by Jennifer Vickery, President, National Strategies PR

Companies all over the world have gathered to help their communities in the wake of coronavirus. Some organizations have made in-kind or financial donations toward local governments or health facilities, while others have purchased machinery and products to fight the virus. Some businesses have even converted their production facilities to produce tools that are useful for doctors and nurses, including masks, gowns, and hand sanitizers.

In addition to these initiatives, many organizations have also taken actions to help their employees, providing financial support, or offering training activities that are accessible from home.

Are you wondering how you can implement Corporate Social Responsibility even in times of social distancing?

Here are some examples.

• Virtual Events

  If you have a long-term CSR charity partner, you should think about changing traditional CSR activities, so they can still be performed while following social distancing rules.

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• Letter-Writing Campaigns

  If your event and programming and budget are tight, you can consider a letter-writing campaign to help vulnerable people – such as individuals living in isolated environments, like rehabilitation homes, foster care, and nursing facilities – feel cared for and less lonely.

  Provide your participants with a list of organizations that your event is supporting, along with ideas about what to write and where to send the letters when finished.

• Keep Your Employees Motivated

  It is important to employees that they feel like they have something to contribute – a chance to have an impact, which they can get from participating in CSR initiatives. These can include disaster relief campaigns and virtual volunteering.

  Besides doing all you can to make your employees feel valued and safe during this time, consider including virtual CSR team building activities to promote a sense of community and boost morale. Here are some ideas to consider:

  • Disaster relief and matching gift campaigns – Encouraging employees to donate collectively to an important cause while matching staff donations shows that your company takes CSR seriously, which can help increase employee loyalty.
  • Virtual volunteering – Instead of being physically present to support a charity, virtual volunteering allows your staff to donate their services and time remotely to help with essential tasks. These can include fundraising calls and outreach, graphic design, social media promotion and management, data entry, and marketing assistance. There are also other forms of virtual volunteering, like reading books to kids at home via Zoom to offering training online.
  • Virtual fitness challenge – Besides promoting engagement and wellbeing, hosting running, walking, or push-up challenges can also promote a competitive spirit as teams compete for prizes and track their daily progress.
  • Remote or baking or cooking challenges – When everyone is online, get cooking. Then, compare your dishes and vote on which one turned out the best. After that, sit down together and enjoy your meal (via Skype if needed).

  These small initiatives can have a significant effect on people’s lives, and it doesn’t have to be something expensive or complicated. Even with limited resources and the social distancing restrictions, there is plenty we can do to help during these times.

  Incorporating CSR initiatives into your event and employee programming will help create an emotional connection with your brand and your organization.

If you would like to learn more ways to practice corporate social responsibility in times of social distancing, go to our blog page. If you would like a free consultation with NSPR, call us at (813) 865-3093.