The State of CSR Annual Review: 2010-2011 shows that CSR is being increasingly linked to positive organisational performance – economic, environmental and social. But there is still a long way to go before corporate social responsibility is truly integrated into business strategy.
Based on the survey responses of almost 500 mid-to-senior level managers across broad spectrum of organisations and industries, the key results show:
- 80 per cent agreed that CSR had contributed to strengthened reputation (less than 40 per cent in 2008); while just over 60 per cent say CSR contributes to reduced costs in their organisations (under 20 per cent in 2008).
- A significant decline in organisations reporting the need to understand climate change, but an increase in organisations using CSR as part of their regulatory response, suggesting Australian organisations are beginning to move towards a ‘business as usual’ approach to managing climate change.
- Reducing environmental impact and building understanding of CSR within their organisations were rated the most important issues for CSR managers this year
- CSR staff and budgets cut in the Global Financial Crisis are rebounding, with a strong increase in hiring and spending forecast for 2011.
The research also identified the ‘CSR Top 20’ - the organisations in various industry sectors with the most advanced CSR capabilities.
 |
Download the State of CSR in Australia Annual Review including the CSR Top 20 – and a special Industry Snapshot |
NEW: The State of CSR in Australia Insight Series
The Insight Series provides additional insights from a range of findings in the State of CSR in Australia Survey.
Insight Series
 |
#1: CSR and Governance: Practices and Challenges |
|
#2: Universities and CSR: Thought Leadership and Competitive Advantage |
|
#3: CSR: Pathway to Innovation |
|
#4: Overcoming Obstacles and Gaining Buy-In for CSR [NEW] |
The Insight Series PDFs can be downloaded from our Registered User Area
State of CSR Commentary and Presentations
 At the launch of The State of CSR in Australia Annual Review 2010-2011 (from left to right): director of the La Trobe University Graduate Certificate in Corporate Responsibility program, Dr Suzanne Young; ACCSR Managing Director Dr Leeora Black; former students in the La Trobe Graduate Certificate program, Paul Evans and Jessica Kitch. |
 Discussion at the launch was animated |
The Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility’s (ACCSR’s) State of CSR in Australia: 2009 Annual Review showed that many businesses tied their CSR strategies more closely to their overall business strategy as a result of the Global Financial Crisis.
State of CSR Annual Review 2008
This essential report, available only from ACCSR, tracks the growth and development of corporate social responsibility in Australia.
The first comprehensive study into the state of CSR capabilities of Australian organisations, The State of CSR Report quantifies the ways in which CSR creates different business outcomes to enhance organisational performance, and benchmarks CSR salaries and employment.
We developed the State of CSR research series following a report we published in 2007 which, for the first time, described what it is like to work in CSR in Australia, downloadable from the quick links on the right of this page.
We got such an overwhelmingly positive response to our 2007 report that we decided to repeat and extend the research. We ran surveys in 2008 and 2009 on the State of CSR in various industries and types of organisations and published reports that can be accessed by clicking on the links below.
The project measures organisational capabilities, performance and activities in the area of corporate social responsibility. We also calculate organisational scores for benchmarking purposes and announce the results of the CSR Top 25 in the summary report each year.