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O P I N I O N
Are you responsible?
Social responsibility can be one of the biggest and most powerful marketing and recruiting tools at your disposal, but be careful.
H ow much should your firm be concerned with social responsibility? And are charitable donations just a marketing technique or something else entirely?
Millennials have brought this issue to the forefront. A recent Forbes article states that millennials are willing to spend more on a product from a sustainable brand, and they “expect modern brands to be open and communicative about how they operate in the world and to seek incremental and positive social change.” “Corporate social responsibility urges organizations to consider their own actions in relation to the interests of society. Socially responsible organizations balance profit-making activities with activities that benefit the larger community.”
The holidays are a popular time for giving, community service, and charitable donations. Zweig Group donates to various causes throughout the year, both need-based in response to natural disasters, and to larger organizations such as the American Cancer Society. For our holiday donation this year, we decided to donate to the Humane Society of the Ozarks. I was surprised to receive a negative response from one of our clients: “With all of the HUMAN suffering in the world, you chose to be politically correct and donate to the Humane Society?!” Should your firm be judged by which organizations it chooses to donate to? What about who they work for? Corporate social responsibility urges organizations to consider their own actions in relation to the interests of society. Socially responsible organizations balance profit-making activities with activities that benefit the larger community.
Christina Zweig Niehues
The article says millennials are looking for four
See CHRISTINA ZWEIG NIEHUES, page 4
THE ZWEIG LETTER March 5, 2018, ISSUE 1238
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