Michael Traill, the Founder of Social Ventures Australia has announced he is stepping down from his role as CEO, at the annual SVA Oration, at the NSW House of Parliament last night. His exit will be sadly be effective October this year and will be succeeded by Rob Koczkar, the current Managing Director of Pacific Equity Partners. Continue reading Michael Traill to step down from SVA Australia
Kellog’s breakfast cereals are well known, and this brand recognition is being leveraged to invest in a health initiative that has already seen food distributed to over seven million people in Australia since the The Breakfasts for Better Days program was launched in February 2013.
In brief, Kellog’s is donating one breakfast to a child or family in need, for every box of cereal sold. They state that in Australia, one in seven kids don’t eat breakfast, and that this has an effect on important developmental learning and social interactions. The program has already donated seven million meals, and aims to feed 12 million Aussie children and families by 2016. With only five million more meals to serve in the next two years, it looks like they will meet (or even exceed) their target. This Australian strategy contributes to the global initiative, which is hoping to feed half a billion people by 2016. Continue reading How your cornflakes are helping Aussie kids
Many people use CSR and Sustainability interchangeably, when there are some clear and definitive differences that show the two terms are not synonymous. Simply put, Corporate Social Responsibility is the task of balancing current stakeholder interests, by implementing initiatives that improve wide reaching and operational impacts on communities. Conversely, Sustainability is a course of action that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” – accurately described by the World Commission on Environment & Development’s Our Common Future, published in 1987.
An article in the Canadian Huffington Post Online, discusses this definition debarkle, and explains the relationship between these two terms really well. It’s important to know the difference, and to understand how businesses can have a CSR strategy as well as a separate Sustainability strategy. The article closes by saying you can be responsible or sustainable, but not both. Sustaining People agrees with a lot of what is extolled in this piece, but maybe there is a way to marry the two together; sustainability strategy can be used to inform CSR initiatives about the potential future risks, so that current action doesn’t hamper ongoing sustainability efforts.
If you would like to know more and better inform your own CSR or Sustainability experience, you can read the full article here.
Inventions have made our lives easier and more luxurious over the years, from the car phone to the watch-phone, but growing numbers of inventors are focusing on the future and how to make it better.
Today’s Courier Mail Online newspaper takes a look at 25 home-grown inventions and technological innovations that are helping not just Australians but the world. It looks at a number of products that are changing the way we manage sustainable development, but also those that will improve the way that humans interact in our increasingly overpopulated cities. Continue reading 25 Inventions for a Sustainable Tomorrow
Ernst & Young has announced its plans to acquire Netbalance, one of Australia’s most prominent Sustainability & CSR consulting houses, for an undisclosed amount. In an email release yesterday afternoon, Netbalance broke the news to its members stating that the proceedings would have little to no impact on the provision of its services. Netbalance has a prestigious client base, having worked for the likes of World Vision, Woolworths, Telstra, Bunnings, Insurance Australia Group, NAB, Commonwealth Bank, AGL, EnergyAustralia and Stockland. Continue reading Ernst & Young to Acquire Netbalance
If you are looking for a great CSR resource, look no further than www.csrconnected.com.au. It is the blogging arm of the Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (ACCSR), and is a way of ACCSR staff providing up to date commentary on recent events and news in the CSR space. Continue reading Does corporate social responsibility need marketing?
Despite the exciting title this isn’t a piece about Gen Y babies or Millenials making wild exclamations (OMG Oh My God!). Instead it’s a chance for us to take a look at something that is changing the way that companies are practicing philanthropy – Open Matched Giving (OMG).
Financial giving and philanthropy is one of the most recognisable features of an organisation’s Corporate Social Responsibility program. Companies can get their employees to volunteer, or base internal processes on a social ROI, however “Company X donates $10 million to charity” always makes the headlines and good spin can be added to the story at no extra cost. One aspect of corporate philanthropy is Continue reading OMG it’s Givematcher!
JFK got it right when he spoke those immortalised words, signifying that diversity should be a way of celebrating similarities and using cultural differences to build a brighter future for the global community. Of course he was talking about banning nuclear weapons, but the sentiment is one that translates well into our contemporary setting. Diversity is now more than ever, an important rhetoric to shape the way that Australians do business now and in the future.
A new report released by the Diversity Council of Australia (DCA) states that people of Asian descent are not being represented fairly or equally in the workplace. The Australian Bureau of Statistics Index of Australian Social Trends records that 9.6% of the Australian population comes from East, Central or Southern Asia; the DCA’s new Cracking the Cultural Ceiling Report launched yesterday in Sydney reveals that Continue reading Redesigning the ‘Bamboo Ceiling’
In Sustaining People’s previous post Ethical Investment for Dummies, we discussed the role that ESG factors play in investment decisions, and the opportunities that can arise out of mitigating environmental, social and governance risk. Our daily snoop around the internet has taken us into the fascinating world of TED Talks, and Continue reading TED Talks About Sustainable Investment
Sydney Swans might win something after all, but it won’t be on the footy field. In 2009, Premiership veterans Adam Goodes and Michael O’Loughlin launched the Goodes O’Louhglin (GO) Foundation and after going from strength to strength, they are now pertnering with Lend Lease to help young indigenous Australians focus on education and work towards their own brighter future. Lend Lease’s focus on its human capital has ensured that they incorporate a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) into their CSR policies and practices, and partnership with the GO Foundation, they are looking to solidly deliver on that commitment. Continue reading Sydney Swans Might Win Something After All
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