Many big brands have already arrived here, like Patagonia running an ad in The New York Times on Black Friday telling people “Don’t Buy This Jacket”—starting the conversation about consuming less during the holidays and reducing their impact on the planet. Individual barbers and stylists have received recognition for cutting the hair of people living on the street in an effort to help them reconnect with themselves and envision a different future. Doing good and avoiding harm are both important factors when thinking about how a company can actively give back. This toolkit encourages companies to weigh both of these when creating their own programs. That is the intent of this toolkit: Creating your own unique program.

Big brands, however, are doing what equates to little more than greenwashing campaigns. Coca-Cola, Shell, BP, Starbucks, KFC, and H&M are easy examples. You can probably identify plenty of examples just by looking at the products around you. It’s easy to spot them, and many get called out for it.

It’s not easy building a brand or operating a company. Many of the small brands and entrepreneurs I’ve spoken with are slow to get started out of fear of doing it wrong and damaging the thing they’ve worked to build. So, I created this toolkit to help them get started. As a former entrepreneur, I’ve explored these conversations with clients and other business owners. My work in operations, branding, design, research, strategy, and with many nonprofits has informed a lot of the recommendations in the toolkit for getting started. Research from other companies also paints a very clear picture of the future. This toolkit is designed to help ambitious companies move toward that future.

Crossing that threshold doesn’t require a huge investment of time or money. It requires leaders to look into the core of their brands and reconnect with the reason why they do what they do in the first place. It requires listening to their employees and their customers. It requires creative thinking. And it typically requires an outside expert to help guide them.

Companies define what makes their brands unique. They give customers a reason to do business with them. The majority of consumers today want to buy from companies that are addressing issues of sustainability, environmental impact, and how their company affects a wide range of people.

Bold and visionary entrepreneurs can easily see this future. They see how corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs fit into the bigger brand picture and strategy. They have no problem choosing different suppliers or asking their leadership teams to find opportunities for both cost- and value-innovation. They understand that being bold doesn’t come without some cost, and they do it anyway.

CSR programs can have massive impacts on people and companies. They create new visibility and brand differentiation. They attract employees who also want to do good and work somewhere that understands the social responsibility of companies today. They foster creativity. And most of all, they create lasting positive impacts in the world around them.

Companies whose leadership acknowledges the “Us” that exists all around them will be transformed by creating CSR programs that are unique, authentic, active, ongoing, and aligned with their core brand pillars. The new future of CSR programs is just beginning, and it’s an incredibly exciting time.

If you have any resources to share or would like to feature your program on the site, please get in touch. In the future, we would love to host playbooks and stories of companies using the toolkit to help them create their own unique programs.

—Paul Sternberg