photo by: Zack Seward / WXXI
We’re always talking about businesses related to Corporate Social Responsibility, and a new company called Socially Good Business has added a note to the conversation. Liz Brenna started Socially Good Business back in September of 2011 after spending the last four years working at Ben & Jerry’s Headquarters in Burlington VT. Her job at Ben and Jerry’s was to bring the company’s Social Mission to life, and now she wants to do the same for other companies across the board. Socially Good Business is the first CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) firm in the area and they are committed to helping for-profit businesses become more socially and environmentally responsible.
photo by: Zack Seward / WXXI
Some of their initiatives include — sourcing, community involvement, sustainability, or cause marketing. From strategies and implementation to marketing, social media and PR — they are there to help them with every step along the way. Brenna’s passion and commitment to incorporating these values into everyday business practices is evident as she recently stated, “Values-led business is the next generation of business. I’ve always been passionate about CSR and after receiving phone calls at Ben & Jerry’s from companies that wanted to do the right thing and embrace CSR, but had no idea how, I realized there really weren’t a lot of resources out there to help for-profit companies implement CSR strategies and consumer communication. I knew this was my calling.”
Companies are realizing that they can be socially responsible AND thrive from it and are recognizing that consumers are demanding it.
Brenna also explains how she has seen how the market favor companies that take the initiative to align themselves with emerging trends, “Eight years ago, nobody knew what ‘organic’ meant, nobody knew how to use social media. It was the companies that believed in it, who said, ‘You know what, I don’t need to see the data, I’m going to do this because I believe in it.’ They’re the ones that were the trailblazers – and everybody followed them. Companies are realizing that they can be socially responsible AND thrive from it and are recognizing that consumers are demanding it.”
In a sense Brenna is just getting started, and we can’t wait to see how these efforts will play out in the future. We applaud her drive and initiative and hope that all companies big and small will stop and listen to what she has to say, and start considering the triple bottom line of people, profit and our planet into their decisions, actions & culture.
