are the key social and environmental issues that could affect your long-term success? What are your competitors doing on CSR and how are they benefiting from this approach?

2. Stakeholder Perception: What are stakeholder expectations for a company in your industry? Are you perceived to be meeting those expectations? What are the risks if you are not?

3. Decision Impacts: Have you considered the social or environmental impacts of this decision? Does this decision align with your CSR commitments?

4. Operations: Have you taken advantage of opportunities to reduce your environmental footprint in order to generate operational efficiencies and cost-savings?

5. Products and Services: Do your products and services advance social or environmental benefits?

6. Human Resources: Does your human resource strategy reflect CSR? For example, is CSR incorporated into staff training and compensation?

7. Impact Measurement: How are you measuring the social/environmental impacts of this area of your business?

8. Integration: How is the management of social and environmental matters integrated into your core business processes, such as performance management and business planning?

9. Brand and Market Development: Does your company and product brand include sustainability features aligned to customers’ values? How can this help you advance market share?