Live Blog #CSRChat – April 18th 2012

Today we’re delighted to be participating in #CSRChat today and we thought it might be useful to live blog the chat and provide some additional links and resources that might give you some additional insight into Microsoft’s Citizenship work.

A big thank you to Susan McPherson (@susanmcp1) who is the energy, brains and brawn behind CSRChat. You can find upcoming #CSRchat topics here.

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Before we begin some useful online resources for Microsoft Citizenship:

• Follow us on Twitter at @msftcitizenship
• Visit the Microsoft Citizenship Facebook page
• Find out more about our Citizenship work on the web
• Explore Microsoft Citizenship stories from around the world at the Local Impact Map
• Last but by no means least read our most recent Citizenship report 

11.59 - The Microsoft Citizenship team on #CSRChat

A number of our Citizenship team are participating in the chat today from our offices in Redmond, Washington.

• Dan Bross heads up our CSR and working responsibly commitments ^DB @dlbross
• Steve Lippman works on a range of areas including environmental sustainability and supply chain ^SL
• Paul Clark looks after our citizenship reporting ^PC
• Tara Grumm runs our online marketing for citizenship ^TG @tgrumm
• Elisa Willman works on our citizenship marketing team and looks after the Microsoft NetImpact chapter ^EW @ElisaMWill
• Brianne Lunzmann works on our citizenship communications team ^BL @beege
• Gemma Aronchick works on the philanthropy side of Microsoft’s citizenship team including our work with Boys & Girls Club of America ^GA @gembalaya
• Gretchen Deo works on citizenship operations and is the person who keeps our global nonprofit software program running ^GD @gretchendeo
• Tom Murphy looks after citizenship communications ^TM @tpemurphy

12:04 - Q1 Tell us your name and role at @MSFTCitizenship. How many are on your team? #CSRChat

A1 [1/2] There’s a number of people from our @msftcitizenship team here with us - find details here: https://bit.ly/IkydB1 #CSRChat ^TG

A1 [2/2] We have about 20 people on the CSR team at HQ and about 100 full/part time folks around the world #CSRChat ^TM

12:07 - Q2 What did you (Tom) do before joining @MSFTCitizenship? #CSRChat

A2 PR but we have a diversity of backgrounds from nonprofits, philanthropy, biz operations, marketing, research, public affairs & PR #CSRChat

12:10 - Q3. How is #CSR organized at #Microsoft? What departments to you interface with? #CSRChat

A3 [1/4] We think of CSR at Microsoft as beings horizontal in a vertical world! #CSRChat ^DB

A3 [2/4] @msftcitizenship sits in Legal & Corporate Affairs. (Watch Brad Smith’s perspective on CSR here: https://bit.ly/HYfH14 ) #CSRChat

A3 [3/4] @msftcitizenship works with every department across the company from sales & marketing to product groups, field & corp #CSRChat

A3 [4/4] We define CSR into 2 core areas: working responsibly and serving communities. More here https://bit.ly/IkydB1 #CSRChat

12:16 - Q4 How involved is your board and executive team in CSR? #CSRChat

A4 [1/2] Our executives are very involved from corporate governance at the board level.. #CSRChat

A4 [2/2] through the leaders of our product groups and of course all our executives around the world #CSRChat

12:20 - Q5 How is CSR integrated in your company? #CSRChat

A5 [1/2] CSR is completely integrated across the company and is part of our global business scorecard #CSRChat

A5 [2/2] We work with our executives at corporate and locally to drive an integrated approach to CSR #CSRChat

12:25 - Q6 How many years have you been writing an annual sustainability report? #CSRChat

A6 We’ve been reporting on CSR since 2003 but in the past couple of years have expanded that reporting: https://bit.ly/uCB2F5 #CSRChat

12:30 - Q7 Why is @MSFTCitizenship so successful? #CSRChat

A7 [1/4] As ^DB says CSR is a journey not a destination! We don’t have all the answers, we’re always learning. ^TM

A7 [2/4] We have learned that CSR needs to be integrated in a strategic manner within and across your business #CSRchat

A7 [3/4] We also believe that you must balance an all-up global approach with smart local execution of CSR programs

A7 [4/4] We try & take a strategic view of CSR and align it with our business– but it is a journey & we’re learning all the time.. #CSRChat

12:34 - Q8 What do you see are your key challenges going forward? #CSRChat

A8 [1/4] We want to focus on continually reducing our impact on the environment #CSRChat

A8 [2/4] We want to ensure that our products are produced in the most responsible way possible #CSRChat

A8 [3/4] We want to ensure that CSR is a key driver of our brand and something that our customers value #CSRChat

A8 [4/4] We want to continue to learn from our mistakes! #CSRChat

12:39 - Q9 What companies to see as leaders in the space? #CSRChat

A9 [1/2] There’s a lot of companies like @IntelCSR doing great strategic things in CSR #CSRChat

A9 [2/2] CR Magazine published their Top 100 yesterday which provides some interesting examples: https://bit.ly/JaBj8F #CSRChat

12:42 – Q10 any you aspire to? Challenging when you're on top ;) #CSRChat

A10 - @susanmcp1 we're learning from others all the time, don't think we're on top, love to hear examples from everyone on the #CSRChat

12:48 - Q11. How important is the integration of CSR and Social Media at @MSFTCitizenship? #CSRChat

A11 [1/2] Social media is an incredible asset for CSR – enables us to reach and talk with people interested in our work #CSRChat ^TM

A11 [2/2] We get great input and feedback from people and can provide more insight into our work #CSRChat

Q12. What is the secret sauce behind your #EmployeeEngagement programs at #Microsoft #CSRChat

A12 [1/4] Employee engagement, from matching funds to volunteering has been a big feature of Microsoft’s CSR since 1983 #CSRChat

A12 [2/4] Our employee giving campaign takes place in the US during October and it transforms all our offices! #CSRChat

A12 [3/4] Last year US, employees donated $100m (with corporate match) to nonprofits and racked up 400K volunteering hours #CSRChat [3/3]

A12 [4/4] We also have a vibrant internal #NetImpact employee group – which has been a great success #CSRChat

Q13. Do you manage philanthropic partnerships with NGOs or is that handled elsewhere? #CSRChat

A13 [1/3] Yes we invest a lot of time with our nonprofit partners – the focus is bringing the benefits of tech to nonprofits #CSRChat ^GD

A13 [2/3] Last year we donated over $800m of software to over 40,000 nonprofits around the world #CSRChat

A13 [3/3] We also work with nonprofits around the world to help create opportunities for youth – nonprofits are incredible! #CSRchat

Q14. Final thoughts you wish to share or ask the crowd? #CSRChat

A14 We’d love to hear from you. What can we do better? We value and learn from our stakeholders #CSRChat

Thanks to everyone who participated in #CSRChat! We really enjoyed it. We’ll add some more of the Questions and Answers here later when we’ve caught our breath!

Updated 4/19/2012 – Some additional Questions Answered