Corporate Social Responsibility and blogging

Box of stuff

While many people cringe at the alignment, marketing departments often also take on aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Or, in other words, how the business is working with the community, who they should be working with and how they encourage or support staff who are involved in community or charity work.

I have covered this area a few times and really enjoyed it. There are lots of aspects to cover and the area is growing enormously. Businesses want to do good, and they want to see their local, national and sometimes international customers thrive. A good business understands that a decent local economy is what keeps their business afloat too.

CSR is not just for big business. It is for everyone, including bloggers.

Being a blogger you can get all sorts of offers, products and services offered to you. Some you may write about, some you do giveaways for, some you just don’t.

I started to collect a box of items that we really didn’t ‘need’. They were lovely to get in the mail and to look at and open but they were not required. Some of them were things I had won, others were parts of packs I had received from PR, or books I got from blogging functions and items from swag bags.

I wanted someone else to feel the happiness you get when the doorbell rings and the PR guys have sent you a surprise but I didn’t know where to go. I could just give them to the op shop, but then they would likely be sold. That’s ok, but I wanted someone to get them - free.

I spent some time deciding where I wanted them to go, just like I would if I was doing CSR at work. Finally I found a service at our local crèche, which is council run. A council service for families that need financial advice, or help for some reason, it may be a parent has lost a job, died, a child is ill, family breakdown etc. The service works to ensure the family is receiving the basic benefits they are entitled to and helps with budgets etc. I volunteered my box of ‘stuff’ hoping it may be of some use.

Apparently they were extremely happy. Never had anyone donated items for the families that require the service. While it may have only been a DVD, a parenting book, some socks, stuffed toys and the like, the box of stuff allowed families to have something they didn’t expect.

A recent DVD review I did I also changed so that I didn't do a giveaway, I donated the giveaway copy to be used at a breast cancer fundraising raffle, lots of smaller prizes can make selling tickets a bit easier. Someone wins the DVD, the raffle raises more money and extra funds are sent for breast cancer research. It just all helps.

I felt good. It was too easy.