Corporate Social Responsiblity Funds

Why is it that everything, once you scratch the surface isn’t as it seems.

I should have realised that from my Hotel Catering days - if you've ever worked at a hotel, you'll know what I’m talking about - but the front of house always looks great, but behind the scenes in the staff room, or the service corridors it always looks like the worst hostels you’ve ever been lucky enough to visit.

Still it doesn’t stop me from judging a hotel by what they want you to see, rather than what they don’t want you to see!

Same happened with football. In 1999 I had the luckiest job in the world, which involved getting paid to interview and spend time with the 12 modern footballing greats (Cantona, Schmeichel, Rush, Wright, Zola etc).

It was all for a project called the FA Premier League Hall of Fame and gave me exclusive access to the club, the agents and the players themselves. Though it a chance for me to live the dream, it didn’t work out that way, as it mean I knew too much – and as a result watching the game became a collection of stories about things that had happen – you know this person said that, that club are this, did you know such and such is sleeping with such and such.

As soon as that element of my work was finished, I could get back to know little about the people and enjoying the romance of the game.

I’ve always had a theory that football to men is like soap operas to women – it’s more about the chat around the game, the need to gossip potential sales, to follow the sub plot (‘..Whether Berbatov’s purchase has meant that Tevez won’t stay with the club..’) – the actual football is the fix, but the industry around the game is the craving.

Imagine, if you were a massive EastEnders fans – sitting in on a script writing debate – dream day out one might think, but then they start debating a storyline for one of your favourite characters which will unfold over the year. Now not only do you know the secret (which means no build up for the year while they build up) but you also know what they could have chosen prior to that actual secret being chosen.

As you may know, I've been working with the Damilola Taylor Trust for the past couple of years, and just like football, when you get to look behind the scenes things are never quite what they seem. The trust itself is one that truly strives to make a difference and it a massive credit to Richard Taylor who has worked so hard to establish it. It is an organisation that seems to work equally well in a corporate environment or out on the street. People name check it regularly, the government court Richard’s approval and even make him the official envoy to the Prime Minister for Knife Crime – but yet behind it all stands 3 or 4 people – all striving to make a difference. Clever people who can engage on sort of levels, people who can innovate, who understand what needs to be done – but people for all their connections, ideas, respect cannot effectively target funds.

We hear about companies having large social corporate funds, though I suspect with the current recession this will be cut (and yes I used the ‘R’ word).

The point is, again scratching behind the PR surface, is corporate social responsibility about actually making a difference, or is it about ROI?

We all know from a PR perspective, it is about Company A putting back into the community, but I wonder if there was no publicity attached, but a single life was saved whether Company A would actually still invest.

Anyway I’m just getting into this blogging – hope you find the piece slightly thought provoking and worth a revisit.

NOTE:
The views expressed in this blog are my own, and nothing to do with the Damilola Taylor Trust.