Have you ever wanted to profile your CSR/Philanthropy initiatives in a clear and concise way? Sometimes, the public doesn’t want to know your numbers, how long you’ve spent with a foundation and all the sticky details.  Sometimes, all the public wants is quick and easy way to read the facts.  2012 will be the year of CSR, philanthropy and charity utilizing social media tools.  What’s the hottest tool organizations are using?  Infographics.

The There Is No Limit Foundation had a unique opportunity to work with a professional grade graphic design company.  Elefint Design donated their services to the foundation and the results were magnificent:

The There Is No Limit Foundation wanted to profile Guinea, a country sometimes turned a blind eye by donators.  The infographic highlights the most important problems the country is facing (contaminated drinking water, limited access to sanitation, living wages, illiteracy and death).

Secondly, the infographic highlights the There Is No Limit Foundation’s programs and how they address the serious problems Guinea is faced with.

The good news for you and your company, is that if you don’t have a graphic designer on your payroll, you can start small with Google’s Infographic Toolbox. Choose from dozens of templates to find the perfect display for your initiatives.

For more infographic templates, visit www.creattica.com.

Did you get your New Year’s Resolutions set for your company’s 2012 community involvement?  Did you set specific goals?  Did you develop a written action plan with goals, tasks, and responsibilities clearly defined?  If you did not do a plan yet, it is definitely not too late…start one today!

The beginning of a new fiscal/calendar year is a perfect time to revisit your company’s community involvement mission and strategy and to make specific plans for the coming year.  If you don’t have a written plan, it is way too easy to dilute your impact by being all over the map with your contributions, become overextended with your scarce resources, and cause confusion among employees and other stakeholders about the focus and true commitment of your company’s philanthropic actions.  Also, without a written plan as your map, it is hard to know when you have achieved what you set out to do.  While the feel good part of community involvement is great, there is the potential for much more significant impact for all concerned with just a bit of planning and strategy

The following are the two minimum steps we suggest all businesses take at this time of year.

1.  Revisit last year’s contributions – even if only briefly.

• What organizations or causes did our company support over the past year?
• What process did we use to select them?  How did that work?
• How did we support them (dollars, in-kind, people, commerce)?
• What was the total dollar value of all of our contributions (not just the tax deductable amount)?
• What percentage of either our gross revenue or net profit was our total contribution?
• What significant benefit did our support leverage for the community?  For our company?
• Were our community involvement efforts consciously tied to our business goals?
• What lessons did we learn this last year?  What do we want to be sure to do again?  What do we want to change?

2.  Set goals and targets for 2012.

The following series of questions are meant as food for thought as you or a committee of employees and/or other stakeholders make your 2012 plans.

• What resources (cash, in-kind, people) do we anticipate sharing in 2012? How much of each?
• Do we have options for engaging in commerce-based activities with nonprofits?
• What is the target percentage for our overall contribution? (1%, 2%, 3%, 5%, 10%, 100%,??)  Of sales? Profit?
• What is the targeted total dollar value?
• Are there financial trends for our company that we need to pay attention to when thinking about our community involvement?
• Given this projected level of resources, what strategy will we use to allocate our resources this year?
• What causes or organizations will we focus on working with or supporting this year?  Why?
• How will we select them?  Is there a process or is it first come, first served?
• Do any of these link with our other business goals for 2012?  If so, how?
• Are there times of year that are not good for heavy involvement due to existing commitments and work flow?
• How will we time our various types of involvement for this year?  One big project?  Something each quarter? Ongoing?  Or…?
• What are our specific goals?
• What action steps do we need to achieve our goals?
• Who (person, department, team or??) will have responsibility for which pieces?
• What are our tracking and reporting expectations?
• How and with whom will we share information about our effort?

Hopefully, you already have instituted in-depth systems for both these processes.  If not, this should help get you started.  If you need help, send us an email at info@core-thought.com.

The Denver Post is one of the inspiring companies interviewed for Susan Hyatt’s book, Strategy for Good.

The Denver Post is Colorado’s first, most trusted source of information and market reach. Customers of the publication receive top-quality service and the best information, education and entertainment content in Colorado and the region. The Post is committed to producing an array of high quality, profitable core and niche products and services and providing the highest value to its readers, advertisers, and employees.

The Denver Post is focused on touching thousands of lives in Denver and Colorado through community service with confidence and optimism. The company has a long-standing tradition and legacy of giving back to the community. Community involvement has always been important to the newspaper as a media outlet and as a concerned corporate citizen. Through its community giving program, Denver Post Community, over $6.5 million annually is distributed to charitable agencies in the Denver metro area.