What is a Corporate Social Responsibility Report and How Should You Share it?

As consumer demand for corporate transparency and responsibility continues to rise, companies have responded with a variety of reporting strategies to share their impact with customers, employees and investors. One way for companies to communicate this information is through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting, sometimes also referred to as Corporate Sustainability Reporting.

CSR reports are documents that outline the social and environmental impact of a business, often organized into four main categories—environmental, ethical, philanthropic and economic. These documents serve as a framework to measure and report company performance against long- and short-term goals in a digestible format for internal and external stakeholders.

In some countries CSR reporting is mandatory and follows a standard outline. Although there are currently no standards or regulations for CSR reports in the US, 92% of S&P 500 companies published one in 2020.

How to create a Corporate Social Responsibility report

Since there are no set rules for CSR reporting in the US, companies have the flexibility to report what makes the most sense for their business. Typically, corporations use their ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) or GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) models to generate the outline and expand as they see fit. No matter which sustainability framework your company aligns with, the main body of the document serves to inform the audience of company goals related to societal and environmental impact, and report on progress.

For example, a CSR report outline may look something like this:

• Letter from the CEO
• Company values & messaging
• Company statistics, locations & leadership
• Summary of your CSR approach
• How it aligns with ESG guidelines
• Key goals and performance metrics
• Outlook for the future

How to share your CSR report

Once you’ve gathered your data and crafted an easy-to-read report, it’s time to share your hard work with stakeholders. Some companies choose to print them, some go fully digital and others choose a combination of the two. Your audience will likely have different preferences for reading the report, so we recommend producing both a digital-native version and a tangible printed copy. As full reports can get quite lengthy (some over 100 pages), it can also be helpful to provide a summary version, which sums up the highlights of your report into a skimmable booklet.

CSR sharing options:

• Publish a CSR section as part of your annual report or company newsletter
• Print a postcard or brochure with your CSR highlights, include instructions for how to access the full report online
• Use transpromo marketing in your transactional mail to highlight CSR initiatives with a QR code or custom link leading to the digital report
• Announce your CSR report with a direct mail campaign, use a QR code to lead recipients to a landing page with a summary of results and the full digital report download

How can Preferred Direct help

Whether you choose to publish your Corporate Social Responsibility results in an annual report, company newsletter, or a direct mail campaign, you can trust us as your premium print partner to get the job done. Contact the Preferred Direct team to learn more about our design, print and distribution capabilities and get started with your CSR report today!