Acting as a catalyst and a facilitator, EFSE assists each company in developing a community involvement program that is based on the philanthropic interests of the company and its employees. In addition to being compatible with a company's overall corporate goals, these programs offer tremendous rewards for both the employees who get involved and the recipient nonprofit organizations.

What is the need for community involvement?

Over the past several decades, the gap between community needs and available resources has consistently widened, in spite of dramatic increases in regional economic output. This is demonstrated in the seemingly intractable community issues such as education, affordable housing, income disparity and transportation.

This factor, coupled with the decline in membership and participation in traditional community organizations, makes companies a natural focal point for promoting community engagement and social responsibility. Companies provide an effective mechanism for connecting a large number of people to the community and building lasting relationships.

What is EFSE's role in developing your community involvement program?

EFSE's community involvement staff is dedicated to helping you design a community involvement program that will lead to a richer corporate culture and provide opportunities for volunteerism, philanthropy and a strong sense of community. EFSE will help you develop and tailor a program to meet your employees' interests.

Specifically, our role is to:

• Make community involvement easy and fun
  
• Engage management and employees
  
• Facilitate implementation of community involvement activities
  
• Communicate results internally and externally
  
• Foster relationships with nonprofit organizations
  
• Provide best practices for community involvement and regular program evaluation
  
• Provide guidance for corporate-directed funds
  
• Build collaboration and leverage activities among high-growth companies
  
• Leverage the entrepreneurial sector and EFSE's corporate partners

What's the process?

EFSE works closely with your company's community involvement team to design, implement and assess your program. The team should comprise a cross-section of interested employees and a liaison to your executive team.

Ideally, your community involvement program will grow in parallel with your company's growth, ultimately becoming an integral part of your corporate culture. Steps in the process include:

• Orient executive team and identify executive team liaison
• Kick-off communication to the whole company
• Survey employee interests and determine area(s) of focus
• Establish and orient the community involvement team
• Develop a community involvement statement
• Implement ongoing activities with executive team involvement
• Regularly evaluate and communicate results - internally and externally
• Create an annual community involvement plan
• Develop partnerships with nonprofits
• Develop underlying policies that support the community involvement program
• Create a corporate-directed fund

Companies with higher levels of community involvement exhibited higher business performance levels as measured by ROI, ROA and net sales revenue per employee.

Source: Community Involvement, Employee Morale and Business Performance, David Lewin and J.M. Sabater
Survey: Random sampling of 300 companies (156 responding) with COMPUSTAT financial performance files maintained by S&P
Dependant Variables: Return on investment (ROI), return on assets (ROA), productivity (net sales revenue/#of employees)

"76% of Americans report they would be likely to choose the company that supports a cause if they were offered two jobs similar in pay and responsibilities."
     - Cone/Roper Report,

"Employees whose companies support social issues are 61% more likely to feel proud of their companies' values and 30% more likely to feel a strong sense of loyalty to their employers than those at companies without such commitments. This increased support translates into greater job satisfaction, higher retention rates and better overall performance and customer service."
     - Cone/Roper Report,

"70% of readers believe that business has a responsibility to get involved in local education."
     - Fast Company POLLS,

"People around the world want companies to go beyond making a profit, paying taxes, employing people and obeying all laws; they want companies to contribute to broader societal goals as well."
     - The Millennium Poll Corporate Responsibility
         conducted by Environics International Ltd.

For more information, contact EFSE.