Inside Molson Beer’s corporate social responsibility program

“What I end up doing is setting the strategic direction for the communicators,” Ewert explained. “The legal people, through the general counsel, are making sure we’re fully compliant with legal requirements.

Molson doesn’t have a corporate social responsibility department, but it does have a thriving and robust CSR program. That programs falls within the company’s legal and public affairs department, which makes Ewert Molson’s unofficial corporate responsibility officer.

“When I got involved I was interested in reinvigorating [CSR], making it more relevant and making it a more vibrant program—which we’ve done,” he said. His efforts apply only to Molson Canadian, not the entire Molson Coors corporation.

Ewert has steered Molson from what he called one-dimensional CSR, writing checks to philanthropic groups, to three-dimensional giving that involves not only monetary investment, but also outreach in the community.

“We’re trying to have conversations as opposed to downstream, unilateral communications: the kind you launch and then don’t know if people get it or understand it,” he explained.

Here’s a look inside Molson’s CSR program.

What does CSR mean at Molson?