This comprehensive survey covers various aspects of an organization’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting, and includes the cost and benefits of reporting as well as making connections to financial performance.
Impact Measurement
Impact measurement is establishing comprehensive tools and frameworks for measuring corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. By understanding how much social and business value you create and the means by which you create it, you can provide your company with a best-practice opportunity to demonstrate the value of its unique corporate citizenship efforts. By establishing comprehensive tools and frameworks for measuring corporate social responsibility (CSR) program impacts, you can provide your company the opportunity to demonstrate the value of its unique corporate citizenship efforts. In fact, not only is the measuring and reporting of CSR outcomes important—it's expected. When you are able to quantify what value is created and tell the story of how value is created to stakeholders—from those in the community to internal stakeholders such as employees and executives—you ensure that your program continues to deliver desired results, which ensures support for your initiatives. By aligning CSR activities with business goals—and working with partners to assess programs and performance metrics, you can move from input measurement to impact measurement. In highlighting the link between positive business outcomes—such as higher levels of employee engagement, increased volunteer participation, or reductions in carbon emissions—to the corporate citizenship efforts behind these shifts, you can help define and advocate further for the importance, and ultimately the impact, that citizenship initiatives can bring to a company.
The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship is here to help you develop the most effective impact measurement program for your corporate responsibility efforts. Below is a sample of the corporate citizenship examples and research we offer our members.
Stay in Touch
Receive regular updates and research from the field of corporate citizenship. SubscribeResources and Research on Impact Measurement
COURSE - In this course, learn to measure corporate citizenship and corporate social responsibility to better demonstrate impact in your business and community.
When done right, corporate citizenship is a serious investment of money, resources, and time. To ensure that your CSR programs continue to receive the funding and attention they deserve, you must be able to demonstrate—to your leaders, your partners, and broader stakeholders—the return on that investment, or the ROI.
Two companies illustrate how they are using measurement to identify areas of improvement and ensure future growth.
Corporate citizenship leaders offer advice on how to navigate complexities of sustainability reporting.
A model for designing measurement of effectiveness of CSR activities across multiple stakeholder groups.
All programs have a purpose, but how do you measure and capture the success towards that purpose? Many companies struggle to measure impact over time. During this webinar member companies shared insights, best practices, and lessons learned from evaluating their corporate citizenship programs—and investigate how using data improved their efforts.
Research shows that companies that report on the impact of their corporate citizenship programs are considered better stewards of resources, receive better financial and reputational benefits associated with the programs, and are more likely to continue the programs. So how can you make sure you are measuring the important things, and where can you find the data you need?