During the tough times when budgets are being scrutinised at every corner it’s the business guardians who need to make the decisions about what’s important to ensure sustained reputation. Because if you don’t continue to invest in the reputation of your business it will make for an even bumpier ride, and you won’t be best placed to capitalise on the upturn, when it comes.

According to an article in the FT today businesses are planning to reduce charitable donations by at least a third. I absoultely agree that in order to protect ‘good cause’ interests the competition is going to be greater than ever and the charity sector is going to have to work harder to develop more creative ways in convinving businesses to support their causes. The key to all of this is being able to develop a measurement tool that’s integral to the campaign that provides the ‘value-for-money’ evidence.

All of the charity campaigns that we’ve developed and managed on behalf of clients has included a formulaic approach that’s provided insight (the rationale), ideas (the strategy) and influence (the impact). Now is not the time for businesses to lose sight of the positive impact investment into corporate social responsibility can have, especially in the current climate, but it’s also up to the charity sector to help those businesses think more creatively and evaluate, evaluate, evaluate.