How to develop and implement a national CSR Award Scheme
How to develop and implement a national CSR Award Scheme Based on the experience of the inaugural European CSR Award Scheme 2013 Funded by Co Lead by Supported by Table of contents Introduction to this guide ........................................................................................................... 3 Step by Step Guide ..................................................................................................................... 5 Step 1: Develop the awards framework ............................................................................ 7 Step 2: Communications Campaign to generate entries .................................................. 9 Step 3: Launch of the award scheme .............................................................................. 11 Step 4: Start generating entries ...................................................................................... 12 Step 6: Last push for entries ............................................................................................ 15 Steps 5,7-8: Planning and implementing assessing and judging processes ............................ 15 Step 9: Prepare to communicate the winners ................................................................ 21 Step 10: Awards celebration ............................................................................................. 22 Step 11: Communicate the outcomes of the awards beyond the celebration ................. 24 Step 12: Provide feedback ................................................................................................. 25 Step 13: Evaluation of the project ..................................................................................... 26 Final word ................................................................................................................................ 27 APPENDIX APPENDIX 1: Confidentiality and conflict of interest of assessors and judges ........................ 28 APPENDIX 2: Guide Scoring Grid .............................................................................................. 29 APPENDIX 3: Individual assessors/judges’ Scoring Sheet......................................................... 31 APPENDIX 4: Simple Score Sheet to combine Assessors’ Individual Scoring ........................... 32 APPENDIX 5: Sample Feedback note used for the European CSR Award Scheme................... 34 APPENDIX 6: Application Pack- European CSR Award Scheme in the UK ................................ 38 Application Pack Overview .................................................................................. 39 Conditions of Entry .............................................................................................. 40 Application Form ................................................................................................. 42 Partner Verification Form.................................................................................... 48 Guidance.............................................................................................................. 49 Scoring Grid ......................................................................................................... 53 Page 2. Introduction to this guide The aim of this document is to provide useful and practical information for those organisations interested in developing a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) award scheme in their countries or regionally. The information compiled reflects the experience and knowledge used and acquired when developing the inaugural European CSR Award Scheme run in 2013 in 30 countries in Europe. In this guide you will find tools developed at the beginning of the awards process and also input provided by the National Award Partners who run the Scheme in their countries across Europe. The European CSR Award Scheme is a unique initiative to bring together CSR networks from 30 European countries to reward collaborative partnerships of business and non-business organisations delivering social and business impact thorough innovation. Initiated and funded by the European Commission, coordinated by CSR Europe and Business in the Community, supported by Alliance Boots, and implemented by National Award Partners together with national stakeholders, this is the first ever European CSR Award Scheme. Its aim is to inspire collaboration between enterprises and stakeholders for innovation and impact. Each participating country had a National CSR Award Scheme. To improve the eligibility and to bring up the standard of CSR awards, all participating National CSR Awards were obliged to comply with five award quality requirements: The National Award offered two categories: partnerships involving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and partnerships involving larger companies. Partnerships had to involve at least one business and one nonbusiness partner and to be eligible for: ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: Partnership, Innovation and Impact’. They were assessed by a multi-stakeholder jury (e.g. employer federation, trade union, academy, NGO, public authority, media, business, etc). Jury members selected projects based on the positive impact their multi-stakeholder partnership brought to both society and business as well as its innovative approach to tackle societal issues. National Award Partners had to seek collaboration with national authorities (if feasible). Before the implementation of the Scheme, only seven countries met the key requirements; however, the successful European CSR Award Scheme boosted this figure up to 30 countries by June 2013. The winners were celebrated at a National CSR Award Ceremony, as well as in Brussels on 25th June in an event organised by the European Commission which saw the launch of the Golden Book - Celebrating CSR partnerships innovation for social and business impact. Please download it at www.europeancsrawards.eu. Page 3. Participating countries and National Award Partners include: Austria (respACT) Belgium (Business and Society Belgium), Bulgaria (UNGC Bulgaria), Croatia (HR BCSD), Czech Republic (Business for Society) Denmark (CSR Fonden), Estonia (RBF Estonia), Finland (FIBS), France (IMS Entreprendre pour la Cité), Germany (BMAS), Greece (The Hellenic Network for CSR), Hungary (Követ), Ireland (BITC Ireland), Italy (Sodalitas), Kosovo (CSR Kosovo), Luxembourg (IMS-Luxembourg), Macedonia (Zenith Macedonia), Montenegro (Association for Democratic Prosperity-Zid), Netherlands (PunchyPack), Norway (CSR Norway), Poland (RBF Poland), Romania (CSR Romania), Serbia (SMart Kolektiv), Slovakia (Pontis Foundation), Slovenia (Ekvilib Institute), Spain (Forética), Switzerland (Philias), Turkey (CSR Turkey), United Kingdom (BITC and Scottish Business in the Community), Ukraine (Centre for CSR Development). We hope you find this guide useful to develop or enhance your National CSR Award. The guide starts with a step by step section. Each step is developed in more detail in subsequent chapters. Appendices include tools which have been used for the inaugural European CSR Award Scheme and which, with the appropriate adaptations, may be of use in developing your own tools. For more information on the European CSR Award please visit: www.europeancsrawards.eu Page 4. Step by Step Guide These basic steps will help you organise what you need to think of at every stage of the development and implementation of a National CSR Award Scheme. They were used by the National Award Partners of the inaugural European CSR Award Scheme 2012/2013. 1. STEP ONE: DEVELOP THE AWARDS FRAMEWORK If you will run the Award in partnership, reach out to relevant stakeholders to partner with (e.g. National Trade Associations, NGOs, local government bodies etc. ) 2. STEP TWO: COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGN Start to create the relevant Awards website pages Start making the relevant media and press contacts Reach out to relevant stakeholders who may help you promote the awards e.g. National Trade Associations, NGOs, local government bodies etc. Launch press release Begin reaching out to possible award sponsors if you would like to have sponsorship 3. STEP THREE: LAUNCH OF THE AWARD SCHEME 4. STEP FOUR: START GENERATING ENTRIES Use communications to start generating interest and entries Provide and set up a helpdesk service for interested applicants 5. STEP FIVE: PLAN ASSESSING AND JUDGING PROCESS Decide if you will use a one or two stages process and if it will be written or will involve presentations in person Select assessors and judges – we recommend that you work with multi-stakeholder panels due to the nature of CSR If you go for a two stages process, the assessment process will apply to all entries, and will identify the final list of entries which will progress go to the judging panel. Prepare the training material for assessors and judges as well as the contents and logistics of assessing and judging panels Plan dates of panels, keeping in mind there should be at least 3 weeks between the assessing and judging panel to allow judges and selected companies to be prepared 6. STEP SIX: LAST PUSH FOR ENTRIES Use social media, traditional media, your website and newsletters to generate final interest in the campaign but also direct calls to companies and any other opportunity to spread the message and encourage applications 7. STEP SEVEN: IMPLEMENT ASSESSING PANEL Run assessing panel as planned in step 5 Page 5. Communicate to the applicants which entries have been selected to go through to the judging panel Communicate to those entries that did not reach the judging panel and inform them that they will receive feedback. PLEASE NOTE: Great effort needs to be invested in communicating with those who did not make it to judging as much as to those who made it 8. STEP EIGHT: IMPLEMENT JUDGING PANEL Run judging panel no earlier than 3 weeks after assessing panel, as planned in step 5 Beforehand, communicate to shortlisted companies to prepare for the judging panel Provide shortlisted entries to judges in order for them to read the applications before the actual judging process 9. STEP NINE: PREPARE TO COMMUNICATE THE WINNERS Collect information and collateral material on the winning companies (photos, videos, quotes) but without letting the companies know they actually won 10. STEP TEN: AWARDS CELEBRATION You can decide how you will communicate the winners One way is organising a celebration which could be a ceremony, roundtable discussion, seminar or workshop, etc. to announce the winners Company winners will be announced at this ceremony; up to this point this should remain a secret 11. STEP ELEVEN: COMMUNICATE THE OUTCOMES OF THE AWARDS BEYOND THE CELEBRATION Communicate the winners through your awards’ communication channel e.g. website, social media, newsletters and traditional media 12. STEP TWELVE: PROVIDE FEEDBACK Great effort needs to be invested in communicating with those who didn’t make it to judging as much as to those who made it. Identify and prepare staff members who will do this. 13.STEP THIRTEEN: REPORT AND EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT to gather learning and to inform the planning of the second edition. Page 6. Step 1: Develop the awards framework The first action to carry out is to define the awards framework on the basis of the objectives of the award scheme. This should reflect what type of CSR practices you would like to identify, to reward, to encourage, to share and to foster replication of. For example, the European CSR Award Scheme aimed at: Giving higher visibility to CSR excellence and raising global awareness on the positive impact that sustainable business initiatives can have on society and on the business itself; Bringing the best European CSR multi-stakeholder projects into focus and inspiring more companies and its stakeholder to take action in establishing innovative partnerships; Enhancing the exchange of CSR best practice across Europe; Encouraging CSR collaboration between enterprises and stakeholders to create innovative ideas for tackling sustainability issues. Once the award scheme objectives are settled, the framework should tackle the application criteria, conditions of entry and any further requirements you consider necessary. All of this will be reflected in the application pack. (appendix 6) It is always difficult to find the right balance between a shorter/simpler application pack to encourage applications and a more comprehensive/longer one to provide all necessary information in one document. For an example see in appendix the application pack used for the European CSR Award Scheme. Some questions you will be considering when developing your Awards framework Who can apply? Small or Large companies? Partnerships? Individuals? NGOs? Organisations based in the country or anywhere? Can a company apply more than once? Can a sponsor apply (FYI: under the European CSR Award Scheme national sponsors were not allowed to apply in the country where they were sponsors) Is there more than one category? Depending on the CSR issue? Size of company? Rewarding the company or individuals or all the partners in a partnership? What kind of projects/ examples / stories can be submitted? Concrete projects? Overall companies’ strategies or approaches to CSR? Individual leadership within a company? The impact needs to be demonstrated in a specific geography (only in the country or a province or anywhere in the world?) or addressing a specific target group (e.g. youth)? Key elements of European CSR Award Scheme 2012-2013 Regarding applicants • • Partnership projects, including at least one business and one non-business partner (not necessarily formal) Submission of entry via company on behalf of partnership in the categories: • SMEs • Large Company Regarding submission • • • • Evaluation of partnership project Related to theme “CSR: Partnership, Innovation and Impact” Positive impact on society & business created within last 5 years Other elements: Innovative approach, good partnership work, involving customers, etc Regarding assessment • Multi-stakeholder jury, including representatives of business and non-business Page 7. We asked National Award Partners: what do you take into consideration when choosing which categories to offer in a CSR Award? As an example, which categories do you offer in your National Awards? And why? “We tried to reflect the situation of CSR in Slovakia. This topic is still not very well established in the market, so we defined and named the categories very simply to be understandable to the public.”-Pontis Foundation, Slovakia. Forética in Spain did not have a CSR award in place thus created one for the European CSR Awards. Job Creation and Skills for Employability was especially included due to the challenge this poses to Spain in the context of the economic crisis. The categories offered in the national awards for: - Job Creation and Skills for Employability - Transparency for Trust - Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change - Integrative Societies “It’s very important to choose the categories properly. For instance, it’s very important to have a special category for SMEs, and also to think about two different awards for national and international business, as sometimes transnational companies with 30 years of experience can’t compete with national companies with 2 or 5 years of CSR activities. Also this year we have award on Innovation is CSR.” Centre for CSR Development, Ukraine. “Business in the Community has 16 years of experience running its own CSR Award Scheme. This Award Scheme offers slightly different categories. Some do not change from year to year but many do reflecting the evolving thinking and CSR agenda. In 2013 The Business in the Community Responsible Business Awards were grouped in four areas: Responsible Business of the Year Awards; Leadership Awards; Programme-specific Awards and Local Impact Awards For example the categories for the 2013 Responsible Business Awards were: -Responsible Business of the Year Award -Santander Responsible Small Business of the Year Award -CommunityMark Award -Jaguar Land Rover Marketplace Sustainability Leadership Award -Citi International Award -Building Stronger Community - Local Impact Award -Dairy Crest Rural Action Award -Education Award -Asda Enterprise Growth Award -Employee Volunteer of the Year -Work Inspiration – Local Impact Award -Bupa Workwell Award -Workplace Talent and Skills Award -Customer Engagement on Sustainability Award -Sustainable Supply Chain Award -Employee Volunteering Company of the Year -Inspiring Social Action in Young People -Work Inclusion Award Award Individual Leadership Awards The Prince’s Ambassador Award – for individuals whose leadership and commitment to responsible business has resulted in changes and improvements inside their own company and who have also inspired other organisations to take action. Every two years HRH The Prince of Wales chooses his National and Local Ambassadors, who hold the title for two years. Designed specifically to identify and celebrate local programmes and stories, the four local impact award categories running in England and Wales are: Employee Volunteer of the Year Award; Employee Volunteering Company of the Year Award; Building Stronger Communities Award and Work Inspiration Award” BITC, UK Page 8. Step 2: Communications Campaign to generate entries A well thought-through communications campaign, implemented early, is key to the success of any Award Scheme. Possible applicants need to know about your Award and to develop an interest in applying. The more reputable the Award the more it will be a pull rather than a push, resulting in high quality applications. Some of the key objectives of an award scheme communications plan are: 1. Establish credibility of the award scheme 2. Increase effective participation 3. Achieve high visibility in the target sectors Tips to bear in mind while developing the communication plan: Media We suggest you seek partnerships with a leading media organisations/platforms (national or international, depending the scope of the award scheme) both through traditional print media and online media (e.g. social media, blogs etc.) to ensure that the awards receive wide recognition. Media coverage of the award scheme should be tracked. Stakeholder engagement The leading organisations must also rely on their independent network of companies, associations, academic institutions and other stakeholders to cascade communication on the Awards; calling on key stakeholders to participate in the multi-stakeholder jury, communicating the awards to media and promoting the awards through their existing communication channels. The cumulative effect of far-reaching communication channels will be to provide a very powerful visibility platform for your Award Scheme. Branding guidelines In order for the award scheme to be easily identified, the communication must ensure unity and consistency through the adoption of a common set of key messages and unique branding guidelines. In this respect, you could develop a branding guideline; the complexity depends on the resources you can put in this area: logo, colours and fonts, templates, etc. Social media engagement strategy Social media will provide the awards with the means of building a rich network that can be used to engage with a wide range of businesses and stakeholders. You will need to plan how many times, in which timeframe, with which different types of consistent image resources (videos, photos), and with which key words (and #hashtags in the case of twitter) you promote and link to the awards overall messages. Part of the benefits of your communications campaign is that it will make it easier to find a sponsor should you wish to. Page 9. We asked National Award Partners: What was the key for you to get an sponsor for this Award or others? What are your tips? “Pontis Foundation in Slovakia has a long tradition of running CSR Awards that started in 2000. Sponsors want to be connected with a brand which has a strong positive reputation and tradition. The promotion of the award plays a crucial role as well. Companies considering sponsorship are interested to know how the Award will be communicated.” “From Foretica’s experience, focusing on the event as a unique selling point for potential sponsors proved to be advantageous. Forética decided to organize the European CSR Awards ceremony within the framework of a larger event whose objective was to advance the debate of CSR as part of the national brand of a country and therefore its competitiveness, With an event that aimed to bring together high-level stakeholders within the realm of CSR to discuss, present and exchange their experience proved to have a strong attraction power towards potential sponsors. From Foretica’s perspective, this approach added a lot more value than the organisation of an awards ceremony as it contributed to the positioning and visibility of the organization further and helped stress the importance of corporate social responsibility within Spain.” Page 10. Step 3: Launch of the award scheme A key moment of your communications campaign is the launch of the Award Scheme. It will help you create expectation around the Award Scheme and it marks the point when those wishing to apply can start doing so. You could do a virtual launch or run an event. Each option has benefits; the key to a successful Award Scheme is that the launch helps raise the visibility of the Award. We asked National Award Partners: Would you recommend a virtual launch or an event? What did you look for when launching your Award and what would be your top tips? “A physical launch is important. We linked the launch with public discussions on CSR issues, e.g. sustainability reporting and corporate volunteering. This tactic attracts more attention to the Award Scheme and helps to generate more publicity and get attention from stakeholders and future participants of the Award.” Centre for CSR Development, Ukraine. “We virtually launched the European CSR Awards Scheme by emailing our members and communicating it with a press release and on our websites: www.imslux.lu (a page was created for the initiative) www.csrluxembourg.lu, specially launched for the Award Scheme We had a good relation with our media partner, PaperJam / Maison Moderne ; they published free ads to present the initiative.” IMS Luxembourg. “We used a virtual launch. The communications included an awareness phase – we promoted the date of launch for a month in advance.” Pontis Foundation Slovakia “We used a mixture of both, a virtual and a physical launch would be the most desirable options in order to ensure that the message gets across to as many people as possible. Forética organised an official virtual launch at the beginning of January 2013 for all interested parties. Additionally, before the official virtual launch, the information was available on our website and mentioned physically in different events where Forética participated and organised. One of the most important aspects to take into account when launching the award is the consistency and accessibility of information for all audiences- this is critical in promoting the participation of companies in the awards- especially ones that are new- as well as for the overall credibility of the scheme.” Foretica, Spain Page 11. Step 4: Start generating entries Generating entries is key to the success of the awards and needs to start as early as possible. Be sure to develop a plan, having explored all opportunities. You will need to identify your channels and key priorities/ interests plan your key general and particular messages communicate and follow up with those interested in applying Target potential applicants It is very important to identify potential applicants, e.g. by identifying sectors which are particularly strong or active in different aspects related to the awards. Use research and information about their programmes with companies to encourage them to enter. Communicate to target groups After having identified your target Try to identify the projects you want participants to apply with Create a launch email which announces the process of the award, including key dates and contact information Provide links to web pages for downloading the application pack Send this out on the date of the launch to all interested parties via different communication channels. Target partners Engage partners to raise awareness working collaboratively with other organisations to get them to promote the awards and to raise awareness. Use key business and NGO or other sectors spokespeople to promote the awards to their own networks. E.g.: identify key media and try to go beyond national and CSR media, but also consider sector media forums, institutions and networks as well as personnel and HR media. Other partners who could help in promoting the Awards are sector organisations, business networks, trade unions, employer federations, NGOs, consumer groups, academies, political institutions, etc. Support for applicants It is important to be clear with applicants that while there is support from the organising entity, this does not influence whether a company will win the Award. The organisation after all has no role in the assessing and judging process. Offering a support system in the form of one to one support, webinars or workshops may help turn some expressions of interest into full applications, it will support entrants in articulating and developing their programme and potentially lead to winning entries. Page 12. Applying for the Award can be time consuming, so it is important to ensure that each application is fully completed to ensure the best chance to be recognised by the judging panel and receive their full attention. Company workshops Holding workshops where companies can receive support on their applications is useful. Company workshops provide the opportunity to explain the awards criteria, judging guidelines and the scoring grid. It is recommended to communicate all requirements at the workshops. Give examples of best practice case studies of companies who managed to articulate their programme well. You can also deliver this seminar by conference call for those who cannot commit the time of a face to face workshop or are based far away. The awards are assessed independently, which means that the organisations leading the awards are able to support applying companies as long as the same support is provided to all companies during the application phase. Other recommendations Tracking Track companies who download or request by email the awards form. Send them an email to say “Thank you for having downloaded the application form. In order to support you in filling in the form and to provide you with useful hints, we are very pleased to invite you to the standard applicant workshop on [date] at [address].” Strict deadlines To ensure credibility, fairness and transparency it is important to set, and adhere to, strict deadlines for the Awards process. Page 13. We asked National Award Partners: What are your top tips to generating entries? What types of companies/case studies are more challenging to get and how did you try to overcome this challenge? “The SMEs Category was a big challenge for Turkey. SMEs don’t have the confidence and don’t think they have a chance to win the award. The application content was complicated for most of them and they had to be supported throughout the process. CSR Turkey has collaborated with TEB KOBİ TV (an online high rating SME channel) to prepare a special video for the award (explaining the content in a very simple way, telling the advantages of the programme, giving information in detail on how to communicate with CSR Turkey to get support. After the video was aired, more and more SMEs started to communicate with CSR Turkey and applied for the award.” CSR Turkey “We made phone calls and used contacts with leading professional institutions (promotion through Chambers of Commerce, Associations of SMEs,etc). This was very helpful.” Pontis, Slovakia. “In order to generate entries, the account management system and targeting particular companies with interesting practices was very helpful. The account management system allowed for one-to-one communication and maximized targeting as each account manager was able to know different projects and motivate companies to participate directly.” Foretica Spain “The most important thing to remember is personal contacts. So you should call, meet, and again call the companies encouraging them to participate. Besides, sometimes it’s challenging for companies to write the case or fill in the questionnaire, to support them we linked companies with University teachers who understand CSR so they can help the companies apply free of charge. This is mutally beneficial as know what CSR case means. And Teachers or experts help companies to prepare the case free of charge as this is mutually beneficial partnership. Teachers, especially those interested in CSR, get the grip of what’s happening in business (in the future it will help them to be more practical at their lectures) and companies get aquainted with the teachers and could look at corporate CSR issues at another angle. It’s a free of charge partnership but always in our cases companies presented some gifts to teachers who had written their cases.” Centre for CSR Development Ukraine Page 14. Step 6: Last push for entries We asked National Award Partners: What has worked for you when pushing for entries close to the deadline for applications? “Calling companies directly has worked very well. We also had internal consultants from Pontis Foundation for each category. Companies could call them and discuss their applications individually. We also run a webinar for companies.” Pontis Foundation, Slovakia. “Timing is very important. Practically, 60% of applications were submitted in the last day. You need to plan your deadlines and if you will provide any extensions.” Centre for CSR Development Ukraine Steps 5, 7 & 8: Planning and implementing assessing and judging processes Credibility, fairness and transparency are central to the awards. It is recommended to be gender balanced and multi-stakeholder. Please see APPENDIXes for document that may be of use when planning your assessing and judging process. The entries can be judged in different ways, we propose here two examples, the option selected depends on the number of applications and the uptake for participating in the judging panel. Option 1: Gather applications; identify and appoint judging panel; run one round of judging; select winners. Option 2: Gather applications; identify and appoint assessors and identify and select a judging panel; run a two stage process. - Stage One is an assessment process to select a short list of entries. - Stage Two is the judging process to select the final winning entry. If you anticipate more than 5 applications, our advice is to adopt option 2 with the two stage judging process Page 15. We asked National Award Partners: How do you pick your assessors and judges? What value do you think they get out of their participation? Note: a multi-stakeholder judging process was a requirement of the European CSR Award Scheme “The European character of the Award Scheme was one of the crucial arguments in motivating and gathering the high level judging panel. It gave us the opportunity and credit to invite the high level government officials, as well as representatives of other sectors dealing with EU related topics.” SmartKolektiv, Serbia “We choose 15 professionals that work actively in the CSR field for the assessment panel. The President of the jury was the Minister of Labour and Employment that supported the initiative and the other members included the Mayor of Luxembourg and CEOs of large companies in Luxembourg.” IMS Luxembourg “We picked the experts relevant to the topics from various sectors (business as well as non-business people). We also invited our sponsors’ representatives into the judging panels. Seeing what happens “in the kitchen of the Award Scheme” was a very interesting opportunity for them. All the judges also appreciated the new experience, information and contacts.” Pontis Foundation, Slovakia “ In the UK we were delighted to have representatives from business, government, third sector and academia as part of the Judging panel. This gave the discussions on the shortlisted entries a real depth. We also made sure that we had a good chair of the panel who would encourage a constructive analysis and conversation of the shortlisted partnerships”. Business in the Community, UK “Assessors and judges in the Spanish European CSR Awards were picked from a stakeholder dialogue and participation perspective. Involving different key stakeholders within the Spanish CSR context to form assesment panels per category was very positive as it facilitated not only a “buy-in” from key stakeholders but also allowed for it to be a learning experience. Finally, from Foretica’s perspective it gave the awards a lot more legitimacy. In regards to the jury, a high-level representation was chosen as the formula. Obtaining the General Director of Spanish Brand (Marca España) was important to mobilize high level representatives from public authorities, consumer associations, etc. Again, this facilitated not only a “buy-in” from key stakeholders but provided more credibility.” Foretica, Spain “We only work with international jury members as we felt it was really difficult to assess the cases for local experts. Because they know the company and have some personal or professional stereotypes towards the company we felt international judges would be more impartial.” Centre for CSR Development, Ukraine Page 16. Assessing and judging preparations Resource requirements. A significant amount of time is required to identify, invite and organise the assessing and judging panels. You need to allocate time to prepare, run and follow up from the assessing panel. Significant amounts of time need to be set aside for the writing up of feedback from hand written notes. We suggest that you invite assessors to bring laptops to type up notes. Per category we would recommend up to 2 pairs of assessors per 4 entries and up to 5 judges. Usually assessors don’t get the entries in advance but judges do. Each of these persons will need to set aside time to read the briefing material and to attend a full day for assessing or judging plus reading time in the case of the judges. Identify assessors for assessing panels: The applications should be peer assessed by professionals who work in the same or similar fields and have experience of similar programmes. Identify judges: Judges are usually selected from senior representatives from businesses and nonbusiness organisations. We suggest selecting senior representatives from your company contacts, plus senior representatives from as many other type of organisations as possible in line with the multi-stakeholder principle. Appointing an odd number of judges will ensure you will reach a decision on the winner. Train assessors/judges: Judges and or assessors need to be trained in advance. Apart from providing them with guidance notes we also advise running a training session or webinar with them to inform of the process, if possible. On top of sessions in advance, judges and assessors have also to be trained on the morning of the assessing or judging panel even if they have read the briefing material in advance to make sure they are all scoring on a consistent way. Identify facilitator and arrange logistics. o o o o A structured feedback form and scoring materials is provided for the judges and should be completed by each judge to assist you in providing the required company feedback. It is important to have a strong impartial facilitator for each panel who will guide the judges in the process, make sure they all contribute, ensuring fairness and transparency. This facilitator should be the chairperson who is also one of the judges but you may need to help the chairperson keep the time. You need to take time at the beginning of the day to explain the award scheme and what is being looked for in a winning entry. It is recommended that a separate assessing and or judging panel will be needed for each award category unless you think you can add so much time commitment from each person. What to do if you have too many entries Assessment panels with more than 12/14 entries are difficult to manage as each pair of assessors can only have 4 entries in one day but you can do it if you have the right number of assessors and also the right space for the day. In order to ensure you are not exposed to any criticism, we suggest that as organiser of the Award Scheme you do not get involved in the short listing at all. You could Page 17. have more assessors in a waiting list that will need to step in if you got more applications than what you expected. Other alternatives if you have too many entries are running two separate assessment days or get your assessors to do the shortlisting by email so you only take to the assessment day a reduced number of entries. Tips Our advice is to inform applicants of the proposed assessment and judging dates as far in advance as possible. Three weeks should be allowed between selecting a company to go forward to the judging panel to allow them enough time to prepare, clear diaries, book travel, and prepare a presentation. This date could be sent to all companies who applied so they can book the date. TWO STAGE PROCESS As explained above, unless you have a very limited number of entries, you will need a two stage process. - Stage One: The assessors to shortlist entries Stage Two: The judges to select the winning submission In terms of the judging process, you may choose between several variations. The options are outlined below to help you plan your own judging process. STAGE ONE: Assessing Panel Step 1: A full day should be set aside to include both the training of the assessors in the morning and the assessment process afterwards. An hour should be set aside at the beginning of the day to discuss the scoring guide, if possible practice using it to ensure everyone is scoring in a similar fashion by using the same scoring grid in a similar way. Step 2: Assessors work in pairs, while they first score individually and then discuss jointly to come to a mutual score for an entry. The assessors need to take notes on entries and submit them for each entry. These notes are essential in providing the content for the Award organisers will need to give. Allocate a total of 2 hours per entry, one hour reading, 30 minutes reaching an agreed score and 30 minutes writing up the feedback. Remember that various pairs of assessors will be working simultaneously. Important: Please do make sure that you can read the feedback comments. Step 3: Each pair looks at a maximum of 4 or 5 entries. Step 4: JOINT scores are collected in and entered onto the Summary Scoring Sheet to be able to rank the applications in order. In case there are any future questions, it is important to keep track of which pair of assessors scored which entry. Step 5: After all entries are scored, a group discussion will be held to decide which entries will be forwarded to the judging panel. Ideally no more than 5 or 6 entries are sent through to the judging panel. You need to be very strict during the assessment day on the timing, so that do have time for good discussion and have an agreed shortlist of entries. Page 18. Between STAGE ONE and STAGE TWO Step 6: It is important to communicate to those entries selected for the judging panel. At the same time and with great care and respect it is equally important to feedback to those that were not selected for the judging panel. Invite the shortlisted to prepare for a face to face judging panel. Step 7: Send shortlisted entries to judges and train judges. STAGE TWO: Judging Panel Step 8: A full day should be planned for both training of the judges and the judging process itself. An hour should be allowed to ensure everyone is scoring in a similar fashion by using the scoring grid. Each of the shortlisted companies has 20 minutes to present their programme. An outlined agenda for the judging day could look as follows: Sample agenda for Judging Day Introductions and training of the judges (1 hour 30 minutes) 5 companies presenting (1 hour each): - Presentation from company (20 minutes) - Q&A (10 minutes) - Discussion among judges on the scoring for that entry (15 minutes). It is important to keep the time to help the judges reach consensus and move to the next presentation. Make sure you are not seen as influencing the decision though. - Overtime just in case (10 minutes) - Next company comes in. Final overall discussion to identify the winners (1 hour). Since all presentations would have been scored, this will help the discussion at the end of the day. It is a long day but make sure judges understand they cannot leave earlier! Variations within the two stage process The assessment can be done remotely, by training the assessors by phone and sending them the entries, the scoring grid and scoring guidelines. The organisers will then need to add up the scores and identify a shortlist of partnerships. This approach does not allow for discussions among the assessors and makes the assessing experience less rewarding for the assessors (no exchange of opinions, no networking, less learning, etc). Or the first part (reading/scoring) could be done remotely and then you just get the assessors together to agree on scored and the final discussion. The judging can also be done remotely, by training the judges by phone and sending them the 5/6 shortlisted companies, the scoring grid and scoring guidelines. Then the organisation would need to add up Page 19. the scores and identify the winners. However, when judges work independently, they might use the scoring grid quite differently and they would lose the possibility to challenge assumptions and to agree on a common choice. It is not required that shortlisted companies present in person to the judges, so you can chose not to organise your judging this way; but it is highly recommended. We strongly recommend organising a face to face judging panel which will provide more value: To participating companies who would benefit from sharing their impactful project and thereby receive more visibility To judges who would have a better understanding of the projects and who might see this meeting as learning and networking opportunity We asked National Award Partners: What are the challenges of running an assessment panel? What has worked well for you? “One of the main challenges in the assesment panel was the complexity of the assessment process due to the large amount of projects that Forética received. We managed the high number of entries by dividing the assessment panel per category - that is each group read only projects within their assigned category, reducing the work load. The meetings were the highlight of the process, as the assessment panel members were excited to be part of this group, to debate and evaluate together the different projects. The diversity of the participants made the debate very interesting and enriching for the participants and the feedback provided later to the companies.” Foretica, Spain “Business in the Community has been using a process of independent assessors and judges for the BITC Responsible Business Awards for the last 17 or so years. Over time, consistently the feedback on the value of the process including the learning and deep insight, benefits to their own programmes to the networking that it provides has been extremely positive. This is an opportunity for learning, networking and an opportunity to demonstrate leadership for assessors and judges”. Business in the Community, UK We asked National Award Partners: What are the challenges of running a judging panel? What has worked well for you? “A high-level jury panel is difficult to manage and coordinate mainly due to difficulties in finding days that fit all the diaries. What worked well was sending the finalist projects - based on the assessment panels´ decision - and presenting the different initiatives during the jury panel meeting so we could guarantee their full knowledge of the projects. The leadership of the chair of the judging panel was very important for the flow of the meeting and essential to meet the main objective of picking a winner per category in addition to an overall large company and SME winners.” Foretica, Spain Page 20. Step 9: Prepare to communicate the winners You can choose different ways in which to communicate/announce the winners. One usual way to give profile to the Award Scheme is through an event. If you go down this route, try to make sure the winners of the award attend the celebration, but keep the outcome confidential until the celebration event to maintain the excitement and to build anticipation. You could also use a strong communications campaign using media, social media, newsletters, a webinar, etc. During the judging process you can collect collateral on all shortlisted entries to then be able to produce communications material without disclosing the winner to anyone, including the winner. Please remember that soon after the ceremony you will need to give feedback to those who did not win. As stated above, company feedback should be given within a short timeframe; this can be done in the form of feedback meetings with companies (recommended) or as a document. We asked National Award Partners: What information and format did you choose to communicate the winners? Which channels did you use to communicate the winners in your country? “We communicated the winners through several channels : Our dedicated website www.csrluxembourg.lu IMS Luxembourg’s website (we had a dedicated page for the Awards) A brochure of 20 pages (in partnership with our media partner) A press release. In these communications, we presented the companies and their partners as well as the project and its results and innovation.” IMS Luxembourg “The winners were communicated at the Spanish awards ceremony- within the framework of CSR Spain organised by Forética. Integrating this into a larger event and focusing on bringing high-level personalities allowed for greater journalist attraction capabilities thus strengthening the communication of the winners. Forética used as well their traditional communication channels (newsletter, website, etc.) to communicate the winners of the European CSR awards in Spain. Additionally, a press release was launched to complement the awards ceremony and coverage on specialised CSR media such as Corresponsables TV was constantly present. Social media- especially Twitter- was also a channel used to disseminate the winners, the videos, and the pictures of the awards ceremony.” Foretica, Spain “We kept who won a secret. No one except the organiser knew who had won. All participants attended the ceremony. The winners were announced at a CSR Conference where best practices are presented. “Centre for CSR Development, Ukraine Page 21. Step 10: Awards celebration If you plan to organise an event or ceremony to announce the winners, these tips may be useful for the planning: Guests: Invite representatives of all target groups, including companies, other project partners such as NGOs, schools, hospitals, government representatives, assessors, judges, media, sponsors and other partners. You could also invite beneficiaries of the winners from previous awards (e.g. European Year of Volunteering Award 2011) to share their experience. Hosting: Try to find a sponsor who could host the celebration to reduce costs. Catering: Depending on the time of the day, you would need to provide different snacks and drinks (e.g. sandwiches in the afternoon, cocktails in the evening) Registration: The registration desk should be hosted by one or two people who welcome and register participants. This can be useful for similar events in the future. In order to avoid participants queuing at the registration desk, set the registration time at least half an hour before the start of the event. Tip: You can use the table to promote the award and your organisation with different communication materials. Agenda: Invite great speakers to welcome the audience and introduce them to the award scheme. Try to structure the ceremony in an interactive way, e.g. show videos of the winning projects, give the floor to judges/assessors talking about their assessment, and beneficiaries talking about the programme’s impact. Afterwards, hand over the award certificates or trophies to winners and invite the audience to share their experiences during a networking drink. Other things you should think about: Prepare communication material (flyers, roll-ups, etc) and plan in advance how much you will have to print. Be as environmentally friendly as possible, what a contradiction otherwise! Also, try to prepare well in advance the Award certificates or trophies as well as all technical arrangements such as video materials (projector and screen) and audio materials (microphones, loudspeakers). Page 22. We asked National Award Partners: how did you organise your Awards Celebration? What were you looking to achieve with this event? Any tips? “Tip: Reveal the winners at the Ceremony, not before! Keeping the names of the winners secret until the Award Ceremony brought additional excitement and suspense among companies and their partners, but also among the audience present at the ceremony. The judging panel members were asked not to reveal the name of the winners publicly, but the companies participating in the contest were informed which are the top three ranked companies for their respective category few days before the Ceremony, in order to ensure the presence of top managers and high representatives of partner organisations and institutions at the event. Logistically, this late reveal requested additional efforts in coordinating the communication between the organizers and the judging panel members, as well as companies participating at the Scheme. The announcement of the winners at the Ceremony, contributed to raise the interest for the event itself, attract the right audience, generate more PR opportunities and generally give the Ceremony a nice touch of exclusivity.” SMartKolektivm Serbia “We organised a gala evening. The main goal of the event was to recognize winners as well as shortlisted companies and to gather the business community to share their CSR experience and celebrate together” Pontis Foundationm Slovakia “IMS Luxembourg choose to organize an institutional event with public authorities, by involving two ministries (Ministry of Labour and Employment and Ministry of Economy and its department of Economie Solidaire). These are some quotes: “I am delighted to contribute to the promotion of this noble cause that will certainly be the beginning of a longterm collaboration between the business world and public interest entities in Luxembourg”. Nicolas Schmit, Minister of Labour and Employment Together, we must find out solutions to the society problems, reiterating the willingness to develop an economic system that takes into account human needs and the principles of responsible human resource management”. Romain Schneider, Minister of Economie Solidaire, Luxembourg.” “Pontis Foundation in Slovakia ran a Gala evening with the following elements: sitting at round tables, musical program on stage and the announcement of winners in between. The selection of artists worked well – a combination of professional cellists with Roma people playing and singing. In the future we may look at bigger premises with more capacity – many guests only confirmed their attendance shortly before the event.” Foretica in Spain: “Our event was divided into two parts. The first part was focused more on content and involved a key speaker- the President of IBM Europe- followed by several parallel sessions focusing on CSR and public policies, Transparency and Socially Responsible Investment, and Social Innovation. The second part of the event was the awards ceremony which included the participation of three State Secretaries for the Ministries of environment, Social Affairs and Transport. The presidents of the winning companies received the awards by the president of the jury the president of Sanitas (national sponsor) and the various Secretaries of State. Page 23. The second part of the event was the awards ceremony which included the participation of three State Secretaries for the Ministries of environment, Social Affairs and Transport. The presidents of the winning companies received the awards by the president of the jury the president of Sanitas (national sponsor) and the various Secretaries of State. Integrating the awards ceremony within a larger CSR event was a very positive aspect as it allowed for greater attraction of company participants, national and regional government representatives, NGOS and other social partners. In terms of management, it is worth highlighting that Forética designated a person to exclusively focus on obtaining contacts for key stakeholders and companies to invite to the awards ceremony and the CSR Spain event. For Forética, this event and the European CSR Awards was an opportunity to continue advancing the CSR agenda in a country ridden by the economic crisis.” Step 11: Communicate the outcomes of the awards beyond the celebration Even if you run a big and very successful event, you need a good communication plan to multiply the effect through a good communication of the results after the ceremony. These results include not just the winners but as much information you can share in terms of the entries, great case studies, what can be learnt from the winners and in general all the entries. Only through a strong communications campaign you can achieve maximum impact from your Award Scheme. Samples of tools/channels to ensure long-lasting legacy: - Create publication of case studies (see case studies/analyses of winning projects in 2013 in “Golden Book”, here); Launch video campaign, ensuring the inspiration gets spread (see videos of national winner here); Continue communicating via online communication channels (website, newsletter, social media); Organise online and/or physical workshops to distribute outcomes; Spread results at national events from different CSR stakeholders via “award ambassadors”. We asked National Award Partners: What channels did you use to communicate the Award Scheme in your country? What worked well? “We use a variety of channels: Electronic newsletters sent to more than 1 200 people Website www.viabona.sk Media partners – Forbes, Hospodarske noviny (economic daily) + other publicity generated through PR Groups on Linked-in, Facebook On-line broadcasting of gala evening And a gala evening. We used google analytics to see how readers responded to articles published in media (how many people visited the Award website after article was published) and this year we developed a communications plan around the most effective media partnerships.” Pontis Foundation Slovakia Page 24. “On top of our usual communication channels, we created a special edition of one of our newsletters to raise the profile of the Award Scheme to all existing subscribers. This special edition gave us space to share information on the winners, speeches at the ceremony and even some more intimate stories such as the experience of having been a judge at one of the national judging panels” Business in the Community, UK Step 12: Provide feedback As mentioned before, as important as communicating the winners is giving constructive feedback to those who did not win. Very importantly this needs to be done in a short timeframe so you will need to prepare formal feedback based on the assessors’ and judges’ comments. The feedback can be giving in written or at a meeting, or a combination of both. We asked National Award Partners: How did you manage the communication with those who didn’t win? “We wrote individual emails with very specific feedback from judges to all companies who did not win.” Pontis Foundation Slovakia “We sent an email to all the companies that applied for the Awards to thank them for participating to the initiative and to encourage them to go on with their partnerships. Furthermore, an article was published on PaperJam to present all the projects applying (companies and partners / projects). The shortlisted partnerships were presented on the brochure (1 page per project).” IMS Luxembourg. “The aim of the Feedback notes sent out to the non-winning companies was to provide constructive and useful comments which served to explain the results received and to point out the strength and weaknesses of the entry. The companies were informed of scores received in each scoring segment of the entry with useful comments supporting the average scores appointed by the members of the judging panel. The idea behind creating the feedback notes was not only to ensure the transparency and consistency of the judging process by communicating directly the grades received, but more importantly to give companies the opportunity to learn from this experience and get important inputs to further develop their programmes. As we learned from companies’s feedback on Feedback notes, the scoring overview was of great help and use. See feedback note sample: European CSR Partnership Award in Serbia - FEEDBACK NOTE COMPANY: XXX ENTRY: YYY The aim of the feedback note is to provide information regarding the results that your entry achieved at the European CSR Award Scheme. Enclosed, please find the Scoring Overview. On behalf of Smart Kolektiv and Business Leaders Forum – the organisers of the European CSR Partnership Award in Serbia, we thank you for participation. We congratulate you for the important results you achieved through this project and we sincerely hope that you will continue to implement and inspire other partnership initiatives contributing to the sustainability of our society. “ SMartKolektiv Serbia. Page 25. “As we followed a two-step evaluation process, we had two moments for communication for those who didn´t win. The first was after the assesment panel meetings had taken place and the finalists were chosen, Forética, as the secretariat communicated to those who wouldn´t continue the process that they wouldn´t do so. Additionally, we communicated to the finalist projects the decision of the assessment panel. The finalists were communicated through a press release the day before the jury panel meeting was to take place. The second communication milestone for those who did not win, was the day of the jury panel. Once the deliberation of the jury was over and the winners were selected, the communication with the winners was made in a confidential way. For those finalists that hadn´t won, this was communicated as well, highlighting that the winning projects were not going to be communicated until the awards ceremony. This process worked well and allowed for constant communication with the applicants and made it easier to provide feedback.” Foretica Spain Step 13: Evaluation of the project In order for you as organiser and for all your stakeholders to learn from the Awards Scheme you may have delivered, a thorough evaluation of the project is crucial. This learning will be beneficial in itself and for planning future editions of the Award Scheme. You would have set yourself objectives at the beginning of the projects so you will be evaluating how things went against these objectives, you would have chosen the appropriate indicators and collected the data throughout the process. Just to help you start, some usual indicators for Awards Schemes are: number of entries, spread of entries (business sectors, size of business- SMEs/Large Companies, number of partners and spread of sectors they represent, visibility of the award, involvement of key stakeholder, quality of the entries, feedback from different stakeholders (e.g. companies submitting entries, assessors and judges, sponsors, etc). It is key to know in advance what you want to achieve, plan your evaluation at the start of the project, and collect data throughout the process to be in a good position to reflect and evaluate your Award Scheme at the end of it. Page 26. Final word We hope you found this guide of use in planning or enhancing your CSR Award Scheme. It was prepared on the basis of the experience of the European CSR Award Scheme and we hope it will add value to any organisation planning a CSR Award Scheme. This year’s first ever European CSR Awards have rewarded the efforts of individuals and organisations and helped to unlock enthusiasm for building dynamic and worthwhile partnerships that benefit both society and business. The winning examples contained in the Golden Book offer an invaluable source of case studies, insights and inspiration to learn from, share and be proud of. We hope that this Guide will further enhance the legacy of the first ever the European CSR Award Scheme. For more information on the Scheme or to download a copy of the Golden Book and to access the legacy videos, please visit: www.europeancsrawards.eu European CSR Award Scheme Ceremony- 25th June 2013 Page 27. APPENDIX APPENDIX 1: Confidentiality and conflict of interest of assessors and judges Name Organisation Category Confidentiality: I agree to respect the confidentiality of the submissions to the XXXX that I will read or discuss in my role as an assessor/judge. Conflicts of Interest: I also agree to disclose any conflicts of interest that I may have with the entries to this category (examples include entries from a company , or involving an NGO or other organisation that: you currently work for or have significant links with; that you used to work for; that is a direct competitor; that a close relative works for; etc). Signed: Date: Note: this confidentiality form needs to go to assessors and judges in advance of the assessment and judging days with the list of companies participating in each day so you are aware of any conflict of interest and you can plan to manage it. Page 28. APPENDIX 2: Guide Scoring Grid When you send the brief to the assessors or judges, you will also be sending them a scoring grid (see application pack) and a guide to using the scoring grid. You will guide them the same scoring grid and guide on the day of the assessment (and judging depending on how you decide to run your judging day). You can use an excel sheet to do the calculations promptly on the day of the assessment. This is a sample guide to the scoring grid as used for the European CSR Award Scheme: This guide will help you use the award entry scoring grid. Step 1: Read the entry in full from beginning to end so that you can get a good sense of all the information contained in the entry. Step 2: Re-read the entry again, but this time looking for how the entry addresses each of the sections. You can mark up the entry by underlining/highlighting key sections. Step 3: Read through the scoring grid to help familiarise yourself with the range in performance expected from the award entries from Poor through to Very Good. Step 4: Mark the entry section by section and please remember to use information from any relevant part of the entry by using the scoring grid to assign an appropriate score. Step 5: Once all the scores are in, then please scale using the below table to provide an overall score out of 100. ,You can use an excel sheet to do the calculations promptly on the day of the assessment. An example: Section Raw Score range Multiplier Scaled Score range 1 0-4 3.75 0- 15 (15%) 2 0-4 1.25 0–5 (5%) 3 0-4 1.25 0–5 (5%) 4 0-4 2.5 0 – 10 (10%) 5 0-4 1.25 0–5 (5%) 6 0-4 7.5 0 – 30 (30%) 7 0-4 7.5 0 – 30 (30%) TOTAL 0 - 28 N/A 0 – 100 (100%) Page 29. Worked example of scaling of scores: Section Raw Score range Multiplier Scaled Score range 1 2 3.75 7.5 2 1 1.25 1.25 3 3 1.25 3.75 4 3 2.5 7.5 5 2 1.25 2.5 6 3 7.5 22.5 7 4 7.5 30 TOTAL 18 N/A 75 Raw score of 2 on section 3.2 - is scaled to 7.5 Raw score of 1 on section 4.1 - is scaled to 1.25 Raw score of 3 on section 4.2 - is scaled to 3.75 Raw score of 3 on section 4.3 - is scaled to 7.5 Raw scored of 2 on section 4.4- is scaled to 2.5 Raw scored of 3 in section 5.1- is scaled to 22.5 Raw scored of 4 on section 5.2- is scaled to 30 Total raw score = 18, and the scaled score = 75. So when expressed as a percentage, the entry scores 75% Page 30. APPENDIX 3: Individual assessors/judges’ Scoring Sheet Category: Company Name: Assessors/Judges Name: Title of Entry: Entry ID: This paper should be used to note your individual scores for the above entry. The notes should be used to prompt your discussion with your assessor partner to agree the final score you give each section. The notes will also be used as the basis for the feedback report that will be sent to the company. So please write clearly and ensure that you: Decide a score and write feedback notes for each criterion; identify key strengths and weaknesses of the programme for each criterion and overall comment on the quality of evidence Note what was missing, or what wasn’t clear and give an overall summary of the entry. Feedback notes Score (max 4) 1 2 3 4 5 6 Page 31. APPENDIX 4: Simple Score Sheet to combine Assessors’ Individual Scoring Category: Company Name: Entry ID: Assessors Names: Title of Entry: Section Assessor A Score Assessor B Score 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Page 32. Final Agreed Score Have individual feedback notes been typed up YES or NO Have combined feedback notes been typed up and handed in? YES or NO Page 33. APPENDIX 5: Sample Feedback note used for the European CSR Award Scheme This is a rather long note, you could provide shorter ones. Assessors’ feedback for Company name Your entry has been assessed by independent and experienced assessors drawn from businesses and partner organisations. This feedback has been prepared from the written notes that assessors made when considering your entry. The aim of the feedback notes is to provide constructive comments to help you to understand the result that your entry to the XXXX received. It should also help you find out more about how you can develop your programme. It is intended to be useful and constructive pointing out both the strengths and weaknesses of the submission and covering its content and its form. Please note that we are not able to provide an in-depth report. Aim of the European CSR Award Scheme This Award Scheme aims to recognise and celebrate the best CSR projects of companies in partnership with at least a non business partner. We are looking for innovative projects that are having an impact on society through collaborative action with at least one non business partner. For more information please visit …. Summary and/or overall The assessors overall comment about this entry was that they were under the impression that (...) We recommend a structure that follows the application form. Eg. : Overall comments Innovation How you do it Social Impact Business Impact E.g. Impact Assessors commented that results / benefits for ... and ... are (or not) clear (...) / Level of development of measurement systems The following provides an example of a hypothetical feedback for a Company. EUROPEAN CSR AWARD IN UK Application Pack Assessors’ feedback for Your Company Ltd. “Company Programme” Your Company Ltd.’s entry has been assessed by two independent and experienced assessors drawn from businesses and partner organisations. The entry was then discussed at length by a panel of professionals before a final decision was made. This feedback has been prepared from the written notes that assessors made when considering the entry. The aim of the feedback is to provide constructive comments based on Your Company Ltd.’s submission for the Award. It also seeks to support Your Company Ltd. to further develop their programme. The feedback is intended to be useful pointing out both the strengths and the areas for improvement in the submission. Please note that although we are not able to provide an in-depth report, we would be delighted to have a call or meeting to discuss this feedback. Summary and/or overall comment for the entry: The assessors’ overall comment about Your Company Ltd.’s entry was that as a work experience programme, it was a good, inspirational programme with great potential to raise aspirations and give students the insight of the world of work by running their own companies. It is an ambitious and innovative programme aimed at reaching a large number of students and designed to produce very good results. The assessors thought that it is a good partnership project, although they pointed out it would be helpful to disaggregate the specific contributions made by the different part involved, your Company Ltd. and other organisations in order to better understand the contribution of each to the programme. The assessors felt that the submission would have benefited from including more specific information in order to explain further, how the programme operates. It would have been helpful for instance to add information on how long the programme has been running; provide quotes from students on the impact of the programme on them; more examples of activities undertaken during the programme; and more information on achievements and specific results to date. Innovation (15% of the scoring) The assessors felt that while there are some innovative elements in the programme, the programme doesn’t present a new solution. How you did it (25% of the scoring) This section covers Management, Leadership, Resources and Communication. This information was requested to enable assessors to understand how the programme operates. With this in mind, assessors found that on the whole, the project is a good work inspiration programme which will potentially deliver excellent results in the future to tackle barriers to work of young people. In addition, the assessors highlighted a few issues that would help strengthen the submission: The assessors noted that the reasons for the programme and the social issues it is trying to address were clearly laid out, as was the social objective of increasing awareness of the need for better entrepreneurial role models and entrepreneurial skills. EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 35 In order to support this section, the assessors would have liked more information on the business case, the leadership and more explanation of how this works in practice. Although the Your Company Ltd. ‘Company Programme’ has good training and community involvement activities, the assessors commented that from the submission it was less clear in what way this programme was part of a Your Company Ltd.’s wider strategy. It was also difficult to find evidence in the submission about leadership or the involvement of the senior management of the company. The assessors also commented that further information in the submission about the senior management’s participation and examples of concrete activities that the volunteers were performing in supporting the programme, would have been helpful in order to better understand how the programme runs. Whilst the target audience was described as “students at most risk of underachievement from the city most disadvantages communities”, the assessors would like to have seen clearer information on how the students are targeted and what mechanisms were used to identify that those students would consider running their own business. In this sense, this section of the submission could be reinforced with more quantitative and qualitative evidence around the mechanisms and specific indicators used to select the students, and more specific research sources, facts and total figures. The assessors felt that it would also have been helpful to explain further how these students’ employability needs were being met. In addition, although the number of volunteers from different organisations was stated, assessors were looking for more information on how Your Company Ltd.’s volunteering was managed: the volunteers’ specific activities during the programme and their future involvement in the programme going forward. Resources The assessors commented that this section showed that there were good resources available and training was properly given. To strengthen this section, the assessors suggested that further explanation around what the targets were for the employee volunteers’, and how they were addressed would have been helpful. In addition, the assessors would have liked to see further evidence and explanation on how the financial resources were being managed, including for instance, an explanation regarding the €140,000 budget and how it was both made up and distributed. Impact The section on Impact deals with the results in terms of social impact and benefits the company has gained through the programme, and accounts for 60% of the total mark of the submission. In this section the assessors were looking for evidence on the benefits for the social target and the business itself. The assessors commented that the students’ engagement was clearly laid out, as was the social objective of raising awareness of the need for better entrepreneurial role models and entrepreneurial skills for the future, in order to have more job opportunities and as a consequence, have an impact on their communities. In addition, the independent research results added strength to the submission in terms of transparency. The partnership with the non for profit was felt to show willingness on Company’s part to strengthen the programme in order to achieve broader results. The assessors commented that the benefits for the business and the employee volunteers however were not clear enough in the submission and further evidence and explanation would have been helpful. The results, for example, EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 36 of the volunteers’ feedback and their impressions around the programme, or how this programme fitted into a wider CSR strategy would have been useful. The assessors would have also liked to see the students’ feedback results, outcomes of their own companies and personal quotes to be able to better understand the impact of the programme on them. In conclusion whilst the programme has great potential further documentary evidence was needed in the submission in order to see the clear links between the programme and its impact on the employability agenda. EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 37 APPENDIX 6: Application Pack- European CSR Award Scheme in the UK This pack contains the information you need to submit an entry into the European CSR Award 2013 in United Kingdom. Introduction: The European CSR Award Scheme We are delighted to announce the first ever European CSR Award Scheme, Inspiring Partnerships for Innovation and Impact. This Award Scheme will be run by a consortium of National CSR Organisations in 30 European countries, led by CSR Europe and Business in the Community (BITC), with the support of the European Commission. Together we will deliver an impactful and far reaching European CSR Award Scheme, Inspiring Partnerships for Innovation and Impact. The European Award Scheme has two components: firstly, each of the 30 countries involved in this European Awards Scheme will run a National CSR Award in their country attracting entries and celebrating a large company and a SME winner at the local level. The European Award Scheme will then bring together the best of the best across Europe and these best initiatives will be celebrated at a European level through a European CSR Award ceremony in Brussels in June 2013. There won’t be pan European winners but two winners per country recognised by the European Commission and you can be one of these. For more information on how to apply in other countries please visit: www.europeancsrawards.eu "This new award scheme will highlight the cutting-edge excellence of European enterprises in corporate social responsibility. It will give greater exposure to some of the hidden champions, especially smaller enterprises, who engage in innovative partnerships to maximise their positive impacts on society. Corporate social responsibility is part of the formula for a competitive, innovative and socially inclusive Europe." Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Commission EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 38 Application Pack Overview Thank you for requesting this application form for European CSR Award Scheme. This pack contains the following information that you will need to submit an entry into the European CSR Award 2013 in United Kingdom: 1. Conditions of entry. Please take time to read through the conditions of entry. A submitted entry will indicate that the conditions of entry have been read and accepted by the submitting company. 2. Checklist. To make sure you are ready to fill in the application form, check if you fulfil all requirements. 3. Application Form. Please complete your entry using this application form. A separate form must be completed for each entry. All entries must be submitted by 1st March at 11:00am (UK time). They must be sent by email to: o SMEs Category: Karen Davidson [email protected] o Large Company Category: Julia Aramendi [email protected] 4. Partner Verification Form. The “Partner Verification Form” is part of your application. Please complete it and send it as part of your application form. You need one verification form for each non business partner. 5. CEO sign off: At question 3.2.7 please tick the box to confirm you are authorised to act on behalf of your company and its Chief Executive in this regard, and that the information submitted is a true reflection of your company’s programme and performance. 6. Guidance. Please complete the entry according to the criteria detailed below. Please use the guidance notes to help write your responses to each section. 7. Handy hints. Some useful hints can help you in filling in efficiently and effectively. 8. Assessment & judging scoring guide. This section includes the scoring guide to be used by assessors and judges. Notes on submitting your application Applications must not exceed 4850 words in the sections 3 to 5 (see conditions of entry) any additional text will be deleted. The full award submission must be contained in full within the entry form. No additional hard copy material is required for any category. Please do not submit it as it will not be considered by the judges. Web site links will not be checked either. The Awards system will only accept a Microsoft Word document therefore please DO NOT convert the application form into any other format such as a pdf. Completed application forms must not exceed 2mb in size. This will allow for use of normal formatting, tables and diagrams etc. it will not, however, allow for the inclusion of large numbers of photographs, graphics or other digital images. This size requirement is enforced through the internet software which will not accept entries that exceed the maximum file size. If you do wish to include images in your application form, you will find it easier to keep within the size limit if the images are optimised for screen viewing (72 pixels per inch). EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 39 Need help or advice? If you have any questions regarding this form or your entry, please contact … Conditions of Entry Eligibility The European CSR Award in UK are open to all members of Business in the Community (BITC), Scottish Business in the Community (SBC) and to any other private sector companies, firms, LLPs or partnerships that have a business presence in the UK. By “private sector” we mean companies that exist to make a profit for their shareholders through the provision of goods or services. Definition of Small companies: Small and Medium-sized enterprises: The category of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is open to enterprises which employ fewer than 250 persons and which have an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million, and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million. European Commission. Enterprise and Industry Sponsoring Companies National sponsoring companies are not eligible to enter the European CSR Award in UK but they can enter the Award in all the other countries. Multiple Entries Companies or individual business units may enter more than one category and may make multiple entries into a single category provided that the entries are based on distinct and separate projects. The same project cannot be entered into multiple categories (large and small). If the collaboration includes a small and a large company, the partners will have to decide to which of the two categories apply (large or small company). Case Studies Case studies for the Golden Book, the publication that will be produce with all winning case studies from across Europe, and other promotional material will be prepared using the award submission and, once signed off by the company, they will be published on European CSR Award Scheme websites and in other publications. Assessment For each category a panel of external practitioners, with experience in the subject area, will be convened to act as assessors. Each entry is scored initially by two individual assessors who then discuss their findings before agreeing a score. Finally all entries are discussed by the whole panel of assessors. The panel as a whole determines which entries should be passed to judging. National Shortlists Shortlists for each category usually comprise between 4 and 6 top scoring submissions. Companies who have made the shortlist will be notified by email or phone. Judging For each national category a multi-stakeholders panel of high level judges will be convened. Shortlisted companies will be invited to appear before the judging panel for their category. Each will make a presentation describing the scale and the significance of the impacts of their partnership or activity emphasising those aspects that are particularly inspirational, innovative and replicable and take part in a discussion or questions and answers session. The judges then choose the nationals example of excellence that will be recognised at the European Commission Ceremony in Brussels in June 2013. Announcement of Winner EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 40 European CSR Award winners in the UK will be announced at a National Ceremony in April 2013 in London and they will be invited to attend the Brussels Ceremony in June 2013, organised by the European Commission. Feedback We provide an overall summary paragraph from the assessors on every eligible entry submitted to the European CSR Award in the UK with the notification of your result. Please note we will not be providing feedback on every section of the application. EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 41 Application Form 3.1 Details of European CSR Entry There is just one entry form for the European CSR Award. This form is appropriate for all companies. There are two categories – Large Company category and SME Company category. Please indicate which category you are applying for (in case there is a small and a large company part of the same partnership). All of the mandatory Scored Sections of the form will need to be completed for the entry to be eligible for the European CSR Award. Please write your entry in accordance with the criteria and guidance notes below. European CSR Award in UK Award Category: 3.1.1 Name of Company 3.1.2 Parent Company (if applicable) 3.1.3 Name Entry of Award 3.1.4 Primary Name Contact Primary Position Contact Primary Email Contact Primary Phone Contact 3.1.5 Sector Accountants Consultants & Aerospace Defence & EUROPEAN CSR AWARD IN UK Application Pack Financial insurance Financial investment Services – Legal Retailers – Food & Drugs Leisure & Hotels Retailers General – Architects Automobiles Parts & Chemicals Construction Financial – Banks & Building Societies Utilities Food &Beverage Providers Household & Personal Goods Food & Drug Retailers Industrials & Engineering IT – Hardware, Software & Services Other (please specify) Media, Marketing & PR Mining & Basic Resources Support Services Surveyors Oil & Gas Telecommunic ations Pharmace uticals & Biotech Tobacco Real Estate Transport 3.1.6 Press office/media Contact Press Email office/media Press office/media Phone 3.2 Overview of your organisation and partnership This section is not scored, but the judges will take any relevant information into account when marking the subsequent sections of the entry. If you are successful, the information provided in this section will be used to produce an online case study of your entry, so please ensure that it correctly reflects your entry and includes all the key elements. 3.2.1 Company location 3.2.2 Turnover 3.2.3 Brief description of your company (100 words) EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 43 Number of Employees 3.2.4 Brief description of your partnership (100 words) Describe the partnership and its impact in a clear and succinct manner 3.2.5 List all other partners. Please include basic information on their organisations (e.g. NGO working on environmental awareness) 3.2.6 Please indicate that Confirm by ticking the relevant boxes below that the activities described go the activities over and above what you are required to do. described in your Legal/Statutory Regulatory Contractual award entry go over requirements requirements requirements and above what you are required to do If you wish to explain your response please do so below: 3.2.7 Authorisation I confirm that I have the consent of the company’s CEO or equivalent to submit this entry form CEO quote (100 words): Please provide a quote from the company’s CEO endorsing the programme along with their full name EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 44 3.3 What are you doing and why? For advice on all the scored questions please refer to the guidance sections of this document. 3.3.1 Summary (maximum 500 words, not scored) Provide a summary of your entry. You should include: what the partnership is about, the business objectives behind your involvement, the society benefits you aim to achieve, how the partnership works and the key impacts you have delivered. Please provide details of the overall aim of the initiative and specific measurable objectives. This is an Award Scheme for Partnerships, Innovation and Impact. Please describe your collaboration including: the number of partners; whether you are a formal or informal group (the partnership doesn’t have to be formal or complex); location etc. Why was/were your partner(s) chosen, and how the organisations complement each other. The judges will not look at the number of partners, however to meet the criteria the collaboration needs to include at least one business and one non business partner. There is no maximum to the number of business or non-business partners. 3.3.2 Innovation (maximum 750 words, 20% of the total score). Describe why the partnership is innovative, why it presents a new approach to a problem, or a new approach to doing business in a particular sector, that could then be replicated by others because it is such a good solution. EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 45 3.4 How do you do it? Quality of management Describe how your collaboration has been managed using the following headings. Review the guidelines before completing each section to makes sure you capture the right information to show how you have created, delivered and managed your partnership. 20% of the total score 3.4.1 Leadership and Purpose (maximum 500 words) 3.4.2 Management processes (maximum 500 words) 3.4.3 Resources (maximum 500 words) EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 46 3.4.4 Communication and dialogue (maximum 500 words) 3.5 What have you achieved? 1.1.1.1.1 This is the most important section of your application. Please read the guidelines carefully below. The impact to be assessed is related to the country where you are applying for the European CSR Award. E.g. if your partnership generates societal benefits in various countries, the only benefits that will be taken into account for the European CSR Award Scheme are those happening in the country where you are applying. 1.1.1.1.2 Describe the impact of your collaboration under the following headings: 1.1.1.1.3 60% of the total score 3.5.1 Social benefits (maximum 750 words, 30% of the total score) Please note that by social benefits we do not necessary mean community benefits, social benefits may consist of a reduction of the carbon footprint of a product, a different approach to working with your suppliers or a new Human Resources project to benefit your employees. 3.5.2 Business benefits (maximum 750 words, 30% of the total score) EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 47 Partner Verification Form Company: Category Entered: Large Company/Small company European CSR Award 2013 Name of entry: Entry ID: (do not complete, for internal use only) Thank you for your entry to the European CSR Award. In order for your entry to proceed, it needs to be accompanied by a verification statement from a senior representative of your main partner, such as the chief executive. The purpose of the statement is to provide third party verification of the evidence that you have submitted in section 3.5.1 on society benefits. In order to provide the context, your partner should also read at least the summary section as well. We also ask for a testimonial statement for use in case studies, press releases and other forms of communication. To be completed by your non business partner: Please complete the sections below, and ensure that it is sent by email with the rest of the application and at the same time as your awards application. A signature is not required. Name: Job Title: Organisation: Address: Telephone: Email: Verification statement: I have read the summary and the society benefits section of the above entry to European CSR Award Scheme in UK and confirm that it is a fair representation of the impact of the company. Date: Testimonial statement: (Please include a statement of up to 150 words, of your view of the partnership that the company has been involved with and the impact it has had particularly on your organisation, society, or cause. We will use this statement to support the European CSR Award entry and also in case studies and further communications to do with this programme). EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 48 Guidance Please write your entry in accordance with the following criteria and guidance notes. The notes are intended to help you to identify those factors that should be included in your submission. The suggestions under each criterion are not exhaustive and you may well have additional evidence that you wish to include. Please bear in mind that judges will only read your submission. Judges will NOT check web links or any other extra information. The word count is an essential element of ensuring a fair competition. The numbers correspond to the numbers of the sections you need to complete. (3.1) Details of European CSR Entry Please fill out this general information as appropriate. (3.2) Overview of your organisation The summary section enables you to provide some background information on your company to put your application into context for the judges. This section is not scored, but the judges will take any information provided here into account when marking the subsequent sections of the entry. CEO sign off: At question 3.2.7 please tick the box to confirm you are authorised to act on behalf of your company and its Chief Executive in this regard, and that the information submitted is a true reflection of your company’s programme and performance. (3.3) What are you doing and why? 3.3.1 Summary (maximum 500 words). Provide a summary of your entry. You should include: what the partnership is about, the business objectives behind your involvement, the society benefits you aim to achieve, how the partnership works and the key impacts you have delivered. Describe the collaboration’s approach to creating positive change on society including your objectives, key successes and emphasising any aspects that you consider to be particularly innovative or compelling. This is an Award Scheme for Partnerships, Innovation and Impact. Please describe your collaboration including: the number of partners; whether you are a formal or informal group (the partnership doesn’t have to be formal or complex); location etc. Why was/were your partner(s) chosen, and how the organisations complement each other. The judges will not look at the number of partners, however to meet the criteria the collaboration needs to include at least one business and one non business partner. There is no maximum to the number of business or non business partners. The summary is not scored (although any evidence provided will be taken into account by judges when scoring the other criteria). However it is an important part of your submission and will form the basis of the case study that will be produced if your entry is successful. 3.3.2 Innovation (maximum 750 words, 20% of the total score). Describe why the partnership is innovative, why does it present a new approach to a problem, or a new approach to doing business in a particular sector, that could then be replicated by others because it is such a good solution By innovation we mean trying something new, a new model, a new approach, a new EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 49 solution, a new combination of partners to address a social issue. (3.4.) How do you do it? This section deals with the processes by which you have created, delivered and managed your collaboration. The information and evidence given here shows how the positive impact from the collaboration has been achieved through clear purposes, strong leadership, an effective management approach, sound resourcing and effective communication and dialogue with stakeholders making it both sustainable and replicable. This section achieves 20% of the marks split as follows: 3.4.1 Leadership and Purpose (maximum 500 words) This section gives you the opportunity to show how the collaboration has been initiated and led, and how the setting up and running of the collaboration has been underpinned by clear purposes and strategic intent. Factors you might consider including are: The level of senior management commitment and involvement the collaboration has How the leadership roles and responsibilities have been identified, allocated and developed How leaders have acted as advocates for the collaboration, within their own companies and externally The strategic objectives for the collaboration (e.g. a specific business or society need) and how the various partners in the collaboration feed into this How these objectives have been developed to target disadvantaged groups How these objectives are communicated (e.g. with a written strategy, a project plan etc). 3.4.2 Management processes (maximum 500 words) This section seeks evidence on the effectiveness with which the collaboration has been implemented and managed. Factors might include: The structures and processes exist to ensure effective planning and operational management to support the collaboration achieving its objectives How targets and performance indicators for the partnership are set How the collaboration is monitored, measured and evaluated against its KPIs/ targets and objectives The lessons have been learned and how have they been fed into a continuous improvement process 3.4.3 Resources (maximum 500 words) This section looks for evidence that appropriate resources have been used for the collaboration, whether financial or people or in kind etc. Factors to consider include: The scale of the collaboration compares to the size of the organisations involved and the intended outcomes The financial resources, cash, people or in-kind, have been made available to the collaboration (what are the running costs, what is the value of time/resources given to collaboration) How these resources have been managed to ensure that their value is optimised Communication and dialogue (maximum 500 words) 3.4.4 This section looks for information about how the collaboration communicates its impact and encourages dialogue with partners and stakeholders. Factors you might consider include: EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 50 The benefits and outcomes of the partnership have been communicated, and shared between the organisations involved Whether stakeholders and partners have been consulted about the development of the partnership, and seen their participation recognised How good practice has been learned from and shared, both internally within the organisation and externally with other businesses How success and achievement is communicated and publicly acknowledged 3.5 What have you achieved? Impact (maximum 1,500 words, 60% of the total score). This section deals with the impact of your collaboration. Please support your entry with both qualitative and quantitative evidence. Assessors will be looking for quantitative evidence and for qualitative/testimonial evidence from for example, employees and business managers, beneficiaries and partners. This section accounts for 60% of the marks, split evenly between the two criteria. Please include targets/KPIs in this section. Important note: the impact the judges will take into account is what is actually taking place in the country where you are applying for the Award. 3.5.1 Social benefits: How and to what extent has your collaboration achieved its purpose in terms of its impact on society (by society we mean the direct beneficiaries of the collaboration, the wider community and the partners you have worked with). Factors you might consider in completing this section include: What has been the impact of the collaboration on its targeted beneficiaries including short and longer term benefits What have been the results in terms of outcomes for wider society Has the collaboration raised awareness of the issues in any measurable way Are new approaches or processes now in operation as a result of the learning generated by the collaboration Has the collaboration leveraged extra resources for partners (e.g. through matched funding of your cash and kind resources) Have partners secured additional benefits through their strengthened relationship with you and other businesses (e.g. participation in training courses). Please note that by social benefits we do not necessary mean community benefits, social benefits may consist of a reduction of the carbon footprint of a product, a different approach to working with your suppliers or a new Human Resources project. 3.5.2 Business benefits: Please describe how the partnership has benefited your company A starting point for the European CSR Award is that businesses should benefit from their responsible business practice. There may be a number of ways this may occur, depending on the type of collaboration that you are submitting. We recognise that measuring business benefits from a collaboration perspective can be harder than for a single business assessing the impact of a unique project. You can include benefits that have been felt by all business partners in the collaboration and/or select the best examples from the businesses involved. Some of the things you might consider include: Impacts on recruitment, retention, motivation and skills of staff EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 51 Increased positive perceptions and reputation of the companies among stakeholders and customers The development of new networks, business contacts, processes, ideas or products Good practice identified as a result of the collaboration, taken up by partners applied and communicated internally A reduction of costs in some of your company’s processes Please note that the impact to be assessed is related to the country where you are applying for the European CSR Award Scheme. E.g. if your partnership generates societal benefits in various countries, the only benefits that will be taken into account for the European CSR Award are those happening in the country where you are applying. 4. Partner Verification Form An important element of the European CSR Award is obtaining verification of the ‘Society Benefits’ from your partner and including it in this section of your submission. A form is included in the Application Pack. A suitable person would be the chief executive or a senior representative of the non-business partner (foundation/NGO/Charity, school, hospital, etc), with which you have partnered. One form is required for each non business partner. The verification statement should be accompanied by a testimonial statement (maximum 150 words), which will seen by assessors and judges. The Partner Verification Form, contained in the application pack, should be submitted with the completed application by 1st March at 11:00am (UK time) Handy Hints You can cross refer between sections so that you do not have to repeat information in different sections across the entry. Each section is numbered to make cross referencing easy. Wherever possible please use quantitative and qualitative evidence. When we refer to qualitative evidence this means evidence that describes or explains the quantitative (numerical) evidence. For example: Quantitative evidence – 89% of employees more motivated to work for the company as a result of this partnership. Qualitative evidence – X employee “I am more committed to the company because of the x project and my involvement in it.” EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 52 Scoring Grid Innovation 20% Innovation How do you do it? 20% Management Leadership Resources Communication Poor (0) Basic (1) Satisfactory (2) Good (3) Very good (4) Insufficient evidence to justify a score Patchy evidence, just adequate to meet basic requirements of the criteria Convincing and appropriate evidence covering parts of the criteria but patchy in other parts Convincing and appropriate evidence across the whole of the criteria Strong evidence with elements that are exemplary, innovative or particularly ground-breaking Nothing innovative is identified in the approach of the partnership There are elements identified as innovative, but this is either not convincing or not linked to any increase in impact There are convincing elements of the partnership that are innovative and that are clearly linked to increased impact. The partnership approach is innovative and this is clearly linked to increased impact. There are fundamental approach of the partnership is innovative, this has transformed the level of impact and can be widely applied to others /replicated by others. Poor (0) Basic (1) Satisfactory (2) Good (3) Very good (4) Insufficient evidence to justify a score Patchy evidence, just adequate to meet basic requirements Convincing and appropriate evidence covering parts of the criteria but patchy in other parts Convincing and appropriate evidence across the whole of the criteria Strong evidence with elements that are exemplary, innovative or particularly ground-breaking The partnershio is held back by the lack of management processes and resource. There is no evidence of commitment of the leaders. There are not appropriate levels of investment of financial, human, marketing and other resources. There is insufficient communication of the project and among partners. There is evidence of sufficient processes and investment of resource to enable the basic functioning and communication of the project. There is patchy evidence of commitment of the leaders. There are just appropriate levels of investment of financial, human, marketing and other resources. The communication of the project and among partners is basic. There is evidence of a reasonable approach to management of the partnership and satisfactory levels of resource invested, but likely to be some areas of weakness. There is reasonable commitment of the leaders. There are good levels of investment of financial, human, marketing and other resources. There is reasonable communication of the impact of the project and dialogue with partners and stakeholders. There is evidence of effective management processes in place and levels of resource, appropriate to the objectives of the project. Resources are well deployed and managed. There is evidence of good level of commitment of the leaders. There are very good levels of investment of financial, human, marketing and other resources. There is evidence of effective communication of the impact of the project and dialogue with partners and stakeholders. The management processes are well planned and executed. The types and levels of resource are fully appropriate to the scale and objectives of the project and are effectively managed to achieve the maximum results. There is evidence of strong commitment of the leaders. There are excellent levels of investment of financial, human, marketing and other resources. There is evidence of exemplary and innovative communication of the impact of the project and dialogue with partners and stakeholders. EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack page 53 What have you achieved? 60% Social Benefits 30% Business 30% Poor (0) Basic (1) Satisfactory (2) Good (3) Very good (4) Insufficient evidence to justify a score Patchy evidence, just adequate to meet basic requirements of the criteria Reasonable levels of evidence covering parts of the criteria, as appropriate to the nature of the partnership Convincing evidence including deeper analysis of benefits, as appropriate to the nature of the partnership Strong evidence with elements that are exemplary, innovative or particularly ground-breaking There is no evidence of the company having achieved any benefits for society. Some benefits to society have been suggested but evidence is patchy and unconvincing. Reasonable social benefits are shown with good qualitative or quantitative evidence or basic levels of both kinds of evidence. Any numerical evidence is likely to be limited to social benefit ‘outputs’, e.g. numbers of people engaged in the partnership. Strong social benefits are shown with good qualitative and quantitative evidence in all appropriate areas. Numerical evidence relates not just to numbers of people engaged but might include other metrics. The social benefits of the company's approach have been exceptional, with strong, convincing and appropriate qualitative and quantitative evidence. In addition to the previous criteria, some broader or longer term positive impacts from the partnership have been outlined e.g. policy changes, capacity building of partners etc. The business benefits of the company's approach have been exceptional, with strong, convincing and appropriate qualitative and quantitative evidence. There may also be evidence of how the company has incorporated learnings from this partnership into the wider business to increase business benefits. Benefits There is no evidence Some business benefits Reasonable business benefits are Strong business benefits are of the company having achieved any business benefits. EUROPEAN CSR AWARD SCHEME Application Pack have been suggested but evidence is patchy and unconvincing. shown with good qualitative or quantitative evidence or satisfactory levels of both kinds of evidence. Any evidence is likely to be limited to business benefit ‘outputs’, e.g. numbers of employees engaged in volunteering. shown with good qualitative and quantitative evidence. Evidence relates not just to numbers of people engaged but might include analysis of cost savings, skills developed, reputation, etc. page 54
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