ISM - Social Responsibility - General Resources

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General Resources

ISM is a member of the US Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Social Responsibility, which is headed by the Americal Society for Quality (ASQ). The guidance standard will be published in 2008 as ISO 26000 and be voluntary to use. It will not include requirements and will thus not be a certification standard.

Resources on ISM Social Responsibility Principles

Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) is a non-profit organization that helps companies achieve success in ways that demonstrate respect for ethical values, people, communities and the environment. A leading global resource for the business community and thought leaders around the world, BSR equips its member companies with the expertise to design and implement successful, socially responsible business policies, practices and processes.
Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire is a Web site that provides links to current headlines, a library of corporate non-financial reports, a calendar of social responsibility events, a directory of resources, and a listing of recent books on social responsibility.
The CRO Provider Directory is a listing of nearly 500 companies offering services in 11 different domains pertaining to corporate responsibility. The site provides the capability to search by service type, region or company name. Search results include company name, contact information and a list of services provided.
Eldis is one of a family of knowledge services from the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, United Kingdom. Their mission is the documentation, exchange and use of evidence-based development knowledge. Corporate Social Responsibility is one of the topics maintained by Eldis, with news articles on various aspects of social responsibility. The site also links to a number of Web sites related to corporate social responsibility.
Future 500 is an organization that links corporations and stakeholders to advance global citizenship, offering tools, strategies and processes to find common ground to address society's problems. Two of its tools are Global Citizenship 360 and Stakeholder Mapping.
International Center for Corporate Accountability is a not-for-profit organization founded to promote good corporate citizenship worldwide. Its mission is to encourage multinational corporations to create voluntary standards to guide their conduct in overseas operations regarding wages and working conditions, protection of human rights, and sustainable development issues. The organization also creates procedures for independent external monitoring to verify compliance by the companies with their voluntarily created codes of conduct.
International Standards Organization (ISO) is an organization is developing an International Standard providing guidelines for social responsibility. This voluntary guidance standard will be published in 2008 as ISO 26000.
Social Accountability International works to improve workplaces and combat sweatshops through the expansion and further development of the international workplace standard, SA8000, and the associated SA8000 verification system. SAI is a U.S.-based, nonprofit organization dedicated to the development, implementation and oversight of voluntary verifiable social accountability standards.
Social Venture Network was founded in 1987 by some of the nation's most visionary leaders in socially responsible entrepreneurship and investment. This nonprofit network is committed to building a just and sustainable world through business, with a mission to inspire business and social leaders to build a just economy and sustainable planet. The site includes Information Services access and community forums.
United Nations Global Compact is an international initiative to bring companies together with UN agencies, labor and civil society to support universal and social principles. It consists of 10 universal principles in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption.

Sustainability Resources

Sustainability is defined as "the ability to meet current needs without hindering the ability to meet the needs of future generations in terms of economic, environmental and social challenges."

The Center for Sustainable Innovation (CSI) is a non-profit corporation that conducts research, development, training, and consulting for, and with, global companies interested in achieving sustainability in human affairs. Its goals are to develop an enterprise model for sustainable innovation and a corporate sustainability management (CSM) framework for sustainability management, measurement, and reporting in organizations, as well as working to help make Triple Bottom Line measurement and reporting schemes a reality by advocating the use of the Ecological Footprint method. The Web site also includes a Global Warming Footprint Calculator, a greenhouse gas measurement and reporting system
Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes - Launched in 1999, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes are the first global indexes tracking the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide. Based on the cooperation of Dow Jones Indexes, STOXX Limited and SAM they provide asset managers with reliable and objective benchmarks to manage sustainability portfolios.
The Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World is a project initiated by Corporate Knights Inc., and independent Canadian-based media company, with Innovest Strategic Value Advisors Inc. a leading research firm specializing in analyzing "non traditional" drivers of risk and shareholder value including companies' performance on social, environmental and strategic governance issues. Launched in 2005, the annual Global 100 is announced each year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) is an organization that aims to influence the sustainability debate, inform the public of its members' voluntary actions in the area of sustainability, and provide information to foster sustainable development.
Global Institute of Sustainability is an initiative that enables Arizona State University to address regional and global environmental threats through the study of ecological, economic and societal issues that play a vital role in the viability of the planet.
Global Reporting Initiative is a multi-stakeholder process and independent institution whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines for voluntary use by organizations for reporting on the economic, environmental and social dimensions of their activities, products, and services. Started in 1997, GRI became independent in 2002, and is an official collaborating centre of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and works in cooperation with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Global Compact.
Institute for Sustainable Communication (ISC) promotes awareness and adoption of economically, socially and environmentally sound sustainable development practices in the use of communication media. The ISC is dedicated to developing leaders that can implement proven, practical and measurable policies at a corporation's operational level by implementing best practices for enterprise communication. The organization's particular expertise and focus is on enterprise publishing, printing and packaging. The ISC's programming includes: research + consulting, fellowship + mentoring and education + outreach.
Sustainable Procurement Task Force is an organization developed in May 2005 that is developing an action plan to bring about change in sustainable public procurement in the UK. The site includes links to an action plan and sustainable procurement case studies.
SustainAbility is a strategy consultancy and independent think tank specializing in the business risks and market opportunities of corporate responsibility and sustainable development. The site provides Issue Briefs and other reports to help professionals stay informed on social responsibility topics.
Sustainability101.com provides links to news, articles and resources on sustainability practices relating to the social responsibility principles of environment and financial responsibility.
Sustainability-Reports.com is a portal for sustainability reports of multinational companies worldwide. From the site, you can download environmental, social, CSR and sustainability reports or order the hard copy version, and you can browse the reports by sector, country or alphabetically.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a coalition of 175 international companies united by a shared commitment to sustainable development via the three pillars of economic growth, ecological balance and social progress. The organization's mission is to provide business leadership as a catalyst for change toward sustainable development, and to promote the role of eco-efficiency, innovation and corporate social responsibility.

Company Pages

Visit the following Web sites to see what some companies are doing to promote their social responsibility efforts. For a look at additional company Web sites in the area of corporate social responsibility, visit the ISM Social Responsibility Supporters page and click on any of the logos.