Community Relations: Unleashing the Power of Corporate Citizenship

Explore how best-practice organizations use community relations to provide returns to a "dual bottom line" for the company and society in Community Relations: Unleashing the Power of Corporate Citizenship. Learn innovative community relations practices in five topic areas: situation analysis, corporate relations strategy, organization, process, and measurement.

KEY FINDINGS

Strategy

• Community relations possesses a diverse mix of roles-supporting departments, addressing community needs, and contributing to the bottom line all factor into the responsibilities of the CR function.
• Successful organizations perceive community relations as a core competency that adds value to key business functions and operations such as developing corporate image/reputation and building critical relationships.
• Leading organizations perform assessments of their CR relationships with a wide variety of business-related issues-the most important of which include receiving recognition, building corporate reputation, and formulating strategic corporate giving plans.
• Participants tend to identify strategic priority areas for community involvement but have no common standard for the top CR priority areas. Priority formulation is based on a strategic process that relates to the characteristics, interests, and goals of each organization.
• Study participants believe an important CR objective is to receive and build external and internal recognition and awareness for the company’s community involvement.Organization
• There is no single "best-practice" structure for community relations. Companies vary in the ways they have organized CR.
• Organizations are managing the CR function in an increasingly decentralized manner. Partner organizations tend to maintain less formal control over CR from headquarters than sponsors.
• Partner organizations see universal advantages to having a flat, decentralized CR structure.
• Community relations is becoming more integrated in actual business operations as company executives are recognizing its importance to the future of the company.
• While CR traditionally has operated in isolation, organizations are making headway in linking cross-functionally to a variety of departments within the corporation.
• Study respondents-particularly partner organizations-are managing CR programs and functions in international locations.Process
• Community relations professionals consider "community and company liaison" and "corporate contributions" as the most important of their duties. This emphasis reflects participants' dedication to creating corporate equity with communities and stakeholders.
• Partners agree that implementing citizen advisory panels, meeting with community based service organizations, holding public hearings, and participating in community events are the four most successful community relationship-building tactics.
• Partner organizations use awards and recognition programs, as well as matching employee charitable contribution programs, as key incentives to achieve superior community relations performance by employees within and outside the community relations function.
• Attaining positive media coverage is the most successful awareness-building tactic employed by best-practice organizations.
• Best-practice organizations use formal processes when setting community relations goals and objectives.
• Study participants-particularly partner organizations-are using more formal and sophisticated budgetary processes.
• Study participants-particularly partner organizations-often use less formal processes when allocating budgets to site locations and business lines.Measurement