Giving Compass' Take: 

• After combining multiple outreach and community programs within his organization, the author offers his best tips for successful CSR leadership. 

• Does any of this advice surprise you? Which tip is the most important for organizations, big or small?

• Looking for even more CSR guidance? TriplePundit offers these six ways to engage employees.

Three years back, when my CEO asked me to take on the project of tying together the various Outreach and Community programs that were going on within our organization under one umbrella CSR program, I thought…”Wow! Where do I start?”

1. Be Authentic – The most senior leaders must talk about CSR and commit their own time to volunteering and related activities.

2. Learn to Say No - There are plenty of issues at hand ranging from hunger, health, education, women empowerment, and so forth, but how can we adopt a focused approach to social responsibility? I decided that we needed to narrow our focus to something the majority of our team felt passionate about.

3. Build Responsible Culture – Not Charity: We started social responsibility from the very first year of our operations, and everyone believed that giving back to the society should be a cultural thing and not mere a checkbook philanthropy.

4. Rethink, Reinvent, Rewire - I had to reinvent myself and be creative in making CSR work for our employees.

5. It’s Everyone’s Job - We realized that an enterprise with a true sense of the value and importance of CSR is one where everyone employed understands their company’s commitment towards social responsibility, acknowledges its value, and participates to whatever degree they can.

6. Run it Like a Business Function - If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Profit and philanthropy have always had enjoyed a curious relationship.

7. Communicate to Motivate - Sound CSR practices are also about making a sound, resonating, driving dialogue and conversations to deliver return –in terms of social progress, the bottom line (profit) and brand perception.

Read the full article about CSR leadership by Abhishek Ranjan at CSRwire