How CSR Software Can Help Tell Better Brand Stories

Without compelling brand stories, even the most impactful corporate social responsibility programs can fall flat. Are you struggling to craft a powerful narrative that energizes employees, inspires consumers, and boosts stakeholder buy-in? Learn how CSR software can bring all the pieces together, so you can develop a strategic marketing message.

Whether you’re funding innovative research in your industry, awarding scholarships to promising students, or supporting employees through the COVID-19 crisis, there’s a story to tell. 

Why are you doing it? How does it connect to your mission? What’s the impact on people’s lives?

But gathering the raw material necessary for a great story can be tough - especially in large corporations with layers of divisions and decision makers. You need stats to prove impact, program recipient interviews, authentic images and video, quotes and feedback from the C-suite… the list goes on. 

CSR software that manages your grants management and other giving programs can help you corral this information quickly and efficiently, so you have the source material right at your fingertips. Not only that, it gives you a way to make sense of it all.

Intrigued? We’ll share some examples of how CSR software can facilitate data collection for annual reports, social media, press releases, employee engagement, and other important communications.

Multimedia Application Forms

The Scenario:

You’ve just awarded the annual employee scholarships, aimed at helping your company invest in its people and promote from within. You now need to prepare a video that demonstrates why the program is important for the upcoming shareholder meeting.

How could a CSR platform make this easier? 

CSR software allows for multimedia responses during the online application process. If you know you’ll need to gather video content, you can encourage applicants to include videos, charts, timelines, maps, photos, or other visuals to bring their stories to life. 

For example, you could add a standard question to the scholarship application: Please upload a 15 second video answering the question, “How will this scholarship change my life?” 

Once you edit these videos together with a brief introduction from the HR leader, it’s a ready-made set of positive stories. Plus, the applicant is doing the work for you! 

Integrated CRM

The Scenario:

You’re putting together a series of social media posts about community programs funded by your company’s corporate social responsibility initiatives. You need to ask the grant recipients for a photo and caption.

How could a CSR platform make this easier? 

CSR software has built-in email tools, so you can keep conversations organized in one place. You can also send mass messages to specific groups. In this example, you can select all awarded grantees, and send a bulk email right from the system instead of exporting email addresses or copy and pasting each one into your email's "To" line.

Reporting Capabilities

The Scenario: 

You need to develop the theme for the annual CSR report by reviewing the quantitative data and analyzing trends or major achievements. 

How could a CSR platform make this easier?

There are a few ways CSR software could help.

• Permission Access - Rather than translating information for your stakeholders and sending reports to get their input, why not give them direct access to the data? You can create account types with different permissions, allowing executives, board members, or reviewers to access just the data they need. 
• Consolidate Data - If your company has a large, diversified corporate social responsibility program, you often have to juggle multiple systems to gather information for marketing purposes. However, dedicated corporate giving system allows you to manage scholarships, grants, internships, fellowships, employee giving programs, and more - all in one place. 
• Dashboards - Set up dashboards that provide at-a-glance updates on your program’s key performance indicators. You can analyze the data by using filters or customized views. These can be exported and included in your public documents.

Ready to amplify your storytelling and boost your CSR program’s visibility? CSR software gives you an ideal platform to collect source material, communicate with stakeholders, and extract meaning from your program’s statistics. Taken together, you have everything you need for brand stories that make a real connection with your audience.