Corporate Social Responsibility in 2023: Five Predictions

In 2022, we saw advancements in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) space. We expect those to continue into the next year and beyond. Here are the five trends that we think will make the biggest influence in the next year.

Companies will “Think Global, Act Local”.
Throughout our history, we have championed acting locally. The employee volunteers that we work with say that this helps them feel connected to their communities. In the last few years, however, it has become more obvious that the problems that we thought only existed in other places have started to hit closer to home. We expect in the next year, that companies will review how they can best help their local communities whether through in-person volunteer events, emergency funds for employees who find themselves in precarious situations, or other ways.


Crisis Response Will Continue to be Refined.
In 2020, companies changed how they responded to crises. They were able to quickly cut through red tape to donate technology equipment that children needed when their classes went online. Companies, like those based in wildfire zones, were able to donate KN95 masks that they had onsite to hospitals, too.

Now, companies are expected to move quickly when crises strike whether there is a war in Ukraine, floods in Pakistan, or mass shootings in the United States. In the immediate aftermath of a crisis, individuals expect their employers to launch giving campaigns that are matched by company funds. For issues that are relatively local, employees also expect to hear how they can volunteer as well. They may want to donate blood, assist at shelters, or complete other work.


Hybrid Programs Are Here to Stay.
In 2020, we launched virtual employee volunteer events to ensure that individuals could continue giving back to their communities throughout the pandemic. We sent packages with all items and instructions needed for employee volunteers to assemble their donations to their homes. We also included pre-paid shipping labels to make sure that all volunteers were able to get their donations to the appropriate nonprofit contacts to be distributed efficiently.

As employees returned to in-person work, we converted these opportunities to make them hybrid options. We expect that companies will continue to enjoy these options in 2023 whether they’ve decided to convert to hybrid workforces to continue to engage top talent or as a way to save money heading into a recession.


Unrestricted Grants Will Continue to Be Common.
When the pandemic hit, many companies that offered grants loosened their restrictions – allowing nonprofits to use the funds from those grants in the ways that made the most sense to their organizations at the time. This may have meant purchasing items or supplying housing vouchers for those they serve.

It’s a pattern that philanthropists are using as well. Individuals like MacKenzie Scott, for example, ask their teams to contact organizations they are interested in supporting, seek data to determine their potential for sustained positive impact, and provide donations without asking about what those donations will be used for in the future.

By using unrestricted grants, nonprofits will continue to be able to best serve their clientele and companies will see their grants assist others in ways that may have been unimaginable in the past.


Improved Measurement Tools Will Be Needed.
In the past, it may have been possible to convince consumers that your company’s policies were beneficial for communities or individuals as well as the environment through press releases and marketing campaigns. Now, however, consumers and customers are seeking the truth. They are tired of the greenwashing that has been commonplace and the annual rainbow t-shirts that arrive each year in advance of Pride Month or hot-pink items that are marketed for Breast Cancer Awareness Month but really provide little benefit to those in the communities that individuals think they are supporting.

To show that your company is truly the best of the best, you’ll need third-party data. Although there are numerous platforms available, if you’re looking to evaluate your social impact, we recommend SocialMarks, the only action-based platform for benchmarking the “S” in ESG that is based on our 30 years of experience in the market.


The Give To Get team and our partners – from Benevity to America’s Charities – can provide solutions for each trend area. If you’d like to see how we can help you in 2023, contact our business development team.