Corporate Citizenship Conference Recap Day 1: Sharing Stories, Driving Change
To achieve business and social value, CSR practitioners must draw on the diverse resources and support offered through their corporate citizenship ecosystems. Today, 550 of those professionals joined us in Boston to expand their ecosystems, all while learning to navigate them more effectively.
In Good Company
The is a 2.5 day event created to facilitate thoughtful sharing and collaboration. Because the event is open to CSR practitioners only, attendees are afforded a unique opportunity to ask difficult questions, share challenges, and hold frank discussions.
Today, this sense of community was immediately evident during the event鈥檚 opening networking sessions and evening reception, sponsored by . The host of the event, Immanuel Sutherland, senior specialist of corporate citizenship at Altria Client Services, urged attendees to grow and develop their corporate citizenship ecosystems over the next few days.
鈥淲hile you鈥檙e here, listen, learn, and share,鈥� he said. 鈥淵our unique perspective could be the solution to someone鈥檚 common challenge.鈥�
The networking continued through dinner, where Katherine V. Smith, the Center鈥檚 executive director, welcomed the crowd to Boston with the help of Mike Rogers, president and chief operating officer of .
A Boston College Alumni, Rogers gave a glimpse into tomorrow鈥檚 State Street session, which will focus on how the company is working to strengthen the city through its Boston WINs program鈥攁n ambitious effort built on coordinated action with local nonprofits that are dedicated to education and workforce development.
鈥淲e鈥檙e investing $20 million in five high-performing nonprofits over the next four years,鈥� said Rogers. 鈥淲e require that these nonprofits collaborate with one another and with us to provide coordinated services and increase impact of the program.鈥�
Storytelling and Celebration
The first general session, hosted by , offered a deep dive into the transformative power of storytelling to engage and activate an audience in a corporate citizenship cause. Neil J. Gibson, vice president of corporate communications at FedEx Services, took the stage to share his strategy for inspiring change through filmmaking, social media, and internal communications.
鈥淔irst, stories must drive emotion,鈥� he said. 鈥淧eople look to find emotion first in a story 鈥� they evaluate how it makes them feel and these emotions can even influence a decision. Next, stories must make people care鈥攁nd they aren鈥檛 bound by time. Finally, stories deal with dilemma and have the following four elements: protagonist, antagonist, setting, and emotion.鈥�
During his remarks, Gibson shared the driving force behind compelling stories: employees. It is through employees, he contended, that FedEx will deliver on the promise of its new global giving platform, FedEx Cares鈥攁 commitment to invest $200 million in over 200 global communities by 2020 to create opportunity and deliver solutions around the world.
鈥淲e encourage all our team members to share their stories, especially through volunteer initiatives. This is where the emotion and the heart come from,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ur people are the protagonists of our FedEx Cares stories. They create stories and they tell stories鈥攅very day they serve as advocates for positive change.鈥�
Gibson's session emphasized the importance of strong corporate citizenship ecosystems. He pointed to the internal collaboration that supported the company鈥檚 Story Map鈥攊t鈥檚 communication blueprint鈥攁s well as the internal and external partnerships it cultivates in order to tell inspiring stories. He underscored that it鈥檚 through these networks that corporate citizenship efforts can be effectively developed, managed, and communicated. When these networks are engaged to create and tell meaningful stories, corporate citizenship progress can be made.
鈥淪torytelling can leave a lasting impression on people,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t drives them to make change, feel inspired and be proactive.鈥�
The focus on storytelling carried through to the final event of the night: The . The Center鈥檚 annual Film Festival is a unique event that highlights the corporate citizenship initiatives that are making connections and addressing issues across the globe鈥攁nd applauds the creative and inspiring methods used to communicate these efforts. Smith rejoined Gibson on stage to congratulate the top nine finalists of this year鈥檚 festival, and announce the winners.
鈥淚n the past nine years, we鈥檝e received nearly 500 submissions from companies,鈥� said Smith. 鈥淭his year, submissions spanned 16 industries and more than 20 US states, as well as Australia, Canada, Denmark and Mexico.鈥�
The 2017 Film Festival offered a series of prize categories to recognize the wide range of initiatives that were submitted. Categories included:
- Company size
- Small Company (employee size 1- 5,000)
- Medium Company (employee size 5,000 - 30,000)
- Large Company (employee size 30,000 +)
- Fan Favorite (largest number of public votes)
- Best in Show
The award for Medium Company went to Health Care Service Corporation for their terrific video: Taking on Asthma.
UPS took home the Large Company category prize for Rwanda and UPS Launch World鈥檚 First National Drone Delivery Service
In a stunning sweep, Experiencias Xcaret took home the Small Company prize, the Fan Favorite award AND the Best in Show for their gorgeous video Flying Home: The Return of the Scarlet Macaw.
鈥淭he opportunity to watch these videos every year reminds me of all the great work you do out in the world,鈥� said Smith. 鈥淭hank you for all of your great communication on top of your great work.鈥�
Congratulations to all who participated this year!
Want more updates on the Conference? Subscribe to the Corporate Citizenship Blog by clicking below.