COUNTING WHAT COUNTS WORKSHOP

ACCSR is looking forward to hosting Dr Robert Boutilier, Associate at the Centre for Sustainable Community Development at Simon Fraser University, on his visit from Canada to Australia in April.

Dr Boutilier will be joining Dr Leeora Black, ACCSR’s Managing Director on April 16th in Melbourne and April 19th in Sydney to facilitate a special one-day executive development program - Counting What Counts: Measuring the Heart of CSR Performance

This workshop will take participants through a CSR performance measurement framework that puts stakeholder relationships at the heart of CSR. Participants will:

• Learn how to map stakeholder networks and issues
• Use stakeholder and issue maps to predict and manage socio-political risk
• Gain insight into the latest thinking in social capital and the globally validated Stakeholder 360™ measurement and engagement framework

Dr Boutilier is a recognised leader in developing innovative research techniques to bring multiple stakeholder perspectives to private and public sector strategy development processes. He has researched corporate-stakeholder relationships in contexts ranging from the banking and forestry industries in British Columbia to the mining industry in Peru and Papua New Guinea.

To download a registration form for the Counting what Counts workshop click here (199 KB PDF)

For information: phone 03 9576 1694;
email kateniblocksiddle@accsr.com.au or click here

Sustainability Reporting

At this time of year many companies are beginning to prepare their FY06-07 sustainability reports, especially those companies that release annual results in November or December. This is a good time to consider a stakeholder review of your previous sustainability report to drive further improvement and responsiveness to both internal and external stakeholders.

ACCSR’s sustainability report reviews help reporters improve the materiality, responsiveness and completeness of their reports and provide insights into stakeholder reading styles and preferences, narrative and data quality, usefulness and impact on company reputation.

To discuss your sustainability report review needs, please contact Rebecca Jones on 03 9576 1694 or email rebeccajones@accsr.com.au

New CSR Appointments

ACCSR is pleased to announce that we will be covering new appointments made in the corporate social responsibility field in this space. To be included in future issues please email kateniblocksiddle@accsr.com.au

Helen Maisano has recently left Tabcorp, where she was the Group Manager of Corporate Social Responsibility, to become the Community Programs Manager at Optus. Helen’s extensive community background experience (she worked for World Vision Australia for 15 years), has assisted her in developing corporate social responsibility programs for many national and global companies in the past ten years. Helen’s new role at Optus will include developing and driving their corporate social responsibility strategy as well as managing their various community engagement programs.

ACCSR has made two new appointments this month.
Kate Niblock-Siddle is ACCSR’s new Program Co-ordinator, with responsibility for co-ordinating ACCSR’s learning programs.
Kate has over seven years of international experience in the CSR field – and was previously Deputy Publisher of Ethical Performance, a global monthly newsletter on corporate social responsibility and socially responsible investment in the UK.

Lori Cordingley joins ACCSR as Research Associate. Lori has a Master of Industrial and Organisational Psychology from Deakin University and is a registered psychologist with the Psychologists Registration Board of Victoria. Lori has extensive experience in both quantitative and qualitative research. Recent experience includes employee engagement and community satisfaction work with Telstra and Barwon Health.

ACCSR News & Events: March 2007

IN THIS ISSUE:
Counting What Counts Workshop
Global Leadership Network
Sustainability Reporting
ACCSR Website Redesign
New CSR Appointments
ASX Review of Corporate Governance Principles
ACCSR Move
About ACCSR

Global Leadership Network

Dr Leeora Black attended the GLN Members Forum in Kyoto, Japan on 15th March. The forum focused on sharing best practice in managing the CSR function across global and local environments. It was attended by GLN members from Japan, China, Korea, Finland and the United States. It was hosted by GLN founding member, Omron and chaired by IBM, which has spearheaded the GLN’s development since 2004.

The GLN is a partnership of leading global companies, together with AccountAbility in London, and The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, that works to align corporate responsibility activities with core business strategy.

The GLN is managed in Australia and New Zealand by the Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility. For more information and membership inquiries, email leeorablack@accsr.com.au, call 03 9576 1694 or click here.

ACCSR Website Redesign

ACCSR’s website has been redesigned. The new website at http://www.accsr.com.au includes information on stakeholder engagement, sustainability reporting and ACCSR’s learning programs.

ASX Review of Corporate Governance Principles

ACCSR has published an Occasional Paper on the Australian Securities Exchange Corporate Governance Council’s review of principles. The paper states that the review, which is now considering nearly 100 submissions, has uncovered a split between the positions of Australia’s leading publicly-listed corporate citizens and the investment community on the extent of corporate transparency and accountability. The paper argues that while investors are increasingly making the “materiality linkage” between financial value and environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, many listed companies are siding with the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Institute of Company Directors in opposing a greater role for the ASX CGC in encouraging CSR.

To read the ACCSR occasional paper click here. (79 KB PDF)

ACCSR Move

ACCSR will be moving next month to a larger, greener office at 10 Yarra Street, South Yarra, Melbourne. Our new digs will accommodate our expanding team and include a state-of-the-art training room.

We have selected environmentally-sustainable materials wherever possible and sought expert advice on airflow, heating and lighting to minimise the office’s energy use to the greatest extent we can. We will send more information about our contact details and green office journey in future updates.

ABOUT ACCSR

The Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility is a leader in CSR research, learning and strategy. Our unique capability-building approach helps organisations identify and understand their social responsibilities, capacity and impact and develop strategies and tactics to reduce social risks and improve both performance and social responsiveness.