By: Paul Klein

Samantha Taylor who writes a CSR blog called Conscious Commerce just sent me a good rationale why there has never been a greater ‘Call to Action’ for both for corporations and not-for-profit organizations to “re-examine their sustainability agendas, maintain a long term focus and realize the benefits amidst the current economic and political changes”.

• Organizations must continue to address key sustainability issues like energy, climate change, disease and human rights concerns
• Boost their voluntary and philanthropic efforts top-to-bottom and with participation from their employees
• Maintain their reputations and boost trust by key stakeholders – especially consumers and investors
• Embrace new tools and technologies that can assist businesses to establish connected communities, better focus their philanthropic activities for opportunity and motivation
• As the giving season approaches, gain consensus from stakeholders about causes in need, align cause-related marketing and charitable contributions
• Collaborate and establish partnerships with fiscally healthy non-profits/NGOs that that have the necessary resources and depth of knowledge to develop community-driven campaigns for causes in need
• CEOs need to stop worrying about the next quarterly report, their own compensation packages and spend more time creating a culture of responsible practices and conduct.

I agree with Samantha that navigating this crisis effectively underscores the importance of building a truly sustainable economy for the long term – that not only requires leadership from government, but also from businesses.