Running head: CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Corporate Social Responsibility Outing

Day 4

The Chicago Seminar on Business and Society

BE/SO-425

Kristie Archer
International College of the Cayman Islands
May 20th, 2016

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As part of our corporate social responsibility, we were able to go to the North Suburban
YMCA and assist Allstate with painting benches, assembling new benches, cleaning benches,
and planting a community garden. Before we delved into the fun part of the outing Laura
Freveletti an employee of Allstate gave the group a presentation on the various programs they
have at Allstate that are geared towards social corporate responsibility (CSR). Allstates
corporate responsibility mission is, To create value. Boost Allstates business performance
through voluntary initiatives that deliver a positive impact on society.
Allstate is so dedicated to CSR that they have objectives and goals to meet each year, and
they have corporate strategic priorities to meet yearly as well. Another great thing about CSR
within their company is that they will tailor your volunteer interest, especially for those in
executive positions. As part of the CSR initiative, they have four main foundations that they
oversee and have many employees that are involved and communities as well. Even though
Allstate is mainly an insurance company, they felt best to break away from having a foundation/s
for safe drivers and came up with what they saw as necessary for the community nationwide.
They even have a CSR team within the corporation that will educate and find the right fit for you
volunteer wise. One of the signature issue foundations is the Purple Purse, which assists victims
and survivors of domestic violence financially and to assist them in breaking the cycle. Mrs.
Freveletti also highlighted that actress Kerry Washington is used as the celebrity to promote this
cause and that Kerry is very passionate about it. They pay her a sum of money for each
appearance, mainly in October which is the month promoting the topic of domestic violence
worldwide. Good Starts Young is the other signature issue foundation that helps build character
in todays youth to drive greater success in life. The other two community support foundations

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are Helping Hands that recognize local Allstater volunteer efforts, and Greater Good which fills
the succession gap in the nonprofit sector.
I was very impressed with the volunteer efforts that Allstate has in place to support the
local communities and the great foundations they have in place. Allstate truly follows and
believes in the concept of corporate social responsibility. As cited from the book the concept of
CSR is, based in the root of the term responsibility, meaning to pledge back, creating a
commitment to give back to society and the organizations stakeholders. It implies that harm to
people and society should be acknowledged and corrected if at all possible (Lawrence & Weber,
2014, p. 49).
In Cayman, we have very similar volunteer efforts and foundations put in place to assist
those in need, but I dont believe we can entirely compare to Allstates great initiatives. At CUC I
know that there is a target in place for a certain amount of volunteer hours to be met and there
are various organizations across Cayman to volunteer for. Organizations such as Meals on
Wheels, Big Brother/Big Sister, Various Charity Walks, Positive Intervention Now (PIN) and
Buy a Child Breakfast (A Lions Club initiative).
There are so many foundations that as an individual we can volunteer for and even create
new ones if we were to get the right people involved. After seeing and listening to Allstates
corporate responsibility strategies I will be looking into what more my employer can do to help
and reach out to the community on a whole because visibility is very important when owning a
business. This allows individuals to see how much the company is doing for the community, and
in turn gives the company a valuable reputation and boosts profit. CUC has already established
that reputation of visibility in Cayman.

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4
References

Lawrence, A. & Weber, J., (2014). Business and society: stakeholders, ethics, public policy (14th
ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill