Table of Contents Executive Summary ...... 1 Introduction...... 3 Methodology...... 5 Participants and Partners...... 5 Procedure...... 5
Results...... 7 How did SiB need to be modified for the Canadian context?...... 10 Are signature programs a tool to support Canada’s business community in positively impacting societal issues beyond traditional philanthropy?...... 11
Discussion ...... 13 Corporate interest in homelessness and its root causes...... 13 Engaging business leaders on familiar ground ...... 13 Securing corporate participation: Peer referrals and figureheads...... 14 Sponsorship: Adjusting the financial model...... 14 Geographic differences...... 15 Personal interactions are key...... 15 Measuring impacts ...... 16 Catalyzing change...... 16 Community support for the program ...... 17
Conclusions...... 18 Recommendations...... 19 End Notes...... 21 Appendix A ...... 22 Corporate Community Engagement Survey...... 22 Businesses Interviewed...... 22 Interview Questions...... 22
Appendix B...... 24 Community Organization Survey ...... 24 Community Organizations Interviewed...... 24 Interview Questions...... 25
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Appendix C ...... 27 Advisory Committee Members...... 27 Surrey...... 27 Toronto ...... 27 Vancouver...... 27
Appendix D...... 28 Existing Program Interview Questions...... 28 Appendix E ...... 30 Volunteer Corporate and Municipal Leaders ...... 30 Appendix F ...... 31 Program Participants and Partners...... 31 Surrey...... 31 Toronto ...... 32 Vancouver...... 33
Appendix G...... 34 Securing a Corporate Leader and Inviting Business Leaders ...... 34 Appendix H ...... 35 Self-report SiB Survey...... 35 Appendix I ...... 36 Testimonials...... 36 Corporate ...... 36 Community Organization Testimonials ...... 39
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Executive Summary
With the support of Services Canada, Western Diversification and Coast Capital Savings, Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) sought to determine if Canada’s business community could positively impact chronic homelessness in ways beyond traditional philanthropy; through involvement in a signature corporate community engagement program such as Seeing is Believing (SiB).
CBSR is the globally-recognized source for corporate social responsibility (CSR) knowledge and expertise in Canada. Founded in 1995, CBSR is a business-led, non-profit learning organization that provides its members with candid counsel and customized services as they formulate powerful business decisions that improve performance and contribute to a better world. Signature program are CSR initiatives that enable companies to contribute to measurable change on a societal issue or cause such as homelessness. Seeing is Believing is an example of a signature program that is strategically designed to facilitate the use of the strengths and assets – skills, experience, networks, procurement and employment opportunities, and influence – of business to help communities deal with social issues such as homelessness, and their root causes.
Seeing is Believing originated in the UK and engages senior executives in issues of community revitalization by facilitating engagement and partnerships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that work on social issues such as homelessness. Through this research CBSR adapted the UK model and piloted it in three Canadian cities (Vancouver, Toronto, and Surrey) during the winter of 2005/06.
Our experience with this project revealed that there is tremendous opportunity to positively impact homelessness and other social issues by convening business, government and NGOs, mobilizing their respective strengths through signature programs such as Seeing is Believing.
Key results of CBSR’s research Corporate participants increased their awareness of homelessness and its root causes through experiential learning. Opportunities for how corporations can engage with NGOs beyond philanthropy were highlighted. Increased capacity among partner NGOs for more effective engagement with business. Catalyzing of corporate community engagement policies and programs to address the root causes of homelessness, like employment and access to capital.
Features that contributed to the success of Seeing is Believing Involvement of leaders from the corporate sector, municipal government and NGOs Targeting of senior executives as participants The use of a peer referral among executives to generate participation The engagement of a broad spectrum of employees within a company in order to create the maximum internal support The facilitation of a strong emotional impact on the participants through one-on-one interactions between people affected by the social issues Presentation of practical and concrete ideas regarding how business can use its traditional strengths and assets
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 1 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Recommendations for moving Seeing is Believing forward in Canada
1. Seeing is Believing should be financially supported in the future and expanded to other Canadian cities. 2. Development and implementation of initiatives that support signature programs - strategically designed for the corporate audience - to support follow-up initiatives are necessary to take advantage of and sustain the momentum of Seeing is Believing. 3. Company specific Seeing is Believing tours, designed to engage a company’s senior management team, should be made available for Seeing is Believing alumni. 4. Signature programs that seek to engage senior executives should emulate the Seeing is Believing model of using personal interactions to make a profound impact on participants. 5. Signature programs that seek to engage corporate participation should designate a corporate champion or figurehead that will attract other business leaders. 6. Signature programs should utilize past corporate participants as a peer referral network. 7. Signature programs should emulate the Seeing is Believing focus on senior executives to achieve the greatest impacts for corporate community engagement. 8. Signature programs should facilitate learning for community organizations that want to utilize the skills and assets of the business world by helping them understand corporate priorities and needs. 9. Signature programs should promote social enterprises that can provide services to the corporate world. 10. Multi-year funding would improve the impact of funding for those projects that are dependent on developing relationships with the corporate community.
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 2 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Introduction
This report was prepared by Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) for the National Secretariat on Homelessness and received funding from the National Research Program of the National Homelessness Initiative. The research and recommendations outlined in this report are those of CBSR and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Secretariat on Homelessness. Homelessness rates are on the rise in Canada’s largest cities including Toronto and Vancouver, as well as in emerging centers like Surrey. A recent count of homeless individuals in Surrey and Vancouver found a 134% and 109% increase in homelessness respectivelyi, while Toronto has similarly seen a rise in the number of people living in the streets. Resident and business concern about the relationship between homelessness and the economic development and competitiveness of cities are becoming increasingly prevalent. In light of the chronic and escalating rates of homelessness facing Canadian cities, and the impact that homelessness has on the community, what is the role of business? Corporate social responsibility (CSR) accounts for the financial, social and environmental impacts of a business and strives to ensure that a corporation’s activities do not have a negative effect on their communities. CSR is becoming increasingly prevalent in Canada. The increase in CSR policies and programs among Canada’s businesses is in concert with a worldwide movement of companies that are paying attention to the social and environmental impacts of their business. Companies can no longer ignore these issues, and those companies that are leaders in CSR have realized that there are significant benefits to addressing these issues in a comprehensive way, such as increased efficiency, increased employee satisfaction and retention, increased license to operate, better risk management, and access to new markets. One important aspect of CSR is stakeholder engagement – the process of engaging with all of a business’ stakeholders, ranging from local communities, the employees, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government, customers, and suppliers. In Canada, corporate community engagement has traditionally been equated with how a company spends its philanthropic budget; however, the International Business Leader’s Forum (IBLF) describes corporate community engagement as “…a company’s approach to their involvement in the communities in which they operate. Companies, in partnership with the public and non-profit sectors, invest in local communities to create healthy and sustainable circumstances in which they can continue to operate well. Corporate community engagement programs are designed to meet community need as well as core business objectives. This kind of engagement is not about simple cheque writingii.” Corporate community engagement initiatives that are designed to contribute to measurable change on a societal issue or cause are called “signature programs”. In making a difference to the issue, the program enhances the company’s reputation and relationships with employees, customers and other key internal and external stakeholders by demonstrating commitment to CSRiii. Seeing is Believing (SiB) is a signature program that began in the UK in 1990 through the support of HRH Prince Charles and has since launched across Europe and in Australia. The goal of SiB is to encourage businesses to use the skills, experience, influence, procurement and employment opportunities they possess to have a positive impact on social issues by supporting the mandates of local community organizations. The UK program has over 4,000 alumni and has been very successful at initiating deeper corporate engagement with community. Some of the companies that
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 3 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
have participated in the program include Shell, Marks and Spencer, Cisco Systems, Marsh, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Barclays, Kodak, HSBC and many others. SiB is aimed specifically at senior executives because they have decision-making power within their company and within the business community at large. The program begins by taking a group of executives on a strategically designed study tour of three community organizations that work on a specific social issue like homelessness and youth-at-risk. Two features that characterize this program are a focus on personal interactions with the clients, ex- clients and staff of each organization, as well as exposure to organizations with varying degrees of engagement with the corporate community. This program has been successful in the UK at catalyzing corporate support for community organizations beyond philanthropy. The purpose of this research was to replicate the UK findings of the signature program, SiB. We sought to determine if signature programs, as defined by SiB, are a tool through which Canada’s private sector could positively impact the issue of homelessness by addressing its root causes like access to employment, housing and capital. The hypothesis was that Canada’s senior business leaders would take the initiative to positively impact societal issues beyond traditional philanthropy, and that the signature program SiB would be an effective tool for achieving this desired outcome. We developed and implemented SiB study tours in Toronto, Vancouver and Surrey. The short-term evaluation framework involved: the number of companies involved the seniority of corporate participants the satisfaction of corporate participants the satisfaction of participating community organizations Longer-term measures of success will involve the development of corporate community engagement initiatives that address homelessness and its root causes.
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 4 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Methodology
Participants and Partners Participants and partners included members of Canada’s business community and community organizations in the pilot locations: Vancouver, Surrey and Toronto. Companies that took part in the corporate community engagement surveys (see Appendix A) were chosen to reflect an accurate cross-section of SiB’s intended audience: CSR leaders, businesses new to CSR, and those not engaged in CSR. Companies that were invited to participate in the pilot events were identified based on their membership with CBSR, through the referral of our corporate leads, and through their presence on the Report on Business 2004 top companies.iv The 45 community organizations that took part in the program development phase (see Appendix B) were identified with the support of the local advisory committees, which consisted of representatives from the municipal government, local community organizations and the private sector. Community organization partners (destinations for the study tours) were chosen based on their compatibility with the program as outlined by UK SiB program criteria.
Procedure CBSR’s approach involved four key steps: Program Review and Adaptation. The first step was to create multi-stakeholder advisory committees in each pilot location (see Appendix C for the list of advisory committee members). We then investigated existing programs with the intention of integrating successful and appropriate models to Canada’s SiB program (see Appendix D for the interview script). In addition to programs in Canada and the US, this search was expanded to look at programs in Europe. Finally, we designed and conducted a corporate engagement survey of five businesses in each pilot area to determine the feasibility of the program and to refine the program to ensure the greatest participation from the corporate sector (see Appendix A for a sample of the survey).
Program Development. Based on our findings from step one, the second step was to customize the UK SiB model to the Canadian context. We met with the organizers of the UK program, and participated in a SiB event in London. We developed interview questions (see Appendix B for a sample of the community organization interview questions) and conducted interviews with fifteen community organizations in each pilot location. After integrating the feedback from these interviews, and to test the feasibility of a Canadian SiB program, a business model and implementation plan for six pilots was developed.
Pilot Launch. The third step was to launch the program pilot in three cities across Canada: Vancouver, Surrey, and Toronto. CBSR secured corporate leaders, launched a marketing and communications plan and worked with the media to build awareness about the program (see Appendix E for a list of volunteer leaders). Over two hundred invitations were sent out to the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Canada’s top companies as listed in the Report on Business rankings. CBSR partnered with social service agencies to carry out five community study tours across Canada. Four of the visits consisted of participants from multiple companies while one of the study tours consisted of
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 5 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
the entire senior executive team of one company (see Appendix F for a list of corporate and community participants). Please see Appendix G for details on securing a corporate leader and inviting senior executives.
Program Evaluation. The fourth step was to evaluate the success of these pilots. We developed the preliminary quantitative framework for evaluating the impact of SiB in conjunction with pilot advisory boards and through consultation with Canadian businesses and social service agencies operating in the pilot locations. We used a formal assessment process that included self-report surveys for the corporate participants and interviews with both corporate participants and community partners (See Appendix H). We assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the program and made recommendations for improvements towards generating corporate support for root causes of homelessness: access to housing, employment and capital. Based on the results of the pilots we determined whether the SiB model could be implemented on a broader scale across the country.
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 6 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Results
Are there other signature programs like SiB to learn from?
SiB is unique in Canada and the United States in that the program encourages business engagement beyond philanthropy. An extensive search for other corporate community engagement initiatives in Canada and the United States found no programs like SiB. There were a number of organizations that performed informal tours of community organizations (such as the Four Pillars Foundation in Vancouver and the United Way of Canada), but these tours focused on philanthropic giving, did not target senior executives and involved conversations with the staff of each organization and not the clients. The SiB model is unique in that it engages senior executives with community issues beyond philanthropy.
What is the business community’s response towards signature programs as defined by SiB?
Business has a stake in the health of the communities in which they operate; however, tools to help and support involvement are required. Canada’s businesses are interested in participating in the development of programs that have a positive impact on the community. Corporate Canada recognizes the link between a healthy community and a healthy economy and generally supports initiatives that strengthen the communities they operate in. Business leaders in Toronto, Vancouver and Surrey participated in the development of SiB. A total of 16 business leaders were formally interviewed: 44% were senior executives or board level; 19% were vice-presidents or regional managers; 37% were middle management. The feedback from the interviews was that the concept of engaging with the community beyond philanthropy is new, but supported.
Asking for feedback on the program was an excellent first step towards engaging business leaders. It is difficult to get an audience with business leaders, but if the pretence for the meeting is to gather feedback on a corporate/community program (as opposed to appealing for funding), corporate executives were more likely to take the time from their demanding schedules to meet with you. In order to leave a favorable impression, interviews were short and efficient and a small donation to a charity of their choice was offered in appreciation for their time.
Businesses in smaller communities were more easily engaged in both program development and in the pilot events. Finding corporate executives to actively participate on the advisory committee was very difficult. As a result, only the Surrey committee had a corporate representative. Generating participation in the SiB events themselves was less resource intensive in Surrey as well, whereas filling the Toronto event was the most resource intensive.
Three factors that affect a program’s accessibility to senior executives are: a corporate leader with convening power; the timing of the invitation; and the topic to be explored. The ½ day time commitment required for SiB is too much for a senior executive to spend away from the office; a compelling case must be made to get a commitment. The presence of a respected corporate leader mitigates risk associated with participating in a
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 7 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
new program. Also, invitations must be issued early – 12-16 weeks in advance. Finally, many corporations direct their support towards specific groups and explicitly only engage with those groups, so in some cases executives did not participate because homelessness isn’t a target area.
Business leaders were quick to decline if they thought the program was about fundraising. The concept of supporting community through means other than writing a cheque is new to Canada’s business leaders and therefore required clear and strategic messaging that appealed to the business audience. Feedback from the businesses interviewed, and experience during the invitation stage indicates that business leaders who thought the program was about fundraising were more likely to decline participation citing different philanthropic strategies.
The impacts of a signature corporate community engagement program need to be measured over the long-term. Some impacts can be measured over the short-term, however, significant program and policy changes will take longer to determine.
Corporate participants would recommend the program to colleagues and peer business leaders. The information from self-report surveys and interviews that corporate participants completed following the tours indicates a high level of satisfaction with the program (see Appendix I for a list of SiB participant testimonials). All corporate participants would recommend the program to peers, and a majority said that a company specific event involving their entire senior management team would be beneficial. It is important to note that SiB is a specialized program for Canada’s corporate leaders. Community engagement staff and CSR practitioners are not the audience, and do not find the program as valuable as their senior colleagues.
What is Canada’s community organizations’ response to signature programs as defined by SiB?
There were geographical differences in how the program was received by the community organizations. Community organizations in Toronto had more experience with corporate community engagement than the organizations in Vancouver and Surrey. As a result, the organizations in Toronto were more likely to have strong feelings about the value of corporate community engagement compared to those in Vancouver and Surrey where the concept is newer. Toronto organizations were more likely to be concerned with private sector support coming at the expense of public sector support.
Community organizations working in the field of homelessness and its root causes generally had a very low level of engagement with businesses, and the engagement that did exist was mostly that of a donor-recipient. Some organizations had developed positive engagement with business, especially in the Toronto market, but the majority of organizations did not have a history of engagement with the corporate sector and did not know how to engage business effectively. In Toronto, 2 of the 15 organizations interviewed have a high degree of engagement with the corporate sector, and most others were engaged through traditional philanthropy. In
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 8 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Vancouver and Surrey some were engaged through traditional philanthropy, while some had no history of engaging with business.
There was consensus that solutions to chronic social problems like homelessness require that business, not-for-profits and governments work together. Organization leads felt that there was a great opportunity to build relationships between business and NGOs. There was a common feeling among community organizations that the current level of business engagement with the issues of homelessness and its root causes was less than optimal.
Through the program at-risk youth, survivors of mental illness and drug addiction, and men and women who are homeless had a unique opportunity to voice their experiences to an audience of senior business leaders. Many clients directly, or via the Executive Director, indicated that involvement in SiB was a positive experience. For example, presenting stories is a feature of recovery for clients at addiction recovery centers, and community participants reported that speaking with business leaders brought value to their recovery process. Youth at a Toronto shelter as well as at a transitional housing and employment facility were encouraged and inspired to find out that senior business leaders like the CEO of the Toronto Board of Trade, the Ambassador for the US, and the Mayor were interested in their stories.
There is a diversity of needs amongst community organizations that are opportunities for business engagement. Most organizations interviewed looked favourably upon partnerships with business and indicated a desire to increase the level of engagement with the business community. In many cases government funding for programming and recreation is decreasing and so the organizations are under pressure to look for corporate and private support. Key opportunities for engagement identified were: mentorship with business and long-term strategic planning, business advocacy for social issues and community organization mandates, employment opportunities for clientele, procurement support for social enterprises, donation of assets or skills specific to the company (e.g. accounting, legal, or IT help, donate old furniture, space etc.)
The barrier to community organizations seeking corporate engagement is a lack of capacity and a lack of knowledge. Organizations expressed frustration with the pressure to engage with business coupled with a lack of support and resources. Successful and deep engagement with business is characterized by organizational capacity that allows designated people to have the time and resources to approach prospective businesses and build relationships in a manner that conforms to the business culture.
Participating in SiB was a capacity building experience for community organization partners. During the planning sessions, Executive Directors of participating organizations had an opportunity to meet each other and share best practices. In some cases, the Executive Directors had an opportunity for the first time to frame their work for a business audience and convey the business case for their services. Organizations were also exposed to potential supporters: businesses and family foundations.
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 9 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Community organization partners would recommend the program to their peer organizations and business leaders. The information from self-report surveys and interviews that community partners completed following the tours indicates a high level of satisfaction with the program. All agency partners said they would be interested in participating in future community tours and would recommend the program to other organizations. One partner stated that the program would be helpful among community organizations to shift the support paradigm beyond government funding.
How did SiB need to be modified for the Canadian context?
To appeal to the Canadian business community the business model was altered slightly. The UK program involves a sponsorship model whereby corporations sponsor individual SiB events and then have the opportunity to lead the event. In addition, the other corporate participants pay a fee to participate in the event. The results of this research indicate that Canada’s corporate community will not pay a sponsorship fee or participant fee for new programs, or programs that don't originate from the corporate sector. Since the sponsorship model was not getting traction CBSR shifted to a volunteer leadership model to attract corporate leaders and a volunteer participant model to attract corporate participants.
The first step to engaging the corporate sector in a new signature program is securing a high profile corporate champion to add credibility and to provide convening power. Six high profile corporate and municipal leaders were secured for SiB. Securing a high profile corporate champion for a new program took a considerable amount of time. The large amount of time it took to secure a corporate champion made meeting government funding deadlines difficult. Once the first high profile Canadian leader agreed to participate the other leaders followed suit. Treating the corporate lead as a highly-valued volunteer offering his time to help the program was an effective way to engage these business leaders.
Rather than have one national figurehead, each pilot location relied on regional figureheads to draw attendance. There is no Canadian figurehead equivalent to the UK program’s figurehead HRH Prince Charles. Business leaders were unable to identify anyone in Canada who had the same convening authority as HRH. While having the support of municipal leaders such as the Mayor helped ensure attendance, this alone was not effective in appealing to the senior executives of corporations. The most effective approach involved a respected corporate leader from the local community in conjunction with a municipal leader. This strategy demonstrated high-level cross- sectoral interest in addressing homelessness and support for the program.
Direct referrals and nominations from peers were the most effective invitation strategy. Once the corporate leaders with convening powers were in place, over two hundred invitations were sent out to the CEOs of Canada’s top companies operating in Toronto and Vancouver as listed in the Report on Business rankings, followed by phone calls to each invitee. The mail out of invitations and follow-up served to build general awareness about the program in executive offices across Canada, and to build a database of executive contact information for the convening organization. However, most corporate participants came to the program through direct referrals / nominations from peers.
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 10 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Are signature programs a tool to support Canada’s business community in positively impacting societal issues beyond traditional philanthropy?
There is a market for corporate signature programs among the senior leaders at Canadian businesses. The goal was to engage 8-12 business leaders per study tour and the average number of attendees at the study tours was 9. Of the 45 corporate participants, 53% were at the senior management or board level, 18% were vice- presidents or regional managers and 22% were in middle management. Canada’s corporate elite is very discerning about how they spend their time and the level of seniority of participants in the inaugural SiB events indicates a market for SiB in Canada.
The SiB model of targeting senior executives is a very effective means of corporate community engagement. Getting senior executives to attend the program was challenging, however the benefits of engaging these leaders outweigh the costs. Senior executives have the ability to make decisions and can directly influence change within the company, whereas a more junior employee would need to seek senior support. As well, the experience was most effective in engaging senior executives who have had little experience dealing with the issues at hand. Community engagement staff and CSR practitioners derived less from the experience and had fewer ideas in terms of increasing company engagement.
Company specific signature programs that engage a variety of internal leaders in a single company are an effective way of creating company wide buy-in. One of the SiB pilots in Surrey was a company specific tour for that company’s executive team. Feedback from the team indicated that it was a tremendous way to drive the importance of their social responsibilities (and opportunities) throughout the entire team. Community engagement practitioners within the company reported after the executive team tour that they were able to move forward with programs that had previously been difficult to find senior level support for.
Stakeholder groups who have an interest in positively impacting chronic homelessness and the capacity to positively impact homelessness convened. There is broad consensus that solutions to chronic social problems will require that business, government and NGOs work together. Through the development and implementation of community study tours, the SiB pilot project engaged multiple stakeholders in corporate community engagement. Ten community organizations and two social purchasing portals, 30 corporations, one business association, three municipalities, one university, and three family foundations participated in the program (see Appendix I for a complete list of participants and partners). Between November 2005 and March 2006, five SiB community study tours took place across Canada: two in Surrey, two in Vancouver and one in Toronto.
Signature programs build awareness and increase understanding about social issues among corporate participants. Self-report surveys and follow-up interviews indicate that SiB helped build awareness among corporate participants on the value of strong community organizations. It also increased knowledge and understanding about the ways business can contribute support and solutions to social issues such as homelessness, poverty and hunger.
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 11 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
The SiB experience catalyzed community engagement in participating companies. The SiB experience led directly to actions that benefited organizations dealing with the issues of homelessness and its root causes. One SiB alumni company is addressing access to capital through the implementation of a micro-lending and cash chequing program. Another company has re-directed part of their catering budget to a local social enterprise as a result of their SiB experience and is now looking at other ways they can support social enterprises through their procurement policies. Several companies have indicated an interest in mentoring opportunities.
The SIB program has received renewed corporate support for long-term funding. The major corporate sponsor, Coast Capital Savings Credit Union, has indicated an interest in committing to secured multi-year funding support for the program.
Signature programs involving senior business leaders are a tool to build awareness about issues associated with homelessness among the general public. Canadian media has an appetite for stories about community engagement involving senior business leaders. SiB community study tours generated nine articles in local newspapers, one article in an industry magazine, one radio interview, two television pieces and one website article.
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 12 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Discussion
The hypothesis that Canada’s senior business leaders, like those in the UK, would positively impact homelessness beyond traditional philanthropy, and that the signature program SiB would be an effective tool for achieving this is supported by the results of the research. Through the development and implementation of SiB study tours in Toronto, Vancouver and Surrey, awareness about homelessness and its root causes was increased among corporate participants, opportunities for engaging with community organizations beyond philanthropy highlighted, and capacity among partner community organizations to participate in corporate community engagement was increased. In addition, community engagement initiatives to address the root causes of homelessness like employment and access to capital were catalyzed.
Corporate interest in homelessness and its root causes The research clearly showed that there is an appetite among Canadian corporate executives to learn more about the issues surrounding homelessness and to engage directly in ways to help find solutions to some of those issues. Tapping into this willingness to engage requires developing a relationship with corporate executives. Personal interactions with those affected by homelessness allow executives to put information about homelessness into a context whereby they can envision their role in addressing these issues through SiB’s experiential learning model. The findings of the research indicate that information alone is not enough to engage business leaders - the majority of participants did indicate that they left the tour with a completely new level of knowledge about the issues. Senior executives welcomed information on the scale and scope of homelessness because they normally operate on a strategic level and can therefore relate to high-level trends. Having the high-level trends allows them to put into context the specific stories and experiences of the clients they meet throughout the day. Of particular value to corporate participants was the progression of the tour: the day generally started with an organization such as a homeless shelter that dealt with the front line issues of homelessness, and the day progressed to organizations that worked with different populations and had varying degrees of engagement with business. Seeing the range of issues, and the difference between organizations that had little corporate engagement and ones that had more engagement, gave business leaders important context on the complexity of the issues and the potential for positive impact through business engagement.
Engaging business leaders on familiar ground Business leaders reacted positively to actions that were within their familiar business context - such as buying from local social enterprises to support employment of people at-risk of homelessness. One of the programs leaders were exposed to was the Social Purchasing Portal, a program that seeks to support social enterprises and local businesses that employ local, hard to employ individuals from disadvantaged communities. Companies that sign on to the Portal can support these organizations by making purchases directly from them (such as catering, cleaning services, office stationery, etc.). Finding ways for the business world to utilize their traditional skills and experience to assist organizations working on homelessness issues will provide an easy first step towards engagement. This is why the Social Purchasing Portal model was so well received by corporate participants; the Portal provided a recognizable method to help address the issues that they had learned about that day. In an interview on CFRB about SiB, Michael Wilson described this when
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 13 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
he said, “one of the things that came through is that business can do business with community organizations…business can use a social enterprise bakery…caterer or courier.v”
Securing corporate participation: peer referrals and figureheads Although the majority of corporate participants were very willing to learn more once they were on the study tour and most indicated that the experience was extremely enriching, the process of securing their involvement was challenging. Peer referrals were the most effective engagement method. If a business peer referred a business leader to the program personally, they were far more likely to take part. This is reflective of the role that networking plays in the business world at large. Business networks are a vital part of day-to-day operations, especially between senior executives, and information that passes through this network is considered trustworthy and important. Approaching business from outside of this network is a very time consuming activity that is not necessarily compatible with project based and government funding. Aside from a direct referral from a peer, the research found that having a high-profile corporate lead for the program was also necessary. Securing a senior corporate lead was crucial for a number of reasons, however, simply put; it reduced the risk associated in participating in the program from the perspective of the potential participant. In light of the importance placed on networking in the business world, having a high-profile corporate lead who other executives want to spend time with increases the attractiveness of the program and has a cascading effect in terms of getting others to sign on. This is especially true in smaller markets, where the corporate lead of a large company commands a significant presence in the community. The UK model had HRH Prince Charles as the figurehead of the program; potential participants in the UK are drawn into the program by an invitation to attend a gala with HRH. Canada has no such figurehead that appeals across all parts of the country. As a result, Canadian business leaders respond better to regionally important figureheads that wouldn’t necessarily have an impact in other parts of the country. Local figureheads such as Mayors and heads of Chambers of Commerce can also have a significant influence for both executives and media; however, since they often have as many detractors as they do supporters their participation is best contained to the role of participant, not as a lead. This ensures that the event retains a corporate perspective.
Sponsorship: Adjusting the financial model The UK model of program sponsorship had to be adjusted to fit into the Canadian context. In the UK, sponsorship and participant fees financially sustain the program. This model did not get any traction in Canada and so the program was adapted to a volunteer leadership and participation model. The UK business community has a longer track record of engaging on issues that were once the sole domain of government. Government participation in social services was strongly curtailed in the UK in the eighties, and as a result, the problem of homelessness became quite acute. The private sector moved to fill the gap that had opened and corporate community engagement on various social issues became standard for many CSR leaders. The corporate sector in the UK is currently willing to pay for a program like SiB because of the precedent in corporate community engagement that has been set. The goal in future Canadian SiB tours is to be able to generate funding from the corporate participants, but this cannot happen without establishing the success of the program in the business community first.
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 14 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Geographic differences The response of both the corporate and community sectors to the program varied according to both geography and community size. In general, the program was embraced more fully by the corporate and community sector in Vancouver and Surrey, and interest in the program was particularly significant in Surrey, the smallest of the pilot cities. The geographic disparities may be explained by the fact that community organizations in Toronto have had significant experience in seeing social services and supports downloaded from the provincial government in the last ten years. As a result, Toronto organizations have found innovative ways to deal with the influx of clients and the shortage of funding, and thus had made more gains in the area of engaging with the corporate sector. As well, their experience with the corporate sector would primarily have been through corporate charitable programs, and there may have been a level of cynicism about the appetite for businesses to go beyond philanthropy. In B.C., community organizations had only recently experienced the same increase in client numbers corresponding with a decrease in support from the provincial government, and thus they were still fairly new to the idea of corporate engagement beyond philanthropy. In general, the Toronto business community tended to view the SIB program through the lens of philanthropy, and thus were more challenging to engage, and less inclined to involve their senior executives. As well, CSR as a business strategy is much more prevalent in B.C. and as a result companies had an easier time associating with the idea of going beyond philanthropy. The Surrey pilot was the easiest tour to fill and had the greatest response to the initial invitation. Because the corporate community in Surrey is smaller than Toronto and Vancouver, and has only recently begun to attract larger companies, business is more accessible. In Toronto, for example, companies are larger and have policies around community engagement that focus their involvement towards specific issues that focuses their support already. As well, Surrey’s corporate community is likely to be less cynical towards corporate engagement with the issues of homelessness and its root causes because their exposure to the issue is less developed, and they have generally received fewer requests for support from the community.
Personal interactions are key The focus on personal interactions is a model that was very effective in getting senior executives to think critically about their role in supporting organizations working on the issues of homelessness and its root causes. The one-on- one conversations between community organization clients and SiB senior executives were consistently rated as the most effective impact-generating feature of the day. Giving the statistics and stories about homelessness a human face is an extremely important first step towards changing business attitudes about the issue. The chance for senior executives to speak to those people actually affected by the issue of homelessness allowed the space for mutual inspiration to occur. Many of the senior executives spoke at length about how impressed they were with the stories of perseverance and personal leadership shown by the clientele of the community organizations, and the potential of these individuals – as citizens, employees, and neighbours – was a common theme. As one senior executive from Coast Capital put it, “My personal take (on the SiB program) was that there was so much to extract as a business that I would argue many of their personal testimonials would stand as some of the best leadership examples I have ever heard.”vi At the same time, the feedback from community organization leaders was that the opportunity to talk to senior business leaders was an extremely empowering experience for their clientele. If the environment for discussion is
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respectful and safe for the clients, the opportunity to share their story and speak about what is important to them is very beneficial. The knowledge that senior business leaders are interested in what they have to say was a self- affirming and empowering experience. This last finding is particularly important given the concern raised by several individuals in the community sector that the SiB program would indirectly exploit individuals through “poverty tourism”. This concern was addressed by working closely with the community organizations and advisory committees during the planning phase to ensure client boundaries were respected and to facilitate active, as opposed to passive, interaction during the events. Keeping the groups small and focusing on one-on-one conversations between corporate participants and the clientele fostered a tone of collaborative and experiential learning.
Measuring impacts Measuring the impact of a signature program like SiB requires a focus on both short-term and long-term indicators. Some of the most significant impacts of SiB will take time to be fully realized while short-term indicators like the number of corporate participants, the seniority of the participants, and the initial feedback from participants, were measurable shortly after the program. Corporate inertia can inhibit deeper community engagement, which is why engaging senior business people is crucial. They have the influence to affect real change in their organization. Finding initiatives that fit inside of their current business structure (e.g. procurement opportunities) are good ways to initiate action. Other actions like changing procurement policies to support social enterprises, creating employment opportunities for multi-barriered individuals, or partnering/mentoring with a community organization are all endeavors that require the participation and buy-in of other individuals in the company. This process may require developing relationships with various members of a single company in order to move forward. As well, budgets and programs are generally set for the year – engagement that requires tapping into the budgets of different internal departments may have to wait for the following year’s budget. Thus the long-term benefits of the SiB program will take some time to be fully realized.
Catalyzing change SiB was successful in catalyzing corporate engagement with the issue of homelessness. There were two general ways in which the program achieved these goals, and both are related to the success of the program in engaging senior executives. In some companies, the experience of SiB allowed senior executives to bring new ideas and concepts back to their company that had not been previously considered in the company. These companies benefited from having a senior leader relate to colleagues specific actions and ideas that the company could enact. In other companies, the SiB experience created the senior level buy-in that allowed employees to act on ideas and strategies that require broad senior level support that had been missing prior to the SiB experience. The company specific tour, where all of the participants are employees of one company, was especially successful in helping to catalyze change within the organization. The power of a company specific tour is that all of the senior team has had the same profound experience. This experience means that the entire team has a collective focus when looking at implementing programs and policies that support community organizations working with the issues of homelessness, and companies can then move past asking why, and begin to ask how.
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 16 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Community support for the program There is a growing awareness among community organization leaders of the potential to engage business in the issue of homelessness in way beyond appealing for a philanthropic grant, and SiB built on this awareness. Community organizations expressed a great interest in building stronger ties to the corporate world. The major stumbling block for many organizations is a lack of capacity to engage with business due in large part to a lack of experience or lack of a business network. The SiB program was able to help build the internal capacity of community organizations to engage with business, as the structure of the tours helped them to think of how to frame their work in a way that would appeal to business leaders and to look for opportunities where business could best support them. As well, the exposure to various senior executives provided a tremendous networking opportunity that allowed them to expand their list of corporate contacts. For organizations that ran social enterprises, the exposure to business leaders in charge of millions of dollars worth of procurement was a huge benefit that should turn into direct business benefits.
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Conclusions
Adapting the signature program SiB to the Canadian context was successful in terms of engaging corporate leaders in the issue of homelessness. Corporate response to SiB and to its goals was largely very positive, with the majority of corporate participants indicating their support for future iterations of the program. The program was successful in getting senior business leaders into their communities to learn about homelessness using an experiential learning model to show them how they can play a role in supporting community organizations working in the field. The program was able to grow the capacity within community organizations to engage with business to utilize business strengths beyond philanthropy. The program was also successful in catalyzing corporate actions that support community organizations. Corporate response was strongest for those actions that fit into the traditional business model, such as procurement, mentoring and employment. The majority of initial interest from the alumni revolved around supporting social enterprises through employment, thus SiB was able to play a significant role in growing the market for these organizations. The strength of the program lies in the strong emotional impact the tour has on the participants – the stories of the individuals visited during the day leave a lasting impression on the business leaders. The SiB program puts a human face to the issues that business leaders are often far removed from. The stories of inspiration and personal struggle are ones that leave a message of hope and opportunity for SiB alumni. Combined with practical ideas on how business can use its traditional strengths and assets, the day’s experience creates the ideal environment to increase corporate engagement with the issue of homelessness and its root causes. The Canadian private sector has seen a steady increase in the number of companies that are engaging in CSR, and this increase is projected to continue for the foreseeable future. The increasing focus on the social returns of a company means that programs such as SiB will have a growing audience in the corporate world.
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 18 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Recommendations
1. Seeing is Believing should be supported in the future and expanded to other Canadian cities. The feedback from the pilot program was extremely positive; the program should continue to run in the pilot cities to build upon the momentum created by the pilots. As well, the program has already received interest from other Canadian cities and would likely be successful in enhancing corporate community engagement there as well.
2. Development and implementation of initiatives that support signature programs - programs strategically designed for the corporate audience - to support follow-up initiatives are necessary to take advantage of and sustain the momentum of Seeing is Believing. This program can be used to guide participants into mentoring, procurement or employment programs for at-risk individuals designed for the corporate audience. The positive reaction to the Social Purchasing Portal model and other programs aimed at utilizing business strengths shows that SiB has a great potential for growing the market for programs that directly engage business in root causes of homelessness like access to housing, employment and capital. These programs should be designed specifically for the corporate audience and should make engagement easy for the corporate sector. Future Seeing is Believing tours and other signature programs should coordinate closely with existing initiatives in order to best support and grow the current program capital.
3. Signature programs that seek to engage senior executives should emulate the Seeing is Believing model of using personal interactions to make a profound impact on participants. The primary reason why Seeing is Believing was able to engage business leaders with the issue of homelessness is due to the personal stories and conversations that occurred between community organization clients and corporate participants.
4. Signature programs that seek to engage corporate participation should acquire a corporate champion that will attract other business leaders. The participation of a corporate figurehead will make the recruitment process much easier and will build on the accepted business reality of networking. Having the corporate lead invite his or her peers to the event/program will increase the likelihood of participation among corporate leaders.
5. Signature programs should utilize past corporate participants as a peer referral network. The surest way to gain corporate participation is through direct peer referrals. The corporate participants become part of the Seeing is Believing Alumni, and are kept in touch with the program through various means (informal conversations, newsletters, events, etc.). As well, all participants are asked to write a testimonial about their experience with the program that can be used to attract other corporate participants. The alumni group is also asked to make personal referrals to peers in regards to the program.
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 19 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
6. Company specific Seeing is Believing tours, where the senior management team of one company participates, should be made available for Seeing is Believing alumni. Our experience has shown that having the senior management team and other key personnel from a single company engage in a Seeing is Believing tour is very successful at creating company wide buy-in. Many senior executives that took part in the multi-leader tours indicated a strong interest in having their senior teams take part in the same experience, thus it would seem that there is a market for company specific tours.
7. Signature programs should emulate the Seeing is Believing focus on senior executives to achieve the greatest impacts for corporate community engagement. The impact of a Seeing is Believing experience was diminished if the corporate representative was a community engagement staff person or a CSR practitioner. Direct action in a company only occurred when the participant was a senior executive with the ability to make company-wide decisions. Senior executive support is crucial to the success of a company’s community engagement strategy and thus approaching this group can have the most impact. Another target audience should be “tomorrow’s leaders”, that group of company executives that are likely to be in leadership positions in the next five years.
8. Signature programs should facilitate learning for community organizations that want to utilize the skills and assets of the business world by helping them understand corporate priorities and needs. This requires making corporate engagement part of strategic planning for NGOs, with time and resource allocation committed to ensuring the success of corporate relationships. Success in this area is dependent on being aware of corporate expectations, priorities and needs, and finding ways to help them meet these priorities while also benefiting the community.
9. Signature programs should promote social enterprises that can provide services to the corporate world. The business reaction to programs that utilized their purchasing power was very positive; support for these programs and for the social enterprises that were engaged with them should be supported.
10. Multi-year funding would improve the impact of funding for those projects that are dependent on developing relationships with the corporate community. The realities of the corporate world and of project based government funding are not necessarily complimentary. Gaining corporate buy-in and building trusting relationships takes time, while the impacts of corporate community engagement can similarly take time to come to fruition. Multi-year funding allows maximum support for and impact from corporate community engagement.
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 20 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
End Notes
i Greater Vancouver Regional District Homeless Count 2005. http://www.gvrd.bc.ca/homelessness/pdfs/HomelessnessCount2005.pdf
ii The Learning Curve- building effective corporate community engagement, 2003, http://www.iblf.org/docs/LearningCurve.pdf
iii Signature Programs: A Systems View to Developing Real Solutions. The Centre for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, 2006. http://www.bcccc.net/
iv Report on Business 2004 Top Companies. http://www.globeinvestor.com/series/top1000/
v CFRB interview, February 21st, 2006
vi From an email conversation with Mike Bushore, Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning, Coast Capital Savings Credit Union, December 2, 2005
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 21 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Appendix A
Corporate Community Engagement Survey Businesses Interviewed Company Contact Role BC Biomedical Laboratories Maureen O’Higgins Manager, Procurement Director, Public Affairs & Bell Canada Pamela McDonald Community Relations Building Owners and Managers Paul LaBranche Executive Director Association (BOMA) Citizens Bank Ian Warner CEO Coast Capital Savings Credit Union Cyndie Kremyr Vice President, Public Affairs Four Seasons Hotels Cathrine Demeter Corporate Donations Officer George Weston Ltd. Tamara Rebanks Director, Community Affairs Ipsos-Reid Steve Mossop President, Market Research West Director, Sustainable Development Ontario Power Generation Blair Feltmate Initiatives Options for Homes Mike Labbe President PDQ Postgroup Lorraine Duclos President The Now Regional Newspaper Gary Hollick Publisher UBS Canada Ltd. Michael Wilson Chairman VanCity Mark Jeffrey Director, Sustainability Initiatives Vancouver Port Authority Lori Lindahl Vice President, Human Resources Westport Innovations David Demers CEO Westport Innovations Elaine Wong Director, Corporate Performance
Interview Questions 1. Can you think of any programs, from within your company or outside your company that encourage corporations to partner with /work with the social service sector? 2. Do you have any questions for me before we start?
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 22 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
3. In general, what do you like about the program? What makes the program appealing? 4. Do you foresee any barriers to your company joining the program? 5. Specifically: a. What is the ideal amount of time for a tour? b. We will be asking each participant to pay $1000 to go on the tour, most of which will be going as a donation to the organizations we will be visiting – how is this number? (higher, lower?) c. Does the tour have to exactly match your Community Investment program requirements? 6. What changes to the program would make it more appealing? 7. We are debating whether to bring media attention and PR opportunities to the program or to keep the program less public? What kind/level of media exposure would you be comfortable with? For instance, in the UK program they invite a journalist along on the tour, would this be desirable? 8. Participants in the program will be sent an invitation inviting them to join the program: what would be the most effective way of achieving this with your CEO (email, letter)? Would the invite be more appealing coming from a corporate peer, from CBSR, or both? 9. The UK version of SIB has Prince Charles as a figurehead; we are planning to do the Canadian version of SIB without a figurehead. Would a figurehead make joining the program more appealing? If so, can you name some figureheads that would be appealing to your business and your peers? 10. I notice that your company is doing (fill in relevant details), how do you think a program such as this could complement your existing programs? a. Would your company consider taking part in this program? The intent of the program is to engage CEOs – do you think your CEO would be interested in participating? What would it take to make it appealing to him/her? 11. Do you know of any other businesses that would be interested in this program? 12. What social issues would you/your company/your CEO be interested in learning more about on a tour like this? 13. We are focusing on the issue of homelessness. Which of the following issues would be valuable to have increased exposure to? Please rate them with #1 having the most value: a. supplying affordable, permanent housing b. supplying transitional shelter and supports such as vocational training program and counselling c. supplying emergency shelter d. information to raise awareness regarding the homelessness. What is homelessness? Who is homeless? Why are they homeless?
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 23 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Appendix B
Community Organization Survey Community Organizations Interviewed Organization Contact Title Broadway Youth Resource Robert Wilmot Executive Director Centre Carnegie Centre Ethel Whitty Director Central City Mission Phil Bouvier Executive Director Covenant House Sandy Cooke Executive Director Dixon Hall Kate Stark Executive Director Downtown Eastside Youth Judy Maguire Executive Director Activity Society (DEYAS) Eva’s Initiatives Jennifer Morris Director of National Initiatives Food Share Debbie Field Executive Director Hilary Weston Foundation Richard Berthelsen Director Houselink Peggy Birmberg Executive Director Hyland House Peter Fedos Executive Director Integrated Youth Services Renata Aebi Director Jessie’s Centre Beverly Executive Director Kla-how-eya Patricia Raymond-Adair Executive Director Mainstay Housing Brigitte Witkowski Executive Director NaMeRes/Tumivut Greg Rogers Executive Director Newton Youth Resource Michel Pouliot Manager, Youth Services Centre Pacific Community Resources John Coward Manager, Employment Services Parkdale Activity Recreation Victor Willis Executive Director Centre Pathways to Education Marni Schecter-Taylor Director of Development and Communications Phoenix Society Michael Wilson Executive Director
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Potluck Café Society Liz Lougheed Executive Director Social Purchasing Portal David LePage Director St. James Community Service John Van Luven Executive Director Society Stars for Success Dave Donaldson Dean, School of Hospitality and Business School of Music Surrey Community Services Greg Terpenning Executive Director Surrey Foodbank Robin Campbell Executive Director Surrey Social Purchasing Delena Ward Director Portal The Dream Team Tony Souza Director The Toronto Enterprise Fund Anne Jamieson CED Program Manager, Toronto Enterprise Fund Touchstone Youth Todd Minerson Executive Director Triage Mark Smith Executive Director United We Can Ken Lyotier Executive Director Vancouver Aboriginal Henry Program Director Friendship Centre Society Vancouver Area Network of Ann Livingston Executive Director Drug Users (VANDU) Volunteer Vancouver Colleen Kelly Executive Director Women’s Information Safe Kate Gibson Executive Director House (WISH) Drop-in Centre Woodgreen Neighbourhood Anne Babcock Vice President, Planning and Operations Services
Interview Questions 1. First of all, do you have any questions about the program that you would like to ask? Organizational Structure and Background Info 2. How long has your organization been operating? 3. How long have you personally been working in this area? 4. How many people do you employ?
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5. How are you funded? 6. What is the mandate of your organization? What are the issues you focus on? 7. What is the scope (i.e. geographic reach)? 8. Who are your target clientele? How many clients do you serve?
Goals/challenges 9. What are the successes/impacts of your organization’s work? 10. What are the biggest challenges you face? 11. What is your current level of engagement with business? 12. What are the assets of a business that would help your organization? Or, what are the top five needs that your organization has that could be helped by a business? (this could cover programs/initiatives outside of their immediate organizational focus, e.g. employment programs, lobbying government, etc.) 13. Do you have the capacity to partner with business at the moment? What do you need to build this capacity?
SIB Program Questions 14. From reading the program overview, what are your first impressions of the program? What do you like? What concerns you? 15. What do you think the challenges will be? Do you have any suggestions to overcome these challenges? 16. Specifically, there is a focus for the program on personal stories and personal interactions – would these be possible for your program? If so, how would you see them happening? 17. What kind of messages would you like the program to get across? What do you 18. Part of CBSR’s responsibility in the program is to provide the community organizations taking part in the program with support and advice to prepare them for the visit. What would you like to see in terms of support and capacity building from CBSR in terms of your organization and your clientele? (e.g. workshops on engaging business, presentation prep for client spokespeople, etc.) What kind of time commitment is reasonable from your perspective? 19. If there was to be media coverage of the visit, what would you be comfortable with? (e.g. photographers? Journalists on the tour? Press releases? Launch events?) 20. What would you define a successful visit as? What would you like participants to walk away with at the end of the visit? 21. Would you be interested in taking part in the program? This will involve prep beforehand as well as some debriefing post-tour. 22. If not, what changes to the program would make it more appealing?
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 26 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Appendix C
Advisory Committee Members Surrey Name Title Organization Michael Wilson Executive Director Phoenix Society Darin Froese Director Ministry of Human Resources and Development Linda Western Director, Lower Mainland United Way Wendy Rogers Assistant Director, Community Coast Capital Savings Credit Union Economic Development
Toronto Name Role Organization Victor Willis Executive Director Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre Jennifer Morris Executive Director Eva’s Phoenix Sonja Zyvatkauskas Shelter, Support and Housing City of Toronto Administration Division Trish Keachie Shelter, Support and Housing City of Toronto Administration Division
Vancouver Name Role Organization Sandy Cooke Executive Director Covenant House Vancouver Peter Fairchild Treasurer Carnegie Centre Philip Lee Policy Analyst Western Economic Diversification David LePage Director Building Opportunities with Business (BOB)
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 27 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Appendix D
Existing Program Interview Questions
Structure/Engagement 1. What is the structure of the program? Can you give a quick overview of how the program works? 2. How do you engage businesses or corporate leaders? Is it by personal invite? By networking from business peers? 3. How do you identify the leaders/businesses you approach? 4. Do you use a corporate champion? How did you engage them? What is their role/responsibility in the program? 5. Do you tailor your approach to the type of businesses you approach or involve? How? 6. How do you identify community organizations to partner with? Did you have to turn any away? How did you handle that? How many partner organizations do you have working with the program? 7. Do you prep community organizations? How? 8. How is the program funded? Do companies have to pay for initial information sessions? How much? Who pays for organization, meeting place, etc.? 9. Where do you meet? Who leads the discussion (business leaders, non-profit)?
Messaging 10. How do you promote or market the program to businesses and organizations? 11. What messages have you found work with businesses? What do you find they want to hear or see that gets them motivated to take part? 12. Is their any form of recognition for businesses that take part in your program?
Results/Learning 13. How do businesses most often engage with community orgs? For example, do they want to give money, do they want to volunteer, are they open to adapting how they do business, etc.? How do you encourage this? 14. How do community organizations benefit from the program? What do they find most appealing about the program? 15. Why does business find this program appealing? 16. What have you learned from trying to manage business/non-profit partnerships? What are the challenges?
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17. At what point do you hand over the relationship to the community organization partner? In other words, how involved are you with the companies and organizations once you have created the partnership, what kind of follow-up do you do? 18. How have you defined success? Have you tracked this? 19. What kind of uptake have you had with the business community?
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 29 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Appendix E
Volunteer Corporate and Municipal Leaders Bob Elton, Chair of CBSR, President & CEO of BC Hydro Captain Gordon Houston, President & CEO of the Vancouver Port Authority Clive Mather, President & CEO of Shell Canada Ltd. David Miller, Mayor of Toronto Glen Grunwald, President & CEO of the Toronto Board of Trade John Furlong, President & CEO of VANOC Larry Campbell, Senator (former Mayor of Vancouver) Lloyd Craig, President & CEO of Coast Capital Savings Credit Union Michael Wilson, Ambassador to the United States, former Chairman at Union Bank of Switzerland Canada
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 30 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Appendix F
Program Participants and Partners Surrey Corporate Organization Role First Last Coast Capital Savings Credit Union Chief Information Officer Sheila Baker Senior Vice President, Strategic Coast Capital Savings Credit Union Planning Mike Bushore Coast Capital Savings Credit Union President and CEO Lloyd Craig Manager, Corporate Social Coast Capital Savings Credit Union Responsibility Margot Cummings Coast Capital Savings Credit Union Senior Vice President, Marketing Lawrie Ferguson Coast Capital Savings Credit Union Manager, Corporate Communications Sheira Hallam Coast Capital Savings Credit Union Vice President, Public Affairs Cyndie Kremyr Coast Capital Savings Credit Union Vice President, Retail Operations Ian Maguire Coast Capital Savings Credit Union Branch Manager, Central City Branch Leslie Mcleod Coast Capital Savings Credit Union Senior Vice President, Administration Nancy McNeill Coast Capital Savings Credit Union Chief Operating Officer Joel Rosenberg Coast Capital Savings Credit Union Manager, Community Affairs Deborah Tucker Finnning Canada General Manager Richard Driver Hamilton, Duncan, Armstrong & Stewart Partner James Stewart JP Morgan Chase Senior Vice President Carolyn Jones General Manager Residential Progressive Construction Development Steve Kurrein The Now Regional Newspaper Publisher Gary Hollick Assistant Manager, Community Coast Capital Savings Credit Union Economic Development Wendy Rogers Surrey Leader Reporter Kevin Diakiw
NGO Organization Role First Last Raymond- Kla-how-eya Executive Director Patricia Adair Phoenix Society Executive Director Michael Wilson Surrey Youth Resources Centres Manager, Youth Services Michel Pouliot The Front Room Manager, the Front Room Annette Welsh
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University Organization Role First Last Simon Fraser University President and Vice Chancellor Michael Stevenson
Government Organization Role First Last City of Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts
Toronto Corporate Organization Role First Last Alterna Savings President & CEO Gary Seveny BMO Director, Corporate Donations Nada Ristich Export Development Corporation Regional Vice President, Corporate Outreach Ruth Fothergill ING Canada Director, Corporate Communications Gilles Gratton Innovapost President & CEO Brendan Timmins RBC Financial Group Executive Director Stephen Voisin Shell Canada Operations Manager Kerry Margetts Toronto Hydro Corporation Manager, Community Investment & CSR Jennifer Reynolds Chairman, Newly appointed Ambassador to UBS Washington Michael Wilson
NGO Organization Role First Last Laidlaw Foundation Executive Director Nathan Gilbert Office of the Hon. Hilary M. Weston Director Richard Berthelsen The Donner Canadian Foundation Executive Director Helen McLean Eva's Initiatives Director of National Initiatives Jennifer Morris NaMeRes/Tumivut Executive Director Harvey Manning PARC Executive Director Victor Willis Toronto Board of Trade President & CEO Glen Grunwald
Government Organization Role First Last City of Toronto Mayor David Miller City of Toronto Special Assistant to the Mayor Carmen Smith City of Toronto Shelter, Support and Housing Administration Sonia Zyvatkauskas
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Vancouver Corporate Organization Role First Last BC Hydro President and CEO Bob Elton Bell Canada Director, Public Affairs & Community Relations Pamela McDonald Bell Canada Vice President, Olympic Services Justin Webb Business Objects Senior Vice President and General Manager, Americas Greg Wolfe Delta Vancouver Suites General Manager Murray Kelsey Elevator Strategies President Bob Stamnes Hemlock Printing President and CEO Dick Kouwenhoven Ipsos-Reid President Market Research West Steve Mossop Milenio Newspaper Director Waldo Brino P&O Ports Canada President and CEO Darcy Clarkson PricewaterhouseCoopers BC Practice Leader John Webster Rona Olympic Director Russ Jones Scotiabank Senior Vice President, BC and Yukon Region Bev Voice Terminal Systems Inc Vice President Finance and Administration Brian Pettipas Vancouver Port Authority President and CEO Gordon Houston Vancouver Port Authority Vice President, Human Resources Lori Lindahl
NGO Organization Role First Last 2010 Legacies Now Special Advisor Brian Dolsen VANOC President & CEO John Furlong VANOC Director, Social Sustainability and Inclusion Enzo Guerriero Cook Studio President James Kennedy Covenant House Vancouver Executive Director Sandy Cooke United We Can Executive Director Ken Lyotier
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 33 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Appendix G
Securing a Corporate Leader and Inviting Business Leaders The first step to engaging the corporate sector in a new signature program is securing a high profile corporate champion to add credibility and to provide some convening power. Treating the corporate lead as a volunteer offering his time to help the program was an effective way to engage business leaders. Six high profile corporate and municipal leaders were secured for SiB. . In each case the process from initial contact with the potential leader to their coming on board took between 12 and 16 weeks. The most successful engagement strategy involved a preliminary letter requesting a meeting with the potential leader for feedback on the SiB model and persistent follow-up. Securing high profile Canadian business leaders was also made possible by the support of UK SiB program alumni (Clive Mather, President & CEO of Shell Canada). Other factors that contributed to the ability to secure corporate leaders included the fact that SiB is proven in the UK, as well as the fact that the project had funders from the public and private sectors. Once the first high profile Canadian leader agreed to participate the other leaders followed suit. Direct referrals and nominations from peers were the most effective invitation strategy. Once the corporate leaders with convening powers were in place over two hundred invitations were sent out to the CEOs of Canada’s top companies operating in Toronto and Vancouver as listed in the Report on Business rankings. Invitations were on behalf of, or signed by the local corporate leaders and the President and CEO or Chair of the convening organization. In spite of the wide net cast by the invitation process, most corporate participants came to the program through direct referrals / nominations from peers and as a result of focused follow-up calls. The mail out of invitations and follow-up served to build general awareness about the program in executive offices across Canada, and to build a database of executive contact information for the convening organization.
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 34 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Appendix H
Self-report Seeing is Believing Survey
1. On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your Seeing is Believing experience in terms of building awareness about the value of strong social service agencies? Please circle: 1 = no change, 10 = most change
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2. Please circle the words that most accurately describe how you felt following Seeing is Believing. Please circle any that apply:
energized Frustrated hopeful Inspired disappointed Other:
pessimistic Excited exhausted Irritated impressed
3. Compared to before Seeing is Believing, do you see more or less value in businesses forging partnership with social services agencies? Please circle: 1 = less value, 10 = more value
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4. Would a “company specific” tour (a group of your colleagues participating in a Seeing is Believing event together as a team) be of value to your organization? Yes No 5. Would you recommend this program to other senior executives? Yes No 6. What worked well? 7. What can we improve upon? What would you like to see more of?
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 35 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Appendix I
Testimonials Corporate “Whoever invented the name is a genius. It’s one thing to read about poverty, homelessness and addiction and kids in trouble, it’s another to go up and see it. Your thoughts have to change after an experience like that…. It’s a wonderful program.” – Lloyd Craig, President & CEO, Coast Capital Savings Credit Union.
"For a small commitment of your personal time, you have the opportunity for an incredible learning experience. "Seeing is Believing" is the perfect name to describe your morning. It is an "eye opener" and I particularly appreciated learning of the strides that are being made to create employment and opportunity in the Downtown Eastside. I encourage you not to miss the opportunity to experience this day, and then to reflect on how you and your organization can apply what you have learned to help make a difference." - Bev Voice, Senior Vice President, BC & Yukon Region, Scotiabank
"The tour was a remarkable experience. It opened doors and, more importantly, it prompted dialogue. On the tour, we saw first hand where we can contribute, where we can advance our interests and those of the community. The greatest legacy of the Games will be a human one. Our commitment is to leave no one behind. We need the support of our partners and friends if we are to reach this compelling goal." – John Furlong, CEO, VANOC
“Caring. Commitment. Passion. Engagement. These are all things that we aspire to, or believe our companies are engaging in. But our intent and good meaning doesn’t always line up with our actions. Seeing is Believing allowed me a first hand look at some of the positive change happening 10 minutes from my office in the Downtown Eastside. I saw, I believe and based on little miracles happening every day though (social enterprise organizations), our commitment is to line up our intent with meaning - Seeing really is Believing.” – Bob Stamnes, President, Elevator Strategy
"I participated in a 'Seeing is Believing' program in London, England more than 10 years ago. It made a profound impact on me - giving me a remarkable insight to those who slept rough on the streets. It helped me understand the implications for business and my responsibility as a leader. I commend the program as an opportunity for personal reflection and development. It's a small commitment of time that can yield lasting benefits - to you, to your company and to wider society." - Clive Mather, President & CEO, Shell Canada Ltd.
"...it was truly enlightening to hear the stories of courage, how some have overcome all the odds and rose above to put their lives back in order. Business can help make a difference in their lives through more than just the donation of money. We can help with our specific skills and abilities and by being the bridge to others - business and government. That is the leadership challenge before us." - Joel Rosenberg, Chief Operating Officer, Coast Capital Savings Credit Union
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 36 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
"The Seeing is Believing tour was a very emotional and humbling experience. The sense of community and spirit, evident in those who briefly allowed us to see into their lives, was a lesson I will never forget. I urge my colleagues and peers to avail themselves of the opportunity to take the tour." - Captain Gordon Houston, President & CEO, Vancouver Port Authority
"The Seeing is Believing program lived up to its title, as the day had a tremendous impact on my perspective of the Downtown Eastside. First, it helped me understand and increase my awareness the intricate network of support services that exists to help those most in need, and to appreciate the dedication and perseverance of many individuals who have spent a significant portion of their lives towards helping others. On a personal level, it made me think about the power of compelling vision and strong leadership, about the ability of individuals to impact the lives of others, and about the many ways in which an organization can contribute to these types of causes in small, but powerful ways." - Steve Mossop, President, Market Research Ipsos-Reid West
“Thanks for the day – a humbling event it was. My personal take on it was that there was so much to extract as a business that I would argue many of their personal testimonials would stand as some of the best leadership examples I have ever heard. Companies spend millions of dollars to no avail, and its time to revisit how and why leadership training is done in organizations. Clearly the day was emotional; draining to say the least. Yet I was struck by the power of this ‘leadership epiphany’ as I truly think there is something there. I would welcome exploring this with you at a later date.”- Mike Bushore, Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning, Coast Capital Savings Credit Union
“I was very pleased to join the Seeing is Believing visits to social service agencies in Surrey. The opportunity to spend most of our time speaking with clients of these agencies gave us a truly eye-opening exposure to the reality of social problems largely hidden from regular society, and to the vital importance of the work of agencies devoted to addressing these problems. The bridge between seeing and believing was made easier to cross because of the clear, open and articulate way in which those who wrestle with these problems were able to speak with us. It was a rare privilege.” – Dr. Michael Stevenson, President and Vice-Chancellor, Simon Fraser University
“The process was very effective in changing my perception of the East End for the better. I appreciate there are problems and problem people, but there is a community actively working to cause positive change to occur. And they need our help. It's not clear to me yet how P&O will get involved, but we will. We will start immediately to redirect our normal spending thru the community to support Cooks Studio and other socially minded suppliers. I will personally carry that message to others in the Port community so they can start to do the same, if they do not already do so.” - Darcy Clarkson, President & CEO, P&O Ports Canada
“The “Seeing is Believing’ was a tremendous awareness and learning event for myself. It became obvious to me that an organization can do much more than just raise money and write checks to support community initiatives.” – Brendan Timmons, President and CEO, Innovapost
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 37 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
“Thank you for the “Seeing is Believing” experience last Friday. For a community that receives nothing but negative press on a regular basis it was very enlightening to see some of the great success stories in the Downtown East Side. For me personally, it was humbling to meet some of the residents and have them share their life experiences with us. United We Can, and Cook Studio Café are brilliant enterprises that work with the Community. I get a strong sense from these organizations that they don’t force change upon people – they are more concerned with being ready for the people in the community and there for them when they are ready to change. Michael Strutt has great vision with his idea to research, design, and build a Binning unit that takes Shopping carts off the streets and provides a better tool for the Binners out there. This may help companies like RONA as we lose 150+ shopping carts per year to the streets of Vancouver. With Covenant House and the many at-risk Youth programs they have we may potentially have a fit with RONA. I will liaise directly with Candace Burnet their Employment Counsellor and see if we can get involved and assist youth interested in entering into the workforce. RONA has 2 locations within the City of Vancouver and there may be an opportunity for us to work together. This could benefit RONA as well as Covenant House and the youth involved. Thanks again for including myself and RONA in your program, it truly was a memorable experience.” - Russ Jones, Director, Olympic Programs, Rona
“I was overwhelmed with the reality of what might be best described as the life of those less fortunate. I understand that many of the people I met during the Seeing is Believing Tour, had self Inflicted wounds, but the important thing is that they were on the road to recovery because of their willingness to change and the efforts of the social agencies involved. Without your efforts, I would not have been able to see first hand how these people are coping with their transition back into a productive lifestyle.” – Richard Driver, General Manager, Finning Canada “Thank you very much for coordinating the tour on Tuesday. It was very informative not to mention an eye opener. It’s sad to see the other side of society. I was touched by the various stories, but inspired by the drive of those that want to make there lives better. I was also very taken by those individuals who give of themselves to help these people. I’m sure there is much that Coast Capital and business leaders can do to help. Over time what the best way to help will come to light.” - Nancy McNeill, Senior Vice President, Administration, Coast Capital Savings Credit Union
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 38 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca
Community Organization Testimonials As a service provided with Covenant House Vancouver, in close to forty years in working with high risk youth, SIB, to me, is exciting, much needed conduit to businesses. I appreciated the opportunity to show some of our successes with partnerships with businesses, such as Stars 4 Success a partnership with the hotel industry, VCC and Covenant house Vancouver. It has to be the whole community that will make a true difference to our disadvantaged populations. I lend my full support, now and in the future to SIB. - Charles (Sandy) Cooke, Executive Director Covenant House Vancouver
Having the Seeing is Believing tour come through the Cook Studio allowed us to showcase one of the positive stories from the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver. Real change in the inner city will only occur when employment opportunities become readily available and we have the skilled workforce mobilized to take advantage of those opportunities. It was gratifying to see that our contribution is being recognized at the most personal level in corporate Vancouver. We have always been proud of our efforts and more importantly our people. It was good to share that story. - James Kennedy, Cook Studio
The tour was a wonderful concept and it is certainly a great opportunity to showcase the work that is being conducted in this area of Whalley for the underprivileged – the homeless – the addicts – and more. I would hope that this project could continue due to its potential in involving businesses to be more socially responsible and assist non-profit social service agencies to make the community a better place to live, work and play in for individuals, groups and families. I look forward to participating in another tour in the future. - Patricia Raymond-Adair, Executive Director, Kla-how-eya Aboriginal Centre of SACS
“A heartfelt thank you so much for exercising the interest in our common plight. Addiction and homelessness touches us all either directly or indirectly. It was awesome to speak before yourselves and the Coast Capital team. It really is a sense of new found personal freedom, to be able to speak openly about what used to be some of my deepest darkest secrets, especially when you consider the delicate nature of the disclosure. It shows me how a former skid row hopeless dope fiend can be transformed into a dopeless hope fiend instead.”- John Grant, Seeing is Believing speaker at Phoenix House
i Greater Vancouver Regional District Homeless Count 2005. http://www.gvrd.bc.ca/homelessness/pdfs/HomelessnessCount2005.pdf ii The Learning Curve- building effective corporate community engagement, 2003
iii Signature Programs: A Systems View to Developing Real Solutions. The Centre for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, 2006. http://www.bcccc.net/ iv Report on Business 2004 Top Companies. http://www.globeinvestor.com/series/top1000/ v CFRB interview, February 21st, 2006 vi From an email conversation with Mike Bushore, Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning, Coast Capital Savings Credit Union, December 2, 2005
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) is a network of innovative companies working to improve their 39 social, environmental and financial performance. www.cbsr.ca