Walking the Talk: LCF takes CSR advocacy to the next level

To cap two days of well-attended discussions on corporate social responsibility (CSR), the League of Corporate Foundations (LCF) through the Corporate Social Responsibility Institute (CSRI) held a series of workshops to elevate CSR practice in the country.

Day 3 of CSR Conference 2008 challenged officers and staff members from ___ companies to put to practice the lessons gathered from the conference’s first two days.

The workshops departed from the usual “show-and-tell” format of previous conferences which showcased the successful projects of leading CSR practitioners. CSR Conference 2008 was determined to elevate CSR in the country by arming the participants with best practices based on the experience of top corporations.

“The challenge for all companies is to scale up their CSR programs so that whatever the government cannot fulfill can be met with the social programs carried out through the corporate setting,” remarked CSRI Chairperson Lydia Sarmiento-Enrile.

“The objective therefore is to integrate CSR into companies’ core business processes. This way, companies will not abandon CSR as that would impair their operations,” she continued.

Ms. Sarmiento-Enrile explained the objective of the workshops in that context, saying that “corporations spent over PhP49 million in the last seven years or so on CSR, but the question remains how they have designed CSR programs that are in tune with their vision and mission.”

The 100 workshop participants were a fusion of rookie and veteran CSR practitioners bound by a commitment to assess how their respective companies have implemented CSR and how they can make a seamless fit between CSR programs and business strategies.

The workshops shepherded the participants through the process of designing effective CSR strategies – from identifying the company’s core values to determining and engaging stakeholders and identifying gaps in strategies. Among the discussants were top executives Ma. Divina de Leon of the Shell Companies, Roberto Calingo of Team Energy Foundation, and Perry Calara of Syngenta Philippines Foundation.

While the participants were not expected to craft a full-blown CSR program by the end of the workshops, they were amply equipped to design programs that can win management and funding support.

LCF President Malu Erni said this would not be the last session to be conducted by the League with CSRI. “LCF and CSRI will continue to develop programs to make CSR practice in the Philippines relevant, effective and responsive to society’s demands,” she asserted.

CSR Conference 2008, which ran from July 16 to 18 in Makati City, was organized by LCF, a network of over 70 operating and grant-making corporate foundations and corporations seeking to provide business solutions to social and environmental problems in the Philippines. CSRI is the education arm of LCF, tasked to develop programs to broaden and enrich CSR practice in the country.