Mission Statement

The aim of the CSR ACADEMY is to create a global overview of achievements in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and to build up capacity for more comprehensive and sustainable management of these activities. Both the yearbook and the website offer proactive and in-depth information on key sustainability issues to stakeholders around the world, and each promotes unique and comprehensive knowledge exchange and learning in the spirit of the UN Global Compact principles. These two international media outlets help to advance transparency and promote the sharing of best practices. Perhaps most significantly, they give a strong voice to the regional and global CSR actors that are at the heart of sustainable development. Thus it focuses explicitly on capacity-building. 

Corporate Social Responsibility has become an essential part of doing business. These days most large companies want to do the right thing on issues such as respecting human rights, protecting natural resources, preserving labor standards, protecting the environment and fighting corruption.

At the same time, however, the approach to such topics could have a more wide-ranging impact. Small and mid-sized companies frequently feel overwhelmed when it comes to the subject of CSR, or just left out in the cold. Many of them are already taking a great deal of responsibility, but they lack a workable strategy. They need a place where they can share their experiences with CSR activities and gain management know-how.

There is broad agreement among all actors in the CSR sphere that better incentive structures are needed, incentive structures that will allow firms of various ages and sizes to get involved. Important adaptation measures have been put into practice so far: LEAD, for example, under the leadership of the United Nations Global Compact, is setting the goalposts for the CSR movement even further forward. Partnerships between the UNGC and the GRI, initiatives like the PRI and the CDP, and political CSR recommendations such as those of the European Commission are bringing existing instruments closer together to create a greater level of coverage. But it is sometimes difficult for beginners to find their way around these structures.

While the sustainability movement has made great strides in recent years, significant challenges still remain, as UNGC Executive Director Georg Kell has noted. If we are to establish corporate social responsibility on a larger scale, we must stimulate collective action, bring CSR stakeholders together, and help smaller companies close gaps in performance.

This is where the website comes in. This new online resource is a rich database for shared learning. At the CSR ACADEMY, companies will find the tools and training to integrate CSR in the way that is right for them.

Together with its partners, the CSR ACADEMY offers a platform to help firms meet regulations, manage CSR strategies, and develop their companies strategically. It is also dedicated to non-business stakeholders and includes their expertise, opinions, and projects.

By bringing these different actors together, the CSR ACADEMY network acts as a virtual bridge between experts and beginners, creating a platform for knowledge and dialogue. Bringing together experts from the academic and business worlds, as well as civil society, the site gives new meaning to the concept of "common growth" as an ideal platform for new and continuing education in sustainable economic activity.

The website also serves as a space where those in charge of CSR can themselves reflect on it. These days, participants who concentrate on day-to-day business can end up falling further and further behind on economic, environmental, and social challenges. They need a way to manage the signal and information overload from news, e-mail, social networks, meetings, and teleconferences. Time to reflect is valuable – and good advice is more expensive than ever. With specialized editors who preselect content, and internationally recognized experts as part of the site, the CSR ACADEMY offers information that is exactly what CSR managers need.

The online features at the CSR ACADEMY provide a diverse array of instruments for capacity building. We offer specialized occupational continuing education and training designed to be used in the field, as well as dialogue and networking opportunities and E-Learning courses. Designed to inspire advanced performers to reach the next level of sustainability, CSR-Academy.org sets targets that all companies can work towards in order to ascend the learning and performance curve.

• Knowledge transfer
  Development requires change. We provide networking and training opportunities for experts, leaders, and decision-makers in business, politics, and civil society worldwide.
  TUTORIALS & WEBINARS
  
  
• Organizing multi-stakeholder dialogue
  Change does not happen without dialogue. We host global political dialogues, sector-specific dialogues, and expert dialogues as appropriate for the subjects discussed and the groups of participants involved.
  PROJECTS
  
  
• Building networks
  We offer members the opportunity to expand their personal and professional contacts and interact with one another through global networking.
  STAKEHOLDERS,
  
  
• Partnerships for strategic consulting
  Capacity building through strategic corporate development is how we offer programs that are a perfect fit for personnel issues and can assist with the development of appropriate management structures.