There are many ways that companies can put purpose at the heart of their business. Obviously not every company delivers direct services to the community, but nonetheless operating ethically and responsibly and making a concerted effort to support people - your people, the local community and society at large - is something every organisation can do. In terms of 'charitable support' that can take many forms such as fundraising, mentoring, volunteering, becoming Trustees, and much more.     Some companies like to make regular charitable donations, maybe as a fixed percentage of their turnover or a specific amount on winning a new contract; the options are endless. If that sounds like something you would like to consider, lovely ORB member, Work For Good, has a fantastic platform to make charitable giving easy, and help you put purpose at the heart of your business.         When ...

Where Does It Come From? Clothes with a transparent supply chain     Artcile by Jo Salter, Founder and CEO of #ORBmember Where Does it Come From? Our project (October 2018): www.crowdfunder.co.uk/african-tunics Our website: www.wheredoesitcomefrom.co.uk Responsible and Transparent Clothing Where Does It Come From? is a clothing brand that tells the stories behind clothes – creating responsible and transparent supply chains so that we know exactly who is making our garments and how they are doing it. We ensure our clothing is made with respect to the workers and to the environment, with fair trade processes and eco-friendly production methods. All our clothes come with a code on the label so that our customers can explore their garment journey and get a deeper connection with the people and processes.  We hope this will inspire people to love their clothes more and build their own stories with them – which ...

In the lastest of our guest-blogs, #ORBMember Adrian Ashton (who runs his own advice, consultancy and training business, see www.adrianashton.co.uk) describes how he does an annual review of his business' social impact. It's a great idea and one we would encourage all businesses to think about doing. Here's what Adrian has to say: As a freelancer/self-employed consultant, my business model has always been ‘a bit unusual’ in my trying to reflect my personal values in how I work, and as part of this, I openly publish a social impact report on myself - and this year marks the 13th one! And to my knowledge, I’m the only such sole trader globally who does this – something which has meant my approach to doing so has been highlighted as a leading model of best practice by national social impact sector bodies. This year I've ...

In the latest of our guest-posts, fellow #ORBMember Mike Jennings (of Jennings of Garsington Ltd) explains what prompted him to write a book all about how he has developed a highly valuable manner of business operation that is not just valuable in the sense of financial success but is also valuable in the much highly-important ethical, responsible and sustainability stakes too! ::::::: Having built a Responsible Business over many years (see the ORB article on Jennings), many people suggest that I write about it. My story could be an example for others to follow, they said. As a reader of business books I have found myself attracted more to the autobiographies of business owners such as Danny Meyer (Setting the Table) and Ricardo Semler (Maverick) than to the academic writers such as Frederick Laloux (reinventing Organisations). These are all good books by the ...

For our latest guest blog on the ORB Blog page we are happy to introduce Karin Sode, Chief People and Community Officer at one of the UK’s newest energy suppliers, People’s Energy (who we are also proud to count as one of our #ORBMembers) Karin and the team at People’s Energy have introduced a new Community Partnership scheme for charities and share all the details below: As well as working in my leadership consultancy, I am also involved in a new green and disruptive energy supplier,  . My partner and I crowdfunded and raised £500K for the project during Spring of 2017 and launched the company in August last year. We are now at 7,500 customers, have a team of 20 people and an annual turnover of £5m. This is an amazing achievement and just the start of our ambitious plans to revolutionise ...