The History and FUTURE of the CSR Squad

by Rachael Grossman

Three years ago, the Comms Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Squad was formed. It is truly amazing to look back and see all that we have accomplished among the years. Being able to come together with a group of individuals who are all passionate about giving back to our communities has been the most meaningful part. Taking time to dedicate myself to CSR has given me a new perspective on working in the corporate world and allowed me to appreciate the power of giveback.

Last year, we launched our biggest initiative yet — the Week of Impact. Led by the wonderful Maddie Barker and Marisa Dickman, the goal was to engage Comms practitioners and their clients in volunteer work during this sector-wide opportunity. These events allowed practitioners to create a positive impact in their communities by hosting hands-on volunteering events or collection drives with client collaboration. Furthermore, partnering with our clients to volunteer was proven to be helpful in strengthening client relationships, as teams collaborated in a different settings, allowing for more personal conversations.

In doing so, we achieved the following results:

· Over 100+ participation

· 8 IBM and Client teams involved

· Deluxe Corporation account was awarded a $1,000 grant from in support of the American Red Cross

Due to our success, we brought the idea of not only our Week of Impact, but our CSR Squad model in general to Kelly Chambliss. She graciously showed her support and suggested we bring this under GBS Americas BeeEPIC — and so we did.

GBS CSR is now the 5th initiative under BeeEPIC Americas. We’ve identified leadership within each of the different sectors and growth platforms and have formed a team of dedicated practitioners, passionate about giving back across the continent.

Our grand reveal as GBS CSR will be through our second annual Week of Impact. We’ve expanded this beyond just Comms this year, to every single sector and growth platform — even Latin America! So far, we have over 30 accounts participating, but continue to challenge ourselves to try and surpass that number.

The Week of Impact is scheduled to occur this September 14–18, with majority of events occurring virtually due to the nature of the current pandemic. But that can’t stop us from volunteering alongside our clients to help improve the lives of many.

If your account has not yet signed up, please sign up here. It is never too late, and we would absolutely love for anyone to join.

I would like to give a special shout out to my team of rockstars, who none of this could be accomplished without. Thank you to Maddie Barker, Marisa Dickman, Rachel Liebergall, and Tamara Dean — we would not be where we are today without each of you!

While expanding across GBS Americas was our biggest step yet, we could not be more excited about everything that has yet to come.