PPB April 2019

BUILT ON PURPOSE Corporate social responsibility lets promotional product professionals do what they do best—give. by Kyle A. Richardson I n 1999, most customers weren’t worried about where a screen-printed t-shirt came from or how an engraved pen was made. As long as their logo looked right, they were happy. Flash forward 20 years and that same conversation plays out very differently. Today’s consumers want to know where an item was made, if the people making it are paid and treated fairly, what resources are used (and wasted) in its creation, and that every step of the supply chain is safe, compliant and ethical. Modern buyers want to know more than if the item is worth their money—they want to know if you are. Corporate social responsibility, or CSR for short, is the idea that companies should be held accountable not just to their bottom line, but to the world around them. As clients become more choosey about how they allocate their marketing dollars, a company’s donations, volunteering and community outreach can become deciding factors when selecting a supplier or distributor. Just as each of us want to surround ourselves with people who share our values, corporations want to ensure their partners’ beliefs align with their own. “A CSR provides organizational clarity,” says Roger Burnett, CAS, founder of distributor Social Good Promotions Built On Purpose | FEATURE | APRIL 2019 | 23