Responsible Stakeholder Management

The social responsibilities of a large corporation, such as the organisation I’ve interned with are an extensively discussed issue by governments, media, not-for-profit organisations and greater society. A general expectation of ‘giving back’ is felt by the majority of West Australian society, without laws or institutions to enforce this idea. Throughout my time studying Public Relations the concept of corporate social responsibility has been extensively discussed and evaluated. Working within a community relations team, who’s primary mission is to deliver services to the community within the footprint of the company gave me unexpected insights into the practical world of CSR.

Having worked within non-profits, education institutions, and government departments seeing CSR from a corporate perspective provided refreshing insight.

The amount of time, planning and researching causes and effective solutions to communities within the organisations footprint is enormous. Partnerships are sponsorships exist to fulfil strategic objectives within communities. Responsibility and monitoring of expenditure, particularly on such a large scale was a priority of the team. The relationships between the organisations are managed through regular meetings and reports, both are critical to monitor funding and also reduce any negative impact on reputation or loss of social license.

Partnerships and sponsorships were generally viewed as favourable, but were also accompanied with high expectations. Partnering institutions are provided with guidelines, resources and support, with an expectation of delivering services, communication and reporting at a big business level. This could often be a reality check for smaller organisations that previously worked at a different level. Organisations who performed maintained a committed and long-term partnership. The team is fair but also cuttingly honest. The weight of responsibility for spending was enormous, and unproductive partnerships are politely let go.

Being a part of the corporate team distributing funds has changed the way I approach working for a non-profit and the relationship with our funders. Utilising initiative with funding partners is greatly appreciated and might just be the difference between cancelling and continuing a contract.