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The MasterCard Foundation

Weber Shandwick works with The MasterCard Foundation to raise awareness of its mission to advance microfinance and education to promote prosperity in developing countries.

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Pepsi Refresh Project

We lead several components of the Pepsi Refresh Project, a groundbreaking program in which Pepsi is giving away more than $20 million in 2010 to fund ideas that refresh the world.

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American Council on Education

KnowHow2GO is a campaign to speak directly to students about their college aspirations - in their language and through the media they trust.

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Meals On Wheels Association of America

Weber Shandwick works to elevate the Meals On Wheels Association of America as the leading organization dedicated to ending senior hunger. Learn More >>

W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Weber Shandwick was retained by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to spearhead a comprehensive communications program to help promote the foundation's racial equity efforts.

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Nov 8

CSR and ROI: Getting ROI on Doing Good

Alistair Nicholas

The following is an excerpt from Alistair Nicholas’s keynote speech at the 2012 Corporate Affairs Forum, organized by PublicAffairsAsia.

Three years after the start of the global financial crisis, with the US economy still clawing its way back to strength, with the Euro Zone balancing on the edge of a precipice, and with China and other Asian economies beginning to slow, pressure is mounting on all sides of a corporation to maximise returns.

CSR campaigns are under pressure to provide returns on investment. But how do you get ROI on doing good? What do you measure?

In an environment that demands corporations have a meaningful impact on the world; and in a world where meaningful impacts are very expensive, we have to understand that efficiency and effectiveness are a must.

And in our experience, effectiveness comes down to meaningful partnerships.

The question for today’s CSR practitioners is: how do you strike the perfect partnership balance?

A recent article published in the Harvard Business Review argues the solution lies in creating “shared value.”

In the article, Michael E. Porter and Mark Kramer defined shared value as creating economic value that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges. This “perfect triangle” brings tremendous benefits, enabling us to leverage synergies and enhance the efficient use of resources by eliminating the duplication of efforts between the private sector, government and NGO’s. At the same time it alleviates financial costs and creates constructive dialogues.

Our job today is to prove that when implemented successfully the only way to get ROI is to think strategically, partner effectively and execute a winning triangle of shared value with partners.

Doing good is more than just the catch-cry of our times; it is an essential demand of business. And with social media, it is now a demand of consumers that must be heard.