You may well work for a company which has a fine history of contribution to its local community. Doesn't that tick the CSR box? Well not entirely.

How do you know you're making the right contribution?

Is it what the community needs?

Are you getting the most benefit out of it for your company?

Can you measure what you are doing and what its benefits are?

Many companies find they can't give a clear answer to some of these questions. That's where Miles Hogarth Limited comes into the picture.

I'm Caroline Hogarth, and I was fortunate to build up my CSR experience with an international blue-chip company (and Business in the Community Big Tick winner) over a number of years before deciding to set up Miles Hogarth Limited.

I specialise in helping firms which want to have an excellent profile with their local community, but need to be able to see and measure some hard business benefits from their community-focussed efforts.

Working with the local community has huge benefits to a business in the long and short term.

Let's take an example of a member of staff, we'll call him Ash, who spends a couple of hours a week volunteering at a local school. What are the benefits here?

• He feels good about himself because he is "giving something back" to the community. This makes him more motivated at work and reduces his stress levels.
• He feels good about the Company because they make it possible for him to volunteer.
• Ash talks to his friends about how great it is to work for a company that supports local schools - he is enhancing the company image in a wider group.
• Ash's friends see job opportunities at his firm in a more positive light because of what Ash has said about his volunteering.
• In helping the children, Ash learns new skills in explanation and teaching which he brings back into the workplace.
• Ash happens to be one of the younger members of staff - his contact with the school gives him experience in dealing with external contacts and maintaining the reputation of the company.
• The children that Ash helps at the school do better than they might have done otherwise, and go on to enrich the future population of potential recruits.
• The children talk to their parents about the man from company X who comes in to help them - the parents gain a positive image of the company.
• The school uses the PR opportunities presented by working with the company to attract more parents to choose the school for their children, keeping the school roll and consequent funding high and allowing more opportunities for the children who attend it.
• This has a further long-term benefit on the availability of a skilled workforce for the company to choose from.
• The company is able to use PR opportunities from its collaboration with the school (local press, graduate brochures, career fairs) to enhance its reputation locally and further afield. This has benefits both in attracting good new recruits, and also for marketing purposes at a time when many customers are influenced by ethical factors.
• The company retains good staff longer, as they prefer to work for a company with an excellent reputation.

In fact the list of benefits could go on.

Many firms have gained from carrying out bigger, team-building type exercises with local community groups. These can be highly cost-effective and give many of the above benefits in addition to the team-building effect. This is often enhanced simply because many people see community projects as much more worthwhile than, say, paint-balling or outdoor expeditions.

Want to find out more about how your company could set up and run a cost-effective, reputation enhancing Community Involvement strategy?

I've written a set of free tips to get you started. Just complete the simple form below.

Please feel free to contact me on 01827 895326 if you need more information or would like to discuss how Miles Hogarth Ltd could help you set up a strategy and establish valuable community partnerships.