Introduction

You are a part of a global effort to increase access to education and empower students through “open pedagogy.”  Open pedagogy is a “free access” educational practice that places you – the student – at the center of your own learning process in a more engaging, collaborative learning environment.  The ultimate purpose of this effort is to achieve greater social justice in our community in which the work can be freely shared with the broader community.  This is a renewable assignment that is designed to enable you to become an agent of change in your community through the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  For this work, you will integrate the disciplines of Business and Social Entrepreneurship to achieve SDG #8: Decent Work and Economic Growth.   

Learning Objectives

Your job in this assignment is to find an existing business and explore what it is doing—or what it could be doing—to improve life on earth, using the UN SDGs as a framework.

Purpose/Rationale

Social entrepreneurship, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)—there are many names for the work that businesses do that relates directly to a social or environmental issue and that reflects many of the goals in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), not the least of which is Goal #8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. There are many forms that social entrepreneurship or corporate social responsibility take. What is undeniable is that businesses have become increasingly sensitive and involved with tying their business model and goal more directly to work that improves society or our planet.

Instructions

Step One: Identify an existing company that you already interact with as a customer. The company may or may not already have a CSR mission. The usual suspects of Tom’s shoes, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, and Starbucks coffee are off the table as their CSR platforms are already so well known. Find a company that surprises you!

Step Two: Research the mission and goals of the company and any existing plan to support the local or larger community or environment. You may find these on the company’s website or in a source such as Bloomberg News or Yahoo financial. You may also find out about their CSR work through their Social and Environmental Annual Reports (SEARS).

Step Three: If the company is not already involved in CSR, your job is to identify at least one or two UN SDGs that are a good fit for the company and propose work that the company might do to incorporate this into its mission. If the company is involved in CSR, your job is to identify the UN SDGs that are addressed. (Note, for full credit, two goals must be identified. One can already exist and you can add a second for this assignment).

Step Four: Identify ways that the CSR for this company can be enhanced or better incorporated into the mission of the company. You should include at least three ways the company can better communicate the work to its stakeholders: consumers, shareholders, and employees.

Format Requirements

This assignment should fit on one page, in the format of an infographic a company might distribute at corporate meetings, on site at its place of business, or on its website. You should include the company logo and enough information to allow the stakeholders to know what is going on and how they can be part of the mission.