How to Build an Effective Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy
Doing good is no longer a side project. For businesses today, having a clear, actionable corporate social responsibility strategy isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s a fundamental part of how companies attract talent, build brand trust, and stay resilient.
But while many organisations have CSR goals or activities in place, far fewer have a cohesive strategy that ties everything together. A CSR strategy provides the clarity, direction, and structure needed to deliver measurable, long-term impact across all the different types of CSR your company is targeting.
In this guide, we’ll break down exactly what a CSR strategy is, how it differs from a CSR policy, and the step-by-step process for building one that drives meaningful change.
What Is a Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy?
CSR Strategy vs. CSR Policy: What’s the Difference?
How to Build a CSR Strategy
Broaden Your Understanding of CSR
Get Your C-Suite on Board
Assess Your Current CSR Efforts
Set Clear CSR Objectives
Identify Focus Areas and Projects
Develop a CSR Plan
Communicate and Embed Internally
Measure, Report and Adapt
CSR Strategy Example
Final Thoughts: Keep It Real, Keep It Measurable
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What Is A CSR Strategy?
A corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy is a structured plan that defines how a business will contribute to social and environmental causes in a way that aligns with its values and business goals.
Unlike a one-off initiative or annual report, a CSR strategy outlines long-term objectives, priority areas, key activities, and how success will be measured. It acts as a roadmap, helping your organisation stay focused and accountable.
Your CSR approach should reflect both internal motivations (like company culture or purpose) and external expectations (from customers, employees, investors, and communities). Whether you focus on local volunteering, global sustainability goals, or workforce wellbeing, the strategy ensures your efforts aren’t fragmented or reactive.
CSR Strategy vs. CSR Policy: What’s the Difference?
Though often confused with each other, a CSR strategy and a CSR policy serve different purposes:
CSR Strategy
Sets out long-term goals and strategic direction
Focuses on what you want to achieve and how
Often includes frameworks, KPIs, and timelines
CSR Policy
A formal document outlining rules and commitments
Focuses on what your organisation stands for
May be shared publicly or used internally only
Keen to start working on your CSR policy? Read our step-by-step guide.
How to Build a CSR Strategy
There’s no one-size-fits-all template, but strong CSR strategies tend to follow a few core steps:
1. Broaden Your Understanding of CSR
Before diving into specific initiatives, take time to expand your knowledge of CSR. It’s not just about charity work or environmental projects; CSR encompasses a broad range of activities, including ethical sourcing, employee wellbeing, and diversity initiatives.
By understanding the various types of CSR, you can shape a strategy that aligns with your values and capabilities, while also meeting the expectations of employees, customers, and investors.
It also lays the groundwork for choosing focus areas that genuinely matter — both to your business and the wider world. This knowledge empowers you to make informed decisions and create initiatives that are both impactful and credible.
2. Get Your C-Suite on Board
Even the best strategy will struggle to take off without leadership support. Getting buy-in from your senior leadership team is critical — especially if you want CSR embedded into your culture and operations.
If you’re struggling to get buy-in, demonstrate how CSR contributes to business growth, talent retention, and brand reputation. Make sure you emphasise the most measurable, tangible benefits of CSR to align your leadership team with your vision.
Leadership involvement helps shift CSR from being a side initiative to a business priority — opening doors for budget, visibility, and long-term planning. Aim to identify a senior sponsor or champion who can advocate for CSR at the top table.
3. Assess Your Current CSR Efforts
Start by taking stock. Are teams doing any volunteering, donations, or sustainability initiatives? What are your current ESG targets? Take a holistic look at what’s working — and where the gaps are.
This audit provides a baseline to build from and helps you identify quick wins, duplication, and areas that need better alignment.
Look at:
Any existing CSR, ESG, or sustainability initiatives
Volunteering rates and types of activities
Diversity and inclusion data
Environmental impact measurements (e.g. energy use, emissions)
Feedback from employees on what matters to them
Don’t forget to include informal or ad-hoc initiatives — they may not be labelled as CSR but still contribute to your social and environmental impact.
4. Set Clear CSR Objectives
Define what success looks like. Are you aiming to improve employee wellbeing? Cut emissions? Support underserved communities?
Align your objectives with your wider business goals. This helps build internal buy-in and makes it easier to demonstrate ROI.
5. Identify Focus Areas and Projects
Based on your goals, determine the focus areas that will shape your CSR activity. This could be climate action, local community support, DEI, or employee wellbeing. From there, develop or source CSR projects and initiatives that align.
Examples of a CSR project or CSR activity might include:
Local community volunteering
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes
Sustainability and net-zero initiatives
Skills-based mentoring or pro bono work
This is also where employee feedback matters — ask what they care about, and design activities they’ll actually want to take part in. CSR works best when it’s not top-down.
Be selective: choose focus areas where your business can make a meaningful difference, and don’t try to do everything at once. It’s better to go deep in a few areas than spread yourself too thin.
6. Develop a CSR Plan
A CSR plan turns your strategy into action. It should outline:
Key initiatives and timelines
Budget and resource allocation
Roles and responsibilities
Metrics for success
Make sure this plan is accessible and simple to understand, so that everyone across the business knows how to get involved and what’s expected.
A good plan includes short-, medium-, and long-term priorities. It also leaves space to adapt as your business and the external landscape evolves. Having the right technology, partners, and infrastructure in place can also help scale your efforts faster.
7. Communicate and Embed Internally
You can’t build a culture of responsibility without communication. Launch your CSR strategy with internal comms campaigns, team briefings, and leadership support. Share stories and results to build momentum.
Think about where CSR shows up in day-to-day work — onboarding, performance reviews, team goals — and find ways to embed it there.
Recognition and rewards are also key. Celebrate participation in CSR initiatives, highlight role models across teams, and create gamified experiences or leaderboards to keep people engaged. The more visible your efforts, the more they’ll stick.
8. Measure, Report and Adapt
Set clear KPIs and use both quantitative and qualitative metrics. Track participation, carbon impact, volunteering hours, wellbeing improvements — and collect employee feedback regularly.
Share progress with your people and be honest about what’s working and what isn’t. A strong CSR strategy evolves over time as your business grows and your stakeholders’ expectations shift.
Regular reporting — even internally — helps maintain momentum. Where possible, share stories and individual impact highlights alongside the numbers. These stories are powerful proof points that connect people emotionally to the bigger picture.
CSR Strategy Examples
Let’s look at three companies putting CSR into action in powerful, strategic ways:
1. Domestic & General (D&G)
Domestic & General partnered with OnHand to mobilise their UK workforce for local volunteering and climate action. As part of their CSR strategy, they:
Gave employees access to the OnHand app, making it easy to take part in volunteering, climate initiatives, and wellbeing support.
Logged over 6,000 positive actions in just 6 months, including elderly check-in calls, tree planting, and food bank support.
Aligned their CSR approach with employee wellbeing and social impact, helping boost engagement and community connection.
And the results speak volumes:
They achieved 92% employee engagement, well above the industry average of 70%
A 15% reduction in employee turnover, showing that purpose-led initiatives can drive real retention
Customer satisfaction improved by 8%
By embedding action into employees’ daily lives, D&G turned values into tangible outcomes — creating a culture of purpose that lives beyond a policy.
2. Innocent Drinks
Innocent Drinks has long been admired for its creative and authentic approach to CSR. Their strategy is divided into initiatives for people and initiatives for the planet. Some of their key activities include:
Giving 10% of profits to good causes for almost 25 years, with a total of £17 million donated since they started
Building their own all-electric, fully renewable factory, reducing the carbon cost of every drink they make
Supporting Age UK through their Big Knit campaign, which has raised a whopping £3 million so far
Their playful tone never undercuts the seriousness of their commitment. They embed CSR into their supply chains, employee policies, and product innovation. Their team also takes part in regular volunteering and fundraising activities, and they publicly share progress via sustainability reports.
Innocent’s CSR feels like a true extension of their brand — showing how purpose and personality can go hand in hand to create lasting social and environmental value.
3. Ben & Jerry’s
Ben & Jerry’s integrates activism into its core business strategy. Their key CSR pillars include:
Advocacy for racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and refugee support
Sustainable sourcing through Fairtrade-certified ingredients
Open communication on social issues, including through bold campaigns and partnerships
Their approach isn’t just about good intentions — it’s about real accountability. They publish annual Social & Environmental Assessment Reports (SEARs), collaborate with grassroots organisations, and train employees in activism. Ben & Jerry’s also uses its packaging and marketing to raise awareness on social issues, proving that brands can use their platform for influence without compromising on product.
Rather than play it safe, Ben & Jerry’s uses its platform to challenge injustice and lead change. Their CSR strategy shows that brands don’t have to be neutral — they can (and should) stand for something.
Final Thoughts: Keep It Real, Keep It Measurable
A CSR strategy isn’t about perfection – it’s about progress. The best strategies are:
Aligned with what your business does best
Clear on impact areas and measurement
Designed to bring your people along for the journey
When done well, CSR isn’t just an add-on. It becomes part of how your business shows up in the world. Whether you’re just starting out or refining your approach, the key is to be intentional, transparent, and action-oriented. Your people — and the planet — will thank you.
Looking to turn strategy into action? Speak to an expert at OnHand today.
