5 things every CSR report should include

Over the last month I have been comparing and contrasting corporate social responsibility reports from six major San Francisco Bay Area companies across different sectors.

Gap, eBay, Wells Fargo, SunPower, Chevron, and Salesforce all show their efforts to invest in environmental and community stewardship. Here are the insights and tips I’ve learned through this review process, including what a CSR report should include or exclude.

First, a key question must be answered: Why develop a corporate social responsibility report in the first place?

There are two main reasons:

With these objectives in mind, here are five things a good CSR report will do:

1. Focus more on future goals and less on past successes: The purpose of a CSR report should be to understand and showcase how business has been conducted so a company can plot a course to do better. Although sharing the success of your CSR strategy is good, don’t make the mistake of dwelling on the past CSR successes and forget to focus on future goals. A CSR report without clear goals for the next year is like a boat with no compass. If people are going to jump on board with your company, they will want to see where the ship is headed.