A NATION’S future does not depend only on the state and its people, but also to corporate citizens who, over time, have evolved from just being philanthropists to real “change-makers” of the society.
“Poverty and economic growth is not the responsibility of [the] government alone,” League of Corporate Foundations (LCF) Chairman Natalie Christine V. Jorge told the BusinessMirror.
Jorge said the business community has a pivotal role to play in effecting reforms with their plan of action and goals to create economic and social value.
Citing the success of their 20-year-old organization’s individual and collective programs, Jorge noted the potential that the private sector and the so-called corporate social responsibility (CSR) can bring to make the Philippines a great nation.
While work in the development sector has become a way of life for many of the practitioners, she conceded there are still foundations and corporations that continue to take a philanthropic view of CSR.
Philanthropy is defined as “the desire to promote the welfare of others, expressed especially by the generous donation of money” to causes deemed “good” by a person or group.
Fund-raising
AN example of philanthropy is the results of Wells Fargo Enterprise Global Services (WF-EGS) Llc. Philippines’s fund-raising.
In May WF-EGS announced that nearly P100,000 was raised during the money-transfer firm’s Annual Fundraising Week. The company said the money “will be used to purchase supplies and materials for charitable organizations supported by Wells Fargo team members.”
According to WF-EGS, the fund-raising efforts were led by team members through the sale of homemade or preowned items, and by organizing games that allowed EGS team members to donate cash or provide in-kind support.
The company added the money will be donated to fund the outreach activities for the Bikes for the Philippines Foundation, Concordia Children’s Services, Cribs, Love Yourself Foundation, San Lorenzo Home for the Elderly, Saint Rita Orphanage, Saint Vincent de Paul Orphanage and the UP-PGH Cancer Institute.
“We have a robust annual calendar of community-support programs and volunteer activities,” Nicole Tirona, head of corporate sustainability for WF EGS-Philippines, was quoted in a statement as saying. “What makes the Fundraising Week unique is the fact that it gets our team members involved in supporting social causes in a fun way.”
The firm’s fundraising week began three years ago to raise money for a public elementary school the company supports.
Venue
ACCORDING to Jorge, doing philanthropy is okay.
Having a philanthropic view “does not mean it is wrong,” she added.
“As long as it provides a venue for business to behave ethically and responsibly, allows for interaction with the community and, most important, contributes to social development, it should be pursued,” Jorge said. “But it makes more business sense to align with core business practices and a company’s supply chain to allow for the sustainability of CSR programs.”
To stay relevant in today’s business world, companies should embrace latest trends, models and practices in corporate citizenship to continue to make a difference, she explained.
“The challenge now is bringing all these efforts to the next level—from the individual to the corporation, to the community and to our nation,” Jorge said.
Evolution
THE practice of CSR in the Philippines has gone a long way since its formative years in the 1960s.
“CSR began as part of the ‘hidden cultural force’ in the social and economic life of Filipinos,” said Jorge, who is also the executive director of the Bato-Balani Foundation Inc.
She traces the roots of CSR to philanthropic giving by individuals and large corporations to charitable institutions in light of the overall economic and social problems the country was facing then.
Since then, CSR has evolved in response to the growing demand for businesses to behave ethically and responsibly, Jorge explained.
Such transition, according to her, happened when companies designed their CSR initiatives as part of their strategy, management governance and corporate citizenship in the context of pursuing business objectives, while taking into account the economic, social and political condition of the Philippines.
CSR was further strengthened by an active and robust civil-society network that assists communities and leads social-development efforts aimed at elevating the economic status of Filipino families and communities, she said.
“These civil-society organizations are further organized into networks and associations that work together to align programs and reach out to more communities,” she added.
LCF
THE LCF was established in 1991 by a handful of companies with charitable foundations, “which serves as a channel for distribution of a firm’s profits into nonprofit activities.”
The group officially registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission five years later, paving the way to the rapid increase of its member corporate foundations and business organizations.
“The [LCF] serves as its members’ arena for exchanging ideas, best practices, experience and technology, as well as other concerns relevant to its goals,” Vivant Foundation Inc. trustee Lydia Sarmiento-Enrile said.
According to Sarmiento-Enrile, the organization has been organized into committees, representing the major areas of development that the entire membership is involved in: arts and culture, education, enterprise development, environment and health.
She claims the LCF has been instrumental in widening the business sector’s interest in corporate governance, social innovation and commitment to nation-building.
Its network was strengthened, as more strategic partnerships were formed to meet sustainable development goals, according to Jorge.
“As an organization, LCF channels private-sector social investments toward social development,” she added.
The business community’s CSR goals, according to her, form the social capital that LCF harnesses.
Collaborations
MARKING its 20th anniversary this year, LCF continues to promote the practice of CSR among its member-companies and the larger business community.
“LCF is currently the leading organization that advocates and promotes CSR in the country,” Jorge said.
Now on its two decades of existence, the LCF network expands with over 80 member-corporate foundations and firms, whose parent firms are mostly among the Philippines’s top corporations.
“Their respective foundations serve as the arm of their CSR and related social development-oriented goals,” according to Jorge.
To date, LCF has poured billions of pesos in livelihood, human services development, training, and institution-building, among others, Jorge said.
Also, it has raised significant amounts of donations in response to calamities, and has provided support in the form of infrastructure and general aid to support communities.
Expansion
AS companies evolve, so does the corporate citizenship’s discipline, according to Jorge.
It is for this reason that LCF created its own educational arm and reach in Southeast Asia, she added, citing the group’s CSR Institute (CSRI). Jorge said it is at the CSRI where people are trained and go to field visits to help promote the understanding of CSR.
Jorge said many corporations that want to improve their corporate citizenship programs or eager to learn more about CSR management principles and ways of partnership enroll in CSRI programs.
‘Glocal’
ACCORDING to Jorge, the LCF, together with business networks in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam and the Asean Foundation Inc. established and organized the Asean CSR Network.
“This is a regional platform for promoting and advocating for responsible business and CSR, which is an integral strategy in ensuring inclusive and sustainable growth in Asean,” she said.
Such development, Jorge added, is timely and relevant since the economic integration of the 10 member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), including the Philippines, has been already in place since late last year.
An example is what MiraMed Global Services Llc. subsidiary Ajuba International Llc. (Ajuba) is doing in India. About 25 employees were shortlisted to work in in the Thiruvanamalai District named Vadakupattu, a village with a population of about 150 people.
Stewardship
SINCE CSR comes with responsibility, the idea of stewardship is increasingly becoming relevant in today’s business environment, as it contributes to building sustainable relationships with stakeholders.
“They include employees, customers and society,” Stewardship Asia Centre (SAC) CEO Ong Boon Hwee told the BusinessMirror. “Stewardship is about longer-term operations and having responsibility or a heart for the community.”
SAC is a Singapore-based “thought-leadership hub committed to fostering stewardship across organizations in Asia.”
From an enterprise standpoint, this concept is quite new, nonetheless, it is actually rooted in the Asian culture, especially among Filipinos, Hwee said.
When applied to an individual sense, he noted that stewardship is how the members of a certain organization—whether a chairman, CEO or an employee—develop the duty entrusted to them before they pass it on to the next generation.
“Stewardship very much emphasizes doing the right thing, not just doing things right,” Hwee added. “It is doing the right things right. It is more of a spirit rather than a form.”
There are three effects of stewardship, with one being the brief existence of businesses due to lack of focus for long-term goals, he explained.
“If you look at [these businesses] today, they can be very successful companies but their lifespans are getting shorter and shorter,” Hwee said. “Today you see the top 50 companies, but in 50 years’ time, they may no longer exist.”
Second, prioritizing everybody involved and or being affected by the business is highly important, he added.
“When you are looking only after shareholders and neglecting the other stakeholders, over time, you would lose the loyalty and affinity with your employees.”
Last, if a company looks only after profit and does not realize its role in the society, it will also reflect on the environment, Hwee said.
Gaining ground
ACCORDING to Hwee, people are now beginning to see the need to emphasize the core values of stewardship. Likewise, there is a “growing conversation” among Asian countries, the United Kingdom and the United States, he added.
“I think, across Asia, people are beginning to understand that stewardship was not there before. But now, there are conversations to see how we can then put some of these stewardship concerns into petition, or when the board meets, they talk about it and not just corporate governance,” Hwee said. “This is something that is becoming more and more meaningful to countries.”
In the Philippines there is a “good” acceptance of Filipino corporations to the idea of stewardship since it’s already ingrained in the country’s culture.
Hwee noted stewardship is apparent among family-owned business, publicly listed companies and even government-owned and -controlled corporations. He, however, failed to cite examples.
On a personal note, he viewed stewardship as “what the mindset is supposed to do” and it is not necessary for a company to have a separate department to deal with stewardship and/or CSR.
“If a company says, ‘I want to do CSR, I want to do stewardship, I clear a department just to make sure we do CSR,’ then something is wrong,” he explained. “We need to develop commitment, but it is not like you need to devote or suffer departments or the employment of the people.”
Hwee said such commitment is needed “because every leader, every level should understand that stewardship matters, and also should have it among themselves.”
“It is a mind-set, a way of thinking, commitment and dedication,” he added. “It’s all about being engaged and being responsible.”
Nation-building
TO help keep the Philippines’s growth trajectory, cooperation between the public and private sectors is called for to address the various concerns besetting the country today and ensure positive results of the economic policy of President Duterte.
“The government or no single entity can resolve all social problems our country is suffering from,” Roderick de Castro, vice chairman of LCF board of trustees and executive director of TeaM Energy Foundation Inc. (Tefi), said.
“Multisector collaboration is very important and the private sector will play a pivotal role in this,” de Castro added. “Their CSR programs are aligned with priority programs of the government.”
In the history of the Philippine government, change has been evident in every leadership in succession.
Jorge lauded the leadership of former President Benigno S. Aquino III for bringing significant changes and leaps in economic growth and starting the country’s war on corruption.
Meanwhile, she cited that the new administration is now making its own mark in the political landscape here and abroad, with Mr. Duterte’s zero-tolerance policies against crime and drugs, aggressive fight against graft and corruption, as well as cutting red tape to ensure the ease of doing business in the country.
Given the President’s mantra of “Change is Coming,” the business community is bullish that his economic initiatives as well as efforts to continue some notable projects of the previous administration will lead to constant prosperity and inclusive growth for the country, according to Jorge.
“It is our hope that government and business and the citizens can co-create our country’s future and bring continued progress and resources for our country through corporate social responsibility,” she added.
Growth support
JORGE said the LCF tries to reinforce its commitment to develop its CSR thrusts to catalyze the country’s progress through collaborative efforts and use this as a platform toward sustaining national development.
“Over the years, the business sector has always continued its programs in support of national development regardless of changes in government or government priorities,” Jorge said. “What is important is that partnerships continue and that private sector, individuals and the government continue to work together, in harmony, in pursuit of nation-building.”
Jorge added that LCF would see “real change” come “when our citizens are led out of poverty through education, health services, job opportunities and proper delivery of government services.”
Currently, as with the previous presidents since its inception 20 years ago, the LCF still waits for the main priorities and agenda of Mr. Duterte.
As a show of support to the new administration, Castro said their baseline would have to be the basic services needs of the marginalized sector.
“There are available data to help us determine what should be our priority programs,” the executive director of Tefi stressed.