From the blogs - Chris Jarvis's 51 Great Sites For Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability

Canadian Corporate Social Responsibility expert and blogger Chris Jarvis has put together a list of 51 websites, blogs and twitter feeds that deal with CSR and sustainability – valuable reading for the Australian CSR community.

Jarvis is the Senior Consultant with Realized Worth, which he founded with his partner, Angle Parker. Jarvis’ expertise is in designing and implementing employee volunteer programs. Over the past 20 years, Jarvis has worked alongside Not for Profit organisations across North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia utilizing a model that, according to Jarvis, elevates volunteerism from a task-oriented activity to a transformative experience. – Visit Jarvis’ blog here.

The ’10 Must Have’ sites on CSR (including Jarvis’s own colourful commentary):

3BL Media: A recent newcomer, this site keeps getting better and better. TheCSRminute, a daily video digest covering relevant CSR and Sustainability news, is a fantastic idea. The 3BL team scours the global media to cover some of the most important events and news in the world of CSR. I especially have appreciated the aggressive compilation of leading bloggers in CSR. You’ll find them on twitter as theCSRfeed. They are very interactive and are collecting followers fast.

APEsphere: The name has multiple meanings, but is an acronym meaning Agents of Progressive Enterprise;. The site has a broad range of topics within CSR and sustainability. Good writing and helpful content. You can follow the Apebot on twitter or connect directly with the 2 founders Andrew Newton or Angela Peterson Newton

Boston College Centre for Corporate Citizenship: We are big fans of BCCC. They offer good research and are leaders in the field of CSR and Community Engagement. But for some of the good stuff, you have to have a membership, and its not cheap. The lowest price is $2000 – yikes! They are on twitter, but are not too active at this point.

Business Respect: This is Mallen Baker’s site, and he offers a collection of current news on CSR issues. Great resource section with reviews and rating system – very helpful. BusinessRespect is on twitter also.

CSRwire: This site has a huge following and is considered the standard for CSR news. It is an attractive site and easy to use. You can even participate as a member of the community by sharing your articles, video, audio and commentaries. On twitter they are CSRwire but they maintain a modest presence there.

Eldis: A massive site with a plethora of free resources. You can create a profile, interact with other members, view information by region, look for jobs, even receive the content free on CD-ROm. Follow Eldis on twitter.

Ethical Corporation: This is the online version of the Ethical Corporation magazine published 10 times each year. While the quality of the podcasts is not always the best (background noise and other strange audio sounds) the resources on this site are numerous and of superior quality. They are on twitter as Ethical_Corp.

Triple Pundit: You’ll find information and articles about sustainability and business. With over 35 writers and guest bloggers, the perspective and scope is wide and varied. Follow them on twitter.

Business in the Community: Located in the UK, this business-led coalition has been around since 1982 and has over 800 members. Good research, publications and case studies. One of my favorite tools is the Jargon Buster. On twitter, they are bitc1.

Sustainability Forum: News, discussions, blogs, job postings – this site has it all. It is managed by Fabian Pattberg who also utilizes twitter very well. You can follow him as FabianPattberg

10 CSR Bloggers you should know about:

David Coethica’s Blog: Based in the UK, David always offers insightful and meaningful blog entries for his readers. Ive even cross-posted some of his articles I appreciate them so much! Follow David on twitter – http://twitter.com/davidcoethica

Business Musings: Ramesh is from India, but lives and works in China. He is on a sabbatical after many years of corporate life. As part of the process, he has decided to discuss his thinking on business and corporate responsibility via his blog. I enjoy reading an informed perspective from the other side of the globe.

Corporate and Responsible: Lucia Candu writes her blog from New York city, having recently relocated from the Eastern European country of Moldova. She has a wealth of experience in the business, nonprofit and government sectors which is evident as she writes about CSR, sustainability, corporate citizenship and ethical business.

Crane and Matten blog: Andrew Crane and Dirk Matten are professors at the Schulich School of Business (York University located here in Toronto). They manage to offer a blog that is both accessible and yet solidly academic. You can read this blog with confidence, knowing that the perspectives and insights are well informed.

FabianPatterg.com: Fabian Pattberg’s blog is a companion to his Sustainability Forum site and his twitter activity. His blog rounds out the picture nicely. Follow Fabian on twitter – http://twitter.com/FabianPattberg

Mallen Baker: This site is a staple for anyone doing anything with CSR. Mr Baker knows what he’s talking about – and he’s talking about pretty much everything CSR. Follow Mallen on twitter – http://twitter.com/MallenBaker

CSR-Reporting: Want to know how to read a CSR report? Wondering what a CSR report is and what purpose it serves? Do you enjoy good writing about ice cream? Then you have to read Elaine Cohen’s blog (she writes a lot about ice cream – she just likes it a lot). Follow Elaine on twitter – http://twitter.com/elainecohen (and notice the icecream on her page!!)

CSR International: Anyone interested in CSR will eventually come across Wayne Visser, a professor of CSR at Cambridge, and the founder of CSR International. He is very active in the field, and offers a unique and candid voice on the topic. Follow Wayne on twitter – http://twitter.com/waynevisser

The Business Ethics Blog: Chris MacDonald teaches philosophy at Saint Mary’s University in my hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Recently we got together and hosted a tweetup here in Toronto. His is a well written and insightful blog, rounding out the issues of CSR by looking at things from the perspective of ethics. Follow Chris on twitter – http://twitter.com/ethicsblogger

Evolving Choice: Aaron Fu and Katherine Liew write a very accessible blog on Sustainability and CSR. Having both been educated in Australia, and with Aaron now working in Prague, there is a certain eclectic quality in regional perspective (which I like). Follow Aaron on twitter http://twitter.com/AaronQFu – as well as Katherine – http://twitter.com/katherineliew

30 (plus 1) sites to complete your CSR favorites list:

Accountability: A global Nonprofit pushing the CSR agenda forward.

Accountability-Central: A fantastic site, easy to use with great information, resources and links.

Business for Social Responsibility: A consulting company providing good information and perspective on events in the world of CSR.

B Corporation: Limited resources and news information, but a ‘must’ site for any business serious about CSR.

Caux Round Table: Decent resources and a global perspective.

Chlorogy: A new site I’m just making my way around, Chlorogy offers a diverse and extensive perspective on CSR and Sustainability.

Corporate Citizenship Briefing: Good news coverage and analysis. Ive found some great free research on this site.

Corporate Knights: A Canadian product, they may actually have the worlds largest circulation for a magazine with an explicit focus on corporate responsibility.

CRO, Corporate Responsibility Officer: Decent information, but the site layout isn’t my favorite.

Corporate Social Responsibility Europe: Basically CSR news from Europe.

CSR-NEWS.net: An attractive site with good news coverage, but you have to pay $70 for the research and articles.

Ethical Performance: An okay site, but for the good stuff you need an expensive subscription.

Force for Good: Ive just started using this site, and I’m enjoying the sites layout and accessibility.

Forum for Future: A focus on sustainability. Good resources.

Good Magazine: This online version of the magazine is out to do some good. Period. Fun and informative, theres not a stuffy attitude to be found here.

Goodness500: Want to see how businesses stack up in the ratings? This site offers an interesting transparency and scoring system.

Global Reporting Initiative: This reporting focused site is a necessary part of anybody’s CSR resource list.

International Business Leaders Forum: A UK site covering Sustainability and business.

International Institute for Sustainable Development: A Canadian site with a focus on Sustainability.

Institute of Business Ethics: Not entirely helpful, and you pretty much have to pay for all the publications. Actually not sure why I am including this one.

Jantzi Research: If you’re in Canada, you’ll want to bookmark this link. If not, then probably not.

Kennedy School of Government, Harvard (The CSR Initiative): A decent selection of working papers and other research. Hey, its Harvard.

Project Label: I love this site. If you want to know how a company rates when it comes to CSR, then this site is for you. You can even make contributions to the rating profile. I spend way too much time here.

Social Innovations Conversations: Don’t want to read your CSR news? Then this site is for you. Great topics, excellent guests and good quality.

Small Business Journey: If you’re a small to medium size business interested in CSR, then this site will be a very helpful resource.

Stanford Social Innovation Review: This is the online version of Stanford’s magazine (which is impossible to find in Canada by the way). A decent site with good information for the Nonprofit side of the discussion.

Sustainability: This global consultancy/think-tank offers decent research for free.

The Center for Corporate Sustainability: All about Sustainability and environmental issues. I like the link list, but I can’t figure why its not hyper-linked to the actual sites.

Transparency International: These whistle blowers are all about putting the spotlight on corrupt corporations and business practices around the world. They’ll point you in the right direction for news and articles related to corporate transparency (or the lack of it).

World Business Council for Sustainable Development: A bit boring layout, but good links and information.

UN Global Compact: This site needs to be in your bookmark list. Why? It’s the United Nations for petes sake!