I am so excited by what is happening now, here at CSR NEWS.
I am sure that most of us know that being a good corporate citizen should be guided by our morals and ethical standards, along with our own personal goals of course.
Simply having a job is a motivating factor for most people, but this is not enough if you want to experience life to its fullest and make the most of your opportunities. It is so easy to get caught up in the daily grind of routine work that offers no fulfilment. People everywhere – even those who are considered successful by most standards – are often disconnected from what they really want out of life, because they have abandoned their true passions and dreams. Research says that roughly 85% of people don’t enjoy their work. Can you imagine that!
By better understanding the role we play in our professional community, we can strive to help one another achieve more and better outcomes.
We can start by creating meaning. But what is meaning?
Well, it’s important to understand that it is not anyone else’s job to create meaning in our career. We have to choose to do so ourselves. The great news is that it’s simple to do, by finding passion in our work, committing to it, caring about the people we work with and caring about the impact your work can have on communities across South Africa.
Good corporate citizenship continues to define our purpose, and the CSI industry is filled with people who are success orientated, invigorated and inspired. Excitingly, CSR NEWS is fully immersed in the planning of the 2023 Colour Summit and CSI Legacy Awards.
The Colour Summit is a five-day conference which will most likely be held in March 2023, exhibiting the innovative and exciting new ideas and programmes that have emerged from government, corporates, NGOs and social entrepreneurs. This will be an opportunity to hear from inspiring individuals who do something fulfilling for communities across South Africa. The CSI Legacy Awards take place on the second night of the Summit. This evening will be about the glitz and glam that celebrates best practices and recognises innovation in CSI South Africa today.
What makes these awards different is that we’re setting an industry agenda. We want you, as corporates and individuals to evaluate yourselves according to the difference you have made in the lives of other people. At some point, you will retire and when you pass the baton, what is your working life going to say about you? And what is the meaning of your life?
The awards are not just about showcasing best practice, but they are about breaking new ground and forging paths towards creating real impact. Along the way, we meet people who are doing incredible work or something really exciting and innovative towards social community upliftment. That’s great and that is a by-product of our industry. However, these awards are not ends in themselves, but rather aspirations, which aim to light the way towards true impact and if we do it with a few passionate people along the way, all the better. They will reflect the kinds of writeups history will record about us. The awards help measure and define the impact we are making. We are committed to making the industry’s CSI Legacy Awards reflect the impact you have made in our country. Let us work together to create something really meaningful – something that will benefit our country and the beautiful people living in it. We might not get it 100% correct this time, but between us we will try our best to find those who truly want to make a difference.
The 2022 CSI Legacy Awards saw the winner in the category of Best NGO as Reach for a Dream and Coca-Cola won in the category of Best Corporate. Julia from Reach from a Dream reported to us afterwards that the awards were like the Oscars to her. We’re thrilled that next year we’ll have a new category: Best Corporate CEO Award, honouring leaders in corporates with an annual turnover of more than R50 million.
Judges look for programmes and projects that demonstrate outstanding methodologies, break new ground in some way and have had a real impact in a variety of sectors. The judging process has two parts to it. First is the adjudication where names are removed from the submissions so that impartial ‘blind’ scoring can be done, based solely on the organisation’s or individual’s efforts. It is in the next phase of the judging that the top three in each category are revealed. We call on the best in the industry to judge each category. It must be made clear here that CSR NEWS does not handle any of the judging.
It is these programmes that are important for the industry. We want to honour people and organisations for everything they do for social upliftment in South Africa and celebrate good corporate citizenship.
With the nominations closing at the end of this month, head over to https://form.jotform.africa/222382413697561 to place your nominations for the 2023 CSI Legacy Awards. We look forward to your nominations.
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