Publications & Thought Leadership

This is a Guidebook to Next Generation Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It provides signposts for business leaders that seek to achieve greater social impact through their business and to understand how they can evolve their business model to keep abreast of the changing CSR landscape.

The Guidebook is based on research commissioned by the Government of Canada in 2018 which looked at the trends, barriers and opportunities in CSR in Canada. The research involved interviewing over 30 representatives who worked in CSR roles from a diverse range of businesses, including large and small businesses with provincial and sectoral representation, and national and global companies operating in Canada. The research findings have been adapted into this Next Generation CSR Guidebook, to take the insights and turn them into actionable ideas for business.

The Next Generation CSR Guidebook is a resource for businesses, governments, non-profit organizations, industry associations, academic institutions and others who advise or collaborate with business. Depending on your needs, the Next Generation CSR Guidebook has different uses. On the one hand, it is a primer for how CSR is evolving within business today. You may wish to read the Guidebook to get up to speed on these trends. On the other hand, the Next Generation Corporate Social Responsibility Guidebook acts as a tool with tips, resources and actions to help you and your company further advance your CSR efforts. At the end of each section is a call-out box of actions to guide you on your path. You can use these as a checklist of actions to create a roadmap to accelerate CSR within your company.

This Next Generation CSR Guidebook is written for companies and their leaders who wish to take current CSR practices to the next level. Companies who already have leading practices may wish to review the Guidebook to validate current approaches or pick up fresh ideas.