Contributors
Tara Grecosenior vice president Tara has experience on both sides of the equation, having worked in corporate CR and nonprofit communications & marketing. She focuses on trends and innovations in community engagement, strategic philanthropy, volunteerism, cause marketing, and CR/nonprofit communications.
Andrea ShatzmanA senior associate in APCO’s Washington, D.C. office, Andrea works on a broad range of CR issues. She’s particularly interested in the evolution of CR over time and how businesses can capitalize on their strengths to make unique contributions to society.
Leela StakeLeela is a senior associate who helps businesses innovate, collaborate and communicate to be more successful. She’s based in San Francisco, has worked in six Asian countries and is interested in the relationship between long-term business success and community prosperity.
Robin DelisoRobin is a senior associate who works in APCO’s corporate responsibility practice and is interested in the blurring lines between consumer and influencer expectations of companies. She looks at how companies use CR to engage audiences in innovative ways, especially re: social media, and started her career in nonprofit communications strategy.
Julie JackA vice president in APCO's New York office, Julie works on corporate responsibility with a focus on business strategy and emerging issues and trends. Her currents interests and work focus on sustainable agriculture and supply chain management, the integration of CR and financial communications, and CR in the consumer goods space.
Rachel ThompsonRachel is the global corporate responsibility practice manager for APCO. She has worked on global trade and CR in government and business. Her interests include the role (and limits) of CR in making globalization more sustainable; evidence and measurement issues; and the relationship between CR and preventing trade protectionism.
James RobinsonJames is a vice president who brings ten years of experience working on CR strategy and communications in New York, Beijing, and Jakarta. He looks at how CR is employed as part of broader business strategy and has a particular interest in the evolving role of technology and innovation in managing social and environmental issues.
Kitty PotterKitty is an associate director and leads APCO's CR practice in the Asia-Pacific region. Her current work and interests include the development of multi-stakeholder initiatives addressing corruption in supply chains, sustainability performance ratings, and engagement with private sector in climate change adaption.
Ellen MignoniEllen is a senior vice president and helped build APCO’s global corporate responsibility practice. She works primarily with APCO’s corporate clients on business alignment and corporate responsibility, stakeholder engagement and partnership development, and communication and outreach.
Category Archives: Measurement & Evaluation
Diversity and Inclusion: How Do We Encourage Diverse Talent to “Stick”?
Recently, a colleague called my attention to an eye-opening report by the Alliance for Board Diversity (ABD). Entitled “Missing Pieces: Women and Minorities on Fortune 500 Boards,” the report shows that corporate boards are still vastly underrepresented by African Americans, Asian Pacific Islanders and Hispanics, who together make up 33.7 percent of the total 2010 U.S. population. Given the arguments made in favor of diverse boards and diverse organizations – and their contribution to innovation, global collaboration and optimal risk management -- I couldn’t help looking at my own industry and asking why diversity continues to be a vexing challenge for us as well. If diversity and inclusion provide real value to our business, then why does it continue to be so elusive?
Posted on Thursday, June 2nd, 2011
Also posted in Business Alignment/Integration, Reporting Tagged authenticity, diversity, employee-engagement Leave a comment
Also posted in Business Alignment/Integration, Reporting Tagged authenticity, diversity, employee-engagement Leave a comment
Making it Stick
Happy anniversary, Shared Purpose! Last year, we saw amazing CR communication campaigns that capitalized on huge international platforms. Idol Gives Back used the epic American Idol platform, One Goal and United Against Malaria capitalized on the World Cup (in Africa for the first time) and Keep a Child Alive used celebrity social networks. In addition, companies used mega-advertising budgets to showcase their initiatives. It was definitely a year of great ideas and creativity.
Posted on Thursday, April 28th, 2011
Also posted in Cause Marketing, Philanthropy Tagged American Idol, corporate philanthropy, CSR, Idol Gives Back, One Goal Leave a comment
Also posted in Cause Marketing, Philanthropy Tagged American Idol, corporate philanthropy, CSR, Idol Gives Back, One Goal Leave a comment
NYSE Hosts GRI Launch of Focal Point USA, an ESG and Sustainability Reporting Resource
GRI recently opened an office in the US and launched “Focal Point USA” – an effort to encourage adoption of the guidelines in the US market. Michelle Lau, a New-York based member of our corporate responsibility team, attended the launch event at the New York Stock Exchange. She reports below.
All seats were filled Monday morning at the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) launch of “Focal Point U.S.A.” – a new U.S. effort to urge companies toward transparency and adopt the GRI reporting framework.
Posted on Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
Also posted in Reporting, What's Next for CR Tagged Avon, Bloomberg, CERES, Curis Ravenel, Focal Point USA, Global Reporting Initiative, GRI, Michelle Lau, Mindy Lubber, NYSE, Steve Leffin, Susan Arnot Heany, UPS Leave a comment
Also posted in Reporting, What's Next for CR Tagged Avon, Bloomberg, CERES, Curis Ravenel, Focal Point USA, Global Reporting Initiative, GRI, Michelle Lau, Mindy Lubber, NYSE, Steve Leffin, Susan Arnot Heany, UPS Leave a comment
The Growing Link between ESG and Investor Relations
I wanted to highlight a recent article in IR Magazine by my colleague Jeff Zelkowitz, who leads APCO’s investor relations and financial practice. In his piece Jeff asserts that while environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information has long been used by socially responsible investors (SRI), increasingly the mainstream investment community is paying attention to these [...]
Posted on Thursday, October 21st, 2010
Also posted in What's Next for CR Tagged ESG, Investor Relations, IR Magazine, Jeff Zelkowitz, Wal-Mart 1 Comment
Also posted in What's Next for CR Tagged ESG, Investor Relations, IR Magazine, Jeff Zelkowitz, Wal-Mart 1 Comment
What’s New in Corporate Giving?
The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual corporate giving issue was published Monday. And for the first time, USA Today co-published the results for the annual survey—they have a really cool online chart that can sort data by year and industry.Each year, this issue provides corporations with some valuable data and trend information. A few things popped [...]
Posted on Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
Also posted in Business Alignment/Integration, CR in North America, Philanthropy, Reporting, Volunteerism & Service Tagged Chronicle of Philanthropy, corporate giving, Fortune 500, Profits, USA Today 1 Comment
Also posted in Business Alignment/Integration, CR in North America, Philanthropy, Reporting, Volunteerism & Service Tagged Chronicle of Philanthropy, corporate giving, Fortune 500, Profits, USA Today 1 Comment
What’s the Return for Being Responsible?
A company’s strategy and approach to corporate responsibility has a huge impact on its reputation. Both minor and major adjustments in programs, partnerships and processes can net in a shift—up or down—of a company’s reputation in the eyes of its stakeholders. APCO’s research group, APCO Insight, recently conducted some research for the retail industry to [...]
Posted on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Also posted in Business Alignment/Integration, Economic Development, What's Next for CR Tagged Bryan Dumont, reputation, return on reputation Leave a comment
Also posted in Business Alignment/Integration, Economic Development, What's Next for CR Tagged Bryan Dumont, reputation, return on reputation Leave a comment
Volunteerism in America on the Rise
The Corporation for National and Community Service released its annual U.S. volunteerism stats today. Details can be found at www.VolunteeringinAmerica.gov. The study contains lots of rich data, including insights about volunteerism for each state and major city and trends by age cohort.Several points from this year’s report popped out at me: An additional 1.6 million [...]
Posted on Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
Also posted in Community Engagement, CR in North America, Volunteerism & Service Tagged community service, Corporation for National and Community Service, millenial, voluneering, VolunteeringinAmerica.gov Leave a comment
Also posted in Community Engagement, CR in North America, Volunteerism & Service Tagged community service, Corporation for National and Community Service, millenial, voluneering, VolunteeringinAmerica.gov Leave a comment
Integrated Reporting: A Fast-Emerging Trend
On Monday I attended an interesting webcast about the future of integrated reporting. In helping clients describe their social and environmental impact through corporate responsibility (CR) reports, I have seen how companies are becoming more and more focused on reporting their material business issues and less focused on the “warm and fuzzy” stuff. While certainly [...]
Posted on Thursday, June 10th, 2010
Also posted in Reporting Tagged CR reporting, Data, Global Reporting Initiative, Government mandates, GRI, Integrated Reporting, Investors, Socially Responsible, transparency Leave a comment
Also posted in Reporting Tagged CR reporting, Data, Global Reporting Initiative, Government mandates, GRI, Integrated Reporting, Investors, Socially Responsible, transparency Leave a comment
Supplier Scorecards: The Future of Sustainable Consumerism?
Earlier this week Procter and Gamble announced it is following Wal-Mart in asking its thousands of suppliers to complete a “sustainability scorecard.” Seeing this news, I couldn’t help but wonder if the we’re seeing a new wave of private-sector enlightenment, at a time when governments have been shy to act. Of course, public companies have long been [...]
Posted on Friday, May 14th, 2010
Also posted in Business Alignment/Integration, Communicating CR, CR in North America, Environment, What's Next for CR Tagged climate change, data reporting, Procter and Gamble, sec, securities and exchange commission, sustainability scorecard, sustainable consumerism, transparency 1 Comment
Also posted in Business Alignment/Integration, Communicating CR, CR in North America, Environment, What's Next for CR Tagged climate change, data reporting, Procter and Gamble, sec, securities and exchange commission, sustainability scorecard, sustainable consumerism, transparency 1 Comment
Sustainability and Financial Communication – APCO Meets with Emerging Market IROs on Wall Street
Also posted in Business Alignment/Integration, Communicating CR | Tagged ESG, Investor Relations, SRI | 1 Comment