Strategic America Achieving Excellence through CSR

As you think about corporate social responsibility, it seems like a giant concept. Where do you start? What projects should you focus on? I had the privilege to talk with Lisa Holtorf from StrategicAmerica, based out of West Des Moines, Iowa, to discuss how Strategic America integrates social responsibility. Strategic America (SA) is a full-service, integrated marketing firm striving in CSR excellence.
 

Strategic America has broken down –its socially responsible practices into 3 parts.

1. responSAbility
2. WELLworks
3. commUnity 

responSAbility: Represents Strategic America’s long-term commitment to sustainability. This calendar year SA has saved 91.3 trees through recycling methods. All office paper is shredded and paper products purchased for the office, such as paper towels, are mostly made out of recycled content. Looking for a way to go green for the holidays? Strategic America holds a pot luck Thanksgiving dinner and asks all associates to bring their own silverware and plates to avoid using paper plates and plastic silverware. 

WELLworks: Wellness is another part of Strategic America's corporate social responsibility initiative. With this initiative associates have the opportunity to earn wellness points for healthy activities such as exercising, water intake, and eating fruits and vegetables. Associates also have the opportunity to go through a health screening every year to earn wellness points. Through the wellness program, the number of points associates earn determines their financial wellness benefit which can be applied to wellness and medical expenses. The more an associate is engaged in healthy activities, the more points they can earn. WELLworks serves as a financial and health benefit for all associates and is an initiative to promote a healthier, happier workforce.

commUnity: Strategic America doesn't just stop at implementing socially responsible practices internally, they get involved in the community. For the past 10 years, Strategic America has had 100% participation in United Way. The creative team designs a bra entry for Bras for the Cause, a volunteer-based organization raising funds to eradicate breast and cervical cancer. They also do pro bono work for more than a dozen non-profit organizations each year. 

I asked Lisa what incentives Strategic America offers associates to engage in socially responsible practices outside of the WELLworks point system. Lisa stressed how participation is truly embedded in the Strategic America culture, stating "It’s not about incentives, it’s about finding a better way, it’s about doing the right thing, it’s a part of who we are".

As you can see, there are numerous ways to get started or improve your company's CSR practices. Start off small and eventually you will be able to implement many different types of corporate social responsibility like Strategic America has done.

Farmers Differentiating Themselves through Sustainable Farming

After my freshman year of college, I had the opportunity to intern for Agren, an agriculture and environmental consulting firm located in Carroll, Iowa. My major project that summer was working on a campaign to connect conservation farmers with absentee landowners.  An absentee landowner is a person who rents out the land they own instead of farming it themselves. The basic idea is to use the market place to get conservation farmers to increase the size of their operation.  

Recently I interviewed my former supervisor, Jamie Ridgely, to find out more about their progress with this project. I was impressed with how Agren is using the marketplace to promote conservation.  

How much land in Iowa is rented out from absentee landowners?

Jamie: Roughly 60% of Iowa land is farmed by someone other than the person who owns it. 

Do you think responsible farming is important to absentee landowners? Why?

Jamie: All of our survey data supports that absentee landowners feel that responsible farming is important, and it is part of what they consider when they choose a farmer to rent their land. But what we often find is that absentee landowners don’t know what good conservation is, or they're very unsure about how their land impacts the water quality, soil quality, and environment. And so consequently, if they don’t know what good conservation is, then there is not differentiation between farmers who may want to rent the land.  Therefore the farmer willing to pay the most gets to rent the land.    

How can farmers use responsible farming practices to obtain more land? Do sustainable farming practices affect how much land farmers can rent from absentee landowners?

Jamie: Well, we think that sustainable farming practices should help farmers when renting more land. We have been doing some projects to try to understand whether or not farmers can differentiate themselves from their peers.  Of course, these farmers must actively market their conservation expertise to differentiate themselves just like any other company must do. If we can help conservation farmers more successfully market themselves, then yes, I do think we can help farmers who are operating in an environmentally responsible manner to rent more land from absentee landowners. So our goal is to market a farmer’s conservation ethic to absentee landowners who want their land farmed in a more sustainable way. We haven’t actually gotten to the point where we have made a match yet.  However, our survey of absentee landowners indicate this is a more important factor when they are choosing a farmer to rent their land.  So, we think that it is a viable concept, but we really haven’t had the opportunity to work long enough with the two groups to actually see the concept potential. 

To clarify, operators are renters farming the land?

Jamie: Yes. In order to increase your crop operation, farmers need to rent more land or buy more land. Really, most people increase the size of their operation by renting more land.

Since crops are a commodity, especially for Iowa grain farmers, how can a farmer benefit by differentiating themselves as a conservation farmer?  In other words, how can farmers benefit by being conservation minded if they don’t get paid extra for a bushel of corn that is raised more sustainably?

Jamie: Unfortunately, raising corn sustainably doesn't make a difference in a farmer’s bottom line because Iowa farmers sell grain as a commodity; one bushel is valued the same as the next.  For people buying corn, one bushel of corn is the same as the next regardless of how it is grown.  

In the last 10 years there have been several initiatives to encourage farmers to implement environmental management systems, or more sustainable farming practices. For example, these environmental management systems encourage farmers to look at the success of their operation not only from an economic standpoint, but also from a socially and environmentally responsible perspective. But, that never really worked very well.  If one farmer was sustainable and their neighbor did a terrible job with conservation, their grain is worth the same amount of money. It’s all a commodity. 

With our work we have tried to change the perspective of the marketplace.  If conservation farmers can’t get paid more for their grain, they need to look at the market place differently.  Instead of looking at the value of their grain, they need to consider how being a conservation farmer can be used as a benefit in another part of their operation. One way that farmers can be more profitable is to have more access to land, or farm more acres, if they can rent this land at a reasonable price. 

Unfortunately if absentee landowners can’t differentiate one operator from another then they will rent their land to the person who will pay the most rent. Under this scenario farmers can only compete for more land by paying more rent.  So, we do think that there is a lot of merit to the idea that if conservation farmers can differentiate themselves based on their conservation ethics and performance, that they should have better access to that land.

That is the concept behind the idea of the certified conservation farmer program. If farmers can market themselves as better farmers that care more for the land they rent, then it is our hope that absentee landowners will be more likely to rent their land to these conservation farmers.   

It is our hope we can use this process of differentiating conservation farmers as a market based approach to encouraging more conservation.  

So, the incentive for farmers to do more conservation farming is to gain more land through renting?

Jamie: Sort of. That would be the big picture idea, but really at the stage we’re at, that’s not probably the case yet because most absentee landowners don’t understand conservation well enough. In a lot of cases absentee landowners don’t have the level of awareness to be able to choose between two operators based on conservation ethics.  To help absentee landowners make a better choice when choosing a renter, we are certifying conservation farmers.  This way an absentee landowner doesn’t need to know what constitutes good conservation, they just need to pick a conservation farmer. Being a certified conservation farmer is a way to differentiate your abilities when selling yourself to absentee landowners.  This is a way that you can get access to more land. It can have a real return to your bottom line and your profitability as a farmer. The reason that is good for society is because it gets more of those conservation farmers farming more acres. Ultimately, yes, if the idea caught on, it might entice some of the less conservation-friendly operators to want to be more conservation-friendly to pick up more land, but that’s probably way in the future.

I am looking forward to reading your comments! 

Differences between Corporate Philanthropy and CSR

When I first began learning about corporate social responsibility, I thought it just meant companies giving money to charities and helping out those in need over the holidays. After researching more in depth over the past few months, I discovered this is not the case. There are distinct differences between corporate philanthropy and corporate social responsibility. What are those differences?

Corporate Philanthropy 
Corporate philanthropy is when companies provide funds and resources towards social causes they feel are worthy. The way companies decide to distribute funds and resources through corporate philanthropy is typically decided by senior management. The employees are not involved, and may not even be aware their company is donating money. Another difference to note, corporate philanthropy is not typically advertised by a company. Companies involved in giving to charities and philanthropies do not want to appear as though they are bragging. With that said, the social cause receiving the donation can choose to disclose a company's generosity. Although corporate philanthropy is very generous of companies, is there a better alternative?

Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate social responsibility is integrating responsible behaviors into a company's business for the benefit of society as a whole. This is much more than giving to a philanthropy. CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) is a great way to get the entire company involved. Whether employees are being encouraged to lower their carbon footprint by riding their bike to work, or making more sustainable purchasing decisions, employees are engaged in CSR. As I mentioned above, it is not good practice to display corporate donations, but it is important to be very transparent when it comes to CSR. Stakeholders want to know how a company is benefiting society and what steps they are taking to improve the sustainability of our world.

Ideally, companies are involved in both corporate philanthropy and corporate social responsibility. However, involvement in corporate philanthropy and CSR can cause financial stress to a company. Companies need to wade into the water, instead of diving in. By starting off small, companies will not be at risk for backing out of socially responsible practices that have already promised to stakeholders.

What are your thoughts regarding the differences? Leave your comments below!

Has the Pink Ribbon Overstayed Its Welcome?

After receiving a comment about corporations determining what causes we support in my last post, Millennials Drawn to Cause Brands, I decided to do some research. Since breast cancer awareness was mentioned in the comment, and we are all very aware of the little pink ribbon, I decided to focus on my research on companies using the pink ribbon on their products.

It is common to walk into a store and feel overwhelmed with pink products on the shelves, especially during the month of October. So, what's the deal with the pink ribbon? Why are so many companies producing a product and then slapping that pink ribbon on it? It's simple. Customers will buy the products. Everyone wants to feel like they are making a difference. In our society, if you say you are against buying the pink ribbon, shame on you, right? Wrong. In the past few years, there has been a backlash against the pink ribbon movement. 

The Backlash 

I think we can all agree we are aware of the breast cancer ribbon. I am by no means disregarding breast cancer as a very serious issue that affects so many women and men. This is specifically regarding the pink ribbon.  

Why are so many companies using the pink ribbon to promote their products? Because it's profitable! Consumers eat this up! I can't imagine there are too many people who have managed to not buy any products with the pink ribbon attached to it. From fried chicken to yogurt to socks, we've seen it all. So what are the problems?

1. How much of your money you spend on pink ribbon products is actually going to support breast cancer research and education?
2. Do companies limit the amount of money they will donate to breast cancer programs regardless of how many products are purchased after the limit has been met?
3. Are the products you are purchasing to benefit breast cancer programs contain cancer causing materials or toxins in them?

These are a few questions many consumers have begun to ask themselves before purchasing products with the pink ribbon on it. I am a firm believe that companies should practice social responsibility. However, companies need to practice social responsibility for the purpose of being socially responsible, not solely for their own self-interest. There is a fine line between marketing your social responsible practices to make your company transparent with stakeholders, and marketing social responsibility in a deceiving manner to make profits. Want to learn more? Check out Think Before You Pink. 

Do you think the pink ribbon has overstayed its welcome? Leave your comments.