KPI of the Day – Sustainability: # Sponsorship projects
Definition
Measures the number of sponsorship projects undertaken by an organization, usually as part of its corporate social responsibility policies. The projects sponsored usually support social or environmental causes in various areas, such as health, local communities, education, discrimination, culture, or environmental issues.
Purpose
To provide an overview of the organization’s willingness to financially support projects or people in need of sponsorship, being an indicator of the extent of its corporate social responsibility initiatives.
One of the KPI’s main limitations is that it does not reflect the value of the sponsorship projects, only their number, therefore a variation of this KPI measuring the value should also be employed by organizations for a more accurate representation of their initiatives.
Recommendations
Sponsorship initiatives have long been at the core of corporate social responsibility policies, representing one of the most facile tools for contributing to social causes, while gaining public exposure and increasing brand reputation.
Due to the limited resources employed by sponsoring organizations, which usually consist of financial and/or material aid, sponsorship activities are accessible to companies of all sizes, enabling smaller organizations to also engage in CSR initiatives.
This metric includes both sponsorship projects initiated by the company and those undertaken by external initiators, such as NGOs.
As sponsorship projects have a positive impact on company image and reputation, organizations should strive towards increasing the number of such initiatives, as well as their quality. This could be achieved by:
- Defining causes of interest that are aligned to the company’s activity, strategic objectives, values, and communication strategy, to ensure a cohesive brand image
- Seeking out non-corporate partners, such as NGOs, student organizations, associations, or charities that promote causes that are relevant to the company’s activity & strategic objectives, and creating long-term collaborations with them
- Encouraging employees to bring to the company’s attention relevant social or environmental projects to support, thus also increasing employee engagement
- Embedding such sponsorship projects into marketing and communication strategies, thus optimizing budgets
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Tags: Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, KPI, sustainability KPIs, Sustainability performance
