Scope
The Community Engagement Manager at Libro Credit Union, the second largest credit union in Ontario with close to 600 employees, engaged Coro to counsel her through a number of community investment and CSR strategy initiatives.
Issues
Two credit unions had recently merged and needed to combine their community investment strategies. The Board and leadership were also interested in learning more about a corporate social responsibility strategy and the opportunities available to them to expand beyond a community investment program. The organization had visionary leadership and ambitious goals, but needed more knowledge of CSR trends, risks, opportunities, business models and the business case – and didn’t have the time to do it all. The recent merger had created an important window of opportunity that required rapid, just-in-time advice and decisions. The Community Engagement Manager needed to work quickly to gain knowledge and expertise in corporate social responsibility. The organization was at a critical juncture and wanted to build a strong platform for growth and community impact, but how?
Solution
Coro worked with the Manager for over a year to build the credit union’s knowledge, skills and experience in corporate social responsibility and community investment leadership. The first step involved an assessment of the corporate position to identify the organization’s leadership orientation. This revealed its desire to move beyond traditional community investment and CSR measures to transformational and social purpose strategies.
With her knowledge and expertise in transformational community investment and CSR, Coro supported the Manager to frame the organization’s leadership options, from conventional measures to more engaged and impactful approaches. She suggested educational and presentation materials for the senior management team and board of directors for the Manager’s use, including the CSR business case, trends, risks and opportunities. Coro oriented the Manager to a strategic pathway for the development of a visionary social purpose business model, tailored to the organization. She advised on stakeholder consultation questions and strategic planning discussions for board and management.
Coro provided CSR insights on marketing and capital strategies, granting criteria and project charters to build the credit union’s capacity in strategic and transformational community investment and CSR.
Results
With strategic advice from the Community Engagement Manager, the organization’s leadership chose a social purpose business model to define its future CSR approach.
The organization successfully relaunched its community investment program, the Libro Prosperity Fund, which harnesses the organization’s unique skills and abilities to tackle the challenges and opportunities in its market: economic development, financial literacy and youth entrepreneurship.
