5 Reasons Why You Should Start Using a CSR Digital Giving Platform

Are you looking for a quick, easy, and cost-effective way to take your existing CSR program to the next level?

Start using a CSR digital giving platform.

A CSR digital giving platform is the best way for businesses with good corporate social responsibility practices to strengthen their CSR operations.

As we’ll explore in this article, using a CSR digital giving platform offers your business a multitude of benefits. From making employee engagement effortless, to helping you to scale your CSR program, keep reading to discover why digitising your CSR program is one of the most cost-effective investments you can make.

1. Streamline Your CSR Program Management (and Gain Greater Control of it)

If you want to simplify the day-to-day management and administration of your CSR programs, a CSR digital giving platform can make it happen.

A digital giving platform is a piece of software that digitises your workplace giving program. However, not all are created the same. The most advanced ones bring together all of your company’s various giving activities and associated processes under one roof. For example, Catalyser unifies both giving modules and reporting tools in a single easy-to-use platform, making CSR simpler for both you and your employees.

CSR digital giving platforms also empower you to gain greater control over the management of your CSR program. By equipping you with the tools you need to take a more holistic and considered approach to CSR strategy, your company can move from ad hoc activities to a more strategic approach to CSR.

Effective corporate social responsibility requires a clear CSR strategy and direction behind it. So if your CSR program lacks either, not only will it be difficult for you to implement and remain accountable to stakeholders, but it also won't have the long-term and meaningful social impact that a strategic program would.

So how can you strengthen your CSR program so that it’s more impactful? The Forbes Communications Council, an organisation of senior-level PR and communications executives, advises that authentic CSR efforts should:

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In other words, if you want your CSR program to be as impactful as possible, it’s crucial to ensure that it achieves all of these metrics. As digital giving platforms are designed with these very metrics in mind, switching to one makes the process both easy and cost-effective.

CSR digital giving platforms also allow you to reap the benefits of formalising employee engagement in corporate citizenship. Research from RW Institute highlights that most companies are yet to formalise this relationship, and instead treat employee giving and volunteering as ad hoc or philanthropic activities.

This means that if you make the switch to a digital giving platform, your company will be able to achieve the HR and workplace culture benefits of having a more highly engaged employee base. This brings us to our next point...

2. Increase Employee Engagement

Using a digital giving platform also boosts employee engagement in your CSR program on a number of fronts.

First of all, running a CSR program from a digital giving platform considerably elevates its visibility in your workplace. How so? Well, amidst all the day-to-day noise in the workplace, it’s easy for your employees to miss your messages about CSR activities, volunteering opportunities, and fundraising campaigns. This can lead to confusion and a lack of motivation to participate.

A digital giving platform would remove the usual barriers to participation in your CSR program by making it more accessible and engaging. By implication, your employees would no longer need to wonder what is happening with your company’s CSR program—or worse still—if one even exists in the first place.

The benefits also extend to you as a program administrator. You would no longer need to respond individually to each and every employee who has questions about your CSR program or wants to know how they can get involved.

Instead, you could direct your employees to your company’s digital giving platform, where they would be able to:

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A digital giving platform would also help to make your CSR program more employee-focused by providing your employees with easy-to-understand data about the impact they are making at both an individual and collective level. Research has found that when people feel part of a collective, they feel more motivated and encouraged to engage with giving.

In contrast, when you operate your CSR program without a CSR digital giving platform, your employees find it difficult to see how their individual actions are contributing to the collective effort and impact. They also miss out on hearing good news stories about your program, as well as being thanked and appreciated for their contributions. That’s not to mention that you will also lose out on the chance to build momentum and embed giving into your day-to-day workplace culture.

It’s worth keeping in mind that research has found that both job seekers and employees increasingly yearn to work at purpose-driven companies with strong corporate social responsibility practices in place. This fact alone has convinced many companies to make the switch to digital giving platforms.

So if you want to increase employee engagement in your CSR program, make sure to offer them an accessible, all-in-one digital giving platform that makes participating in CSR both easy and enjoyable.

3. Track and Report on CSR More Efficiently and Accurately

One of the biggest pain points HR and business leaders encounter when facilitating their CSR program is reporting. Let alone that manual reporting can take hours to complete, it also requires a high level of vigilance to ensure data accuracy.

Needless to say, keeping on top of reporting is all the more challenging given all of the countless other HR responsibilities that also need to be taken care of.

Fortunately, digital giving platforms are designed to make reporting a breeze. A digital giving program simplifies reporting so that you can easily meet any internal and external requirements associated with your CSR program. Whether you need to submit annual reports, tenders, ESG reports, or non-financial disclosures, premium digital giving platforms provide you with the reports and datasets needed to make the job hassle-free.

Reporting on your CSR program has also never been so crucial. Research from Harvard shows that shareholders are increasingly demanding that companies share data about their CSR efforts via such avenues as a CSR report. Your employees and customers also deeply care about your CSR efforts. So maintaining thorough, accurate, and regular reporting is critical to ensuring your stakeholders’ needs are taken care of.

A final reason why it’s worth leveraging a digital giving platform to manage CSR reporting is that it helps to maintain the accountability, transparency, and authenticity of your CSR program. Digital giving platforms do this by way of offering transactional verification, audit trails, and compliance reporting.

4. Scale Your CSR Program with Ease

The ability to scale your CSR program with ease is one of the greatest benefits digital giving platforms offer. A CSR digital giving platform helps you to do more with the resources you already have.

As you grow both your team and program, your CSR program will only become more cumbersome to manage if you continue to do so manually. The good news is that it’s never too late to make the switch to a digital giving platform. If you wish to stay on top of administering your program and engage all of your employees in your CSR program—whether there are tens, hundreds, or thousands of them—you will require the scalable infrastructure that only a digital giving platform can provide.

This is especially true if you have offices and employees located in different cities and countries. Enterprise-grade digital giving platforms like Catalyser offer built-in scalability, so you can seamlessly bring together offices and employees from around the world to collectively work towards your CSR goals. They even let your employees donate in their local currency, while providing real-time currency conversions to ensure your reporting is accurately done in your company's home currency.

By scaling your CSR program with a digital giving platform, you will also be able to increase your company’s positive impact on both a micro and macro level.

5. Customise Your Program to Your Brand and Needs

Is your workplace engaging with CSR in an ad hoc manner? Your CSR program will likely seem disjointed and not part of an overall commitment from your company to support its community.

Premium digital giving platforms like Catalyser address this problem head-on by providing a fully customisable white-label platform for you to host your CSR program on. Unlike an Excel spreadsheet or generic digital giving platform, Catalyser enables you to customise its look and feel so that it reflects your brand and needs.

As mentioned earlier, research shows that both job seekers and employees increasingly want to work at purpose-driven companies that take CSR seriously. By switching to a branded digital platform, you can offer your employees a level of CSR commitment that they increasingly expect from their place of employment.

Your branded digital giving platform will in turn become a resource your employees take pride in and feel excited to get behind. It would also convey to your customers that your company truly prioritises corporate social responsibility. Research highlights that more and more customers are opting to buy from businesses with good corporate social responsibility—and they’re even willing to pay a premium to support them.

Making the switch to a CSR digital giving platform is therefore an excellent way to strengthen your brand and reputation management. If you make it part of your efforts to strengthen your overall CSR strategy, you can also enjoy significant benefits like greater profitability.

One final consideration to keep in mind is that premium digital giving platforms additionally allow you to pick and choose which giving modules to focus on, so you only pay for the ones you use. This can shave thousands off of your CSR budget, allowing you to run a more lean and cost-effective CSR program.

As you can see, customisation features are not just about creating a more visually appealing platform. They also support you to create a CSR program that draws in your employees and customers alike.

Final Thoughts

If you already have a CSR program in place, it’s clearly worth considering using a CSR digital giving platform. Not only will you be able to streamline your program management and engage your employees better, but you will also be able to report on, scale, and brand your CSR program more effectively.

As a market-leading CSR digital giving platform, Catalyser offers all of the incredible features mentioned above. So if you’re ready to take your CSR to the next level, Catalyser can help you get there. Book in a free personalised demo or get in touch with our customer service team for more info.