How to Successfully Launch a CSR Mentoring Program

mentoring for csr corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility is a broad term. An organization can demonstrate it in a variety of ways including employee volunteering, donations, or implementing safe environmental processes. Organizations that demonstrate their commitment to CSR recognize their ability to help their community. 

55% of consumers are willing to pay a higher price for a product from a socially responsible company. In other words, social responsibility is not just great for your community but for your organization. That’s exactly why a mentoring program of CSR must be launched in your organization. The benefits include:

  • Increased employee satisfaction  
  • Better public image 
  • Increase creativity

Getting Started with a CSR Mentoring Program 

Ready to launch a CSR mentoring program in your organization but don’t know how to get started? These steps will help you kickstart the program. The process is similar to community mentoring programs but with some tweaks. 

Define the Goals

Start by defining the goals of the CSR mentoring program. These goals must align with the business objectives of your organization. Typically, when an organization is about to launch a CSR program, the purpose is to give back to the community. Establishing a CSR program also lets you attract top talent and have it retained. The new workforce, which consists of millennials, care about their employer’s contribution for the better of the society.

Provide Mentor Training 

A CSR mentoring program is not like mentoring for talent and career development or peer mentoring. Its goals are different and therefore, the approach taken to organize this program must be different as well.

To make sure everyone’s on the same page, before the launch of the program, it makes sense to train your mentors. They should know what’s expected of them, their role in training the mentees, and the outcome of the program.

Get the Executives Involved 

Involve one of the executives in the CSR program. They could be the champion of this initiative. These leaders can help you get the resources you need from your team. Since Corporate Social Responsibility is the future of all businesses, find a leader among your team who genuinely cares about giving back to society and make them the champion of the program.

This will also help build a great company reputation. Your organization will come across as a company that cares about the community.

Establish a Baseline 

You don’t need thousands of individuals volunteering to donate a bespoke figure or time per year. Use what you have and build a sustainable program. You can donate a percentage of your annual profit to a community organization or allow customers to use some of your products for free. Determine what works best for your organization and start from there.

Track the Success of the Program

Last but not least, track the success of the program. The benefits of giving back to the community will be tangible. Of course, you can use a mentoring software to track the progress as you would do in case of a mentoring for leadership development program. These would be number of mentors and mentees, volunteered time, tasks and their outcomes in the society.

Check out other mentoring use-cases that you can apply in your organization