Social Responsibility for the Third Sector

Social Responsibility  is often an unresolved issue for companies. However, this dimension must also be addressed in non-profit organizations , and long before the development of their work , from their foundations, and in constant review, in order to guarantee that their work is effective and takes place in accordance with their mission.

In the document ' Guide to social responsibility for Third Social Sector organisations ', Josep Maria Canyelles, from the Vector5 cooperative , and commissioned by the Third Social Sector Organisations Board of Catalonia , reviews the keys to the work in this area for organisations. This resource contains the main considerations of this guide. 

The why of Organizational Social Responsibility

The first reason why entities should promote their social responsibility is that this will allow them to better align with their mission , reflecting their values ​​in their actions.

Along these same lines, however, other advantages are discovered: the improvement of social impact thanks to better planning and cross-functional work , management with transparency, building trust with the groups served, financial sustainability and the competitive advantage that come from improving reputation and creating differential value, attracting and retaining talent, and the evident coherence between values ​​and actions and the creation of -new- shared value .

Own and cross-functional responsibility

It is clear that the work of entities has a responsibility towards the people they serve and towards the society in which they operate . The mission of an organization or an entity is usually to create social value. In this sense, the results of the activity will always be linked to responsibility. However, beyond this , in the process, in the impact , is where it will be necessary to work actively for the real fulfillment of responsibility, and this will not be so easy.

Furthermore, there is another dimension of social responsibility that is not fulfilled directly by the mere fact of developing an activity with a social vocation. This is what is called ' transversal responsibility ', and it means not relaxing internal operating policies, for example, or other daily management or communication issues that are also social demands even if they are not within the entity's scope of action.

Challenges and opportunities of SR for organizations

In light of what was mentioned in the previous paragraph, one way for organizations to move towards more transversal social responsibility is to focus on the Sustainable Development Goals . For each of them there are challenges to face and opportunities to move towards social responsibility, but there are six that are especially important for entities to develop the latter with a transversal view beyond their work:

• Circular economy : It is linked not only to environmental issues but also to efficiency and economic sustainability. For entities, it represents the challenge of extending the life of materials and building synergies and the opportunity to be agents of alternative economic engines. 
• Healthy organizations : These are those that promote the well-being of their workers. The challenge in this case for organizations is to maintain coherence with their values, and the opportunity has to do with the quality of life of the teams and the talent retention that comes as a result.
• Good governance : It is related to governance models, the way decisions are made, leadership, accountability... For entities, it is a challenge in that it is advisable to systematize their responsible management models, and an opportunity to create their own models of democratization of the organization and horizontality. 
• Purpose-driven organizations : This refers to having a purpose, a mission, an impact beyond financial gain. It is clear that organizations already have this, so the challenge in this case would be to proactively manage this statement, with a focus on measurable impact. However, the opportunity for them will be to strengthen the strategic sense. 
• Social challenges : It involves keeping current social inequalities and vulnerabilities in mind when carrying out the task, and the challenge for the entities is to broaden the focus beyond the specific group served, towards the community in general. The opportunity, in this sense, will be to generate alliances with different sectors. 
• Accountability : It has to do with financial but also social transparency. For entities, the challenge involves going beyond the mere year-end report, incorporating accountability into the organizational strategy by measuring areas such as impact; which at the same time represents the opportunity to be an inducer of change and adaptation of the impact strategy. 
   

Beyond these SDGs, RS can be summarized in five impact vectors that must be taken into account in its implementation:

Good governance : ethical leadership with values, dialogue with stakeholders, full transparency... 
Economic : local shopping, payment within 30 days, ethical banking, socially responsible investments... 
Social : there are people from vulnerable groups or with integration difficulties hired, we participate in social campaigns... 
Labor : contracts are adequate, there is prevention and occupational health work, flexible working hours are offered, there is gender parity and an equality plan in place. 
Environmental : we ensure the reduction of CO2 emissions, green energy is used, cleaning products are ecological... 

Self-diagnosis and monitoring

Before starting the process to make changes in relation to Social Responsibility, it is necessary to know where the entity is . CSR is not about doing good practices in isolation, but promoting a comprehensive management methodology that acts transversally throughout the organization, which is why it is necessary to consider the starting point.

A model is proposed with a scale from 0 to 9 , divided into five levels of performance with two grades or notes each, against which each area of ​​Social Responsibility must be assessed, corresponding to the dimensions or vectors of impact of good governance, economic, social, labor and environmental. The levels are:

• Bad practices (Grades 0-1): Serious breaches of laws or commitments, where action is only taken to correct or repair once a failure has occurred.
• Regulatory compliance (Grades 2-3): The established legal and internal obligations are met, ensuring that the true intent of the regulation is respected without looking for legal "loopholes".
• Regulatory improvement (Grades 4-5): Good practices that go beyond the law are implemented. Dialogue with stakeholders to understand their concerns is key , an essential step for CSR.
• Meeting expectations (Grades 6-7): CSR management is fully systematized (has planning, objectives and indicators) and is integrated into key policies (purchasing, personnel, etc.). This allows for transparent accountability .
• Commitment (Grades 8-9): This is the highest level. CSR is part of the organization's strategy, mission and values. In addition, shared value is created , extending this responsibility and good practices to its entire sphere of influence (suppliers, customers and other entities).

Steps to follow

Once the diagnosis that would be the starting point has been made, and the motivation behind the sense of promoting CSR in the entity has been understood, the process can be started to carry out this implementation in a transversal manner . The different phases of this process can be:

• Comparison of the organization's own state with external benchmarks.
• Identification of stakeholders , that is, the internal and external agents affected or relevant to the entity or its operation. 
• Talk with stakeholders, with the idea of ​​establishing a dialogue and contrasting expectations.
• Create an action plan with objectives, indicators and resources, defining the improvement challenges.
• Make reviews, evaluations and improvements accordingly, measuring the impact and correcting deviations using indicators when necessary.
• Transparently communicate progress and contribution to the SDGs, that is, be accountable .