Teaching Through Examples

As a consulting firm, we help companies find examples of good corporate social responsibility. Our clients use these examples to grow their own CSR programs. The companies we help come from a wide range of fields and sectors. Since the tech industry is such a fast growing area, many of our illustrative examples come from that world. The lessons and examples of tech companies are not limited to their sector.

IBM is a huge global corporation, with a long history, that provides literally millions of examples of good corporate social responsibility. The IBM website has a counter showing employee volunteer hours, electricity conserved by IBM’s green energy practices, and impact grants IBM has given out. The first two counts number in the millions! Each effort, no matter how small, adds to IBM’s status as a giant in the area of corporate social responsibility.

A Partial List

Here are just a few of the things IBM does as part of its social responsibility efforts.

• Education and workforce development- these programs help high school and early college students launch their technology careers. There are also programs to train veterans, and a teacher advisor program to help teachers be more effective.
• Free lessons for teachers that help them improve their skills and spark student interest in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math.
• Work with colleges and universities-IBM helps these institutions enhance their curricula with skills to help students succeed in finding jobs after graduation.

In addition to these and other initiatives, IBM offers its SafetyNet grant to nonprofit organizations. The grants provide software and tools to organize and use client data. Today’s emphasis on data means that nonprofits can quickly get overwhelmed with record keeping tasks. The goals are to standardize data, centralize its location, and minimize the need for nonprofits to use technical support. The SafetyNet grants have the added bonus of letting nonprofit employees focus on serving their clients and communities. Any registered nonprofit in good standing with the IRS can apply for one of these grants.

A Multitude of Great Examples

IBM offers so many examples of good corporate social responsibility that it is hard to keep track. This tech leader continues to impact countless lives around the world. We hope you can learn from the examples of IBM to enhance your own efforts at being a conscious company and impacting your own community.