By Melissa J. Anderson

Most corporate responsibility reports include information on sustainability initiatives, corporate volunteering, community investment, and other efforts that are deemed “good for society,” but are not necessarily business-critical.

Last week Bank of America released its first ever CSR report, which includes a lot more than that. CEO Brian T. Moynihan wrote:

“In 2010, the global economy continued its recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s. While there are a number of positive signs that the economy is improving, we recognize the role the financial industry played in this crisis and are committed to working with policymakers, financial institutions and others in the private sector to restore growth and foster greater stability going forward.”

The report delves into the work Bank of America is doing to boost the economy, recognizing the role its industry played in the recession. What’s interesting is that the bank considers this work corporate social responsibility – not merely an economic or market-based concern, but a social one as well.

Moynihan continued, “There continue to be challenges ahead as the U.S. and global economies slowly grow their way out of the crisis. We see opportunities, too. In this report, you will find a summary of the many specific steps we are taking to address both.”

By Melissa J. Anderson

According to a recent report by the Center Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, the majority of corporations gave more in 2010 than in 2009. In the organization’s Giving in Numbers 2010 report, the organization revealed that total giving was up by almost 18%, with 65% of companies reporting higher donations.

Alison Rose, Manager of Standards and Measurement at CECP, said [PDF]:

“In looking at our four year matched set, we were struck by the divergent paths of companies from pre-downturn giving levels: in 2010, a quarter of companies increased giving by 25% or more than 2007 levels, while 21% of companies reduced contributions by 25% or more. This shows that while some companies have been able to surpass pre-crisis levels, others are still in a period of rebuilding.”

There are several reasons that companies are digging deeper this year. Here are few of the big ones.

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

On Wednesday, Morgan Stanley held its third annual Strategy Challenge event, the culmination of an eight-week program in which 60 of the firm’s up-and-coming talent put their skills to use for fifteen charities in need of strategic advice on organizational growth.

Audrey Choi, Managing Director of Global Sustainable Finance at Morgan Stanley, remarked, “At Morgan Stanley, we have a long standing, deep commitment to giving back to the community.”

The non-profits are not the only beneficiaries of the program, though. Choi added that the participants in the Strategy Challenge are nominated by their business leaders as future leaders of the firm. They are able to make connections with other rising stars, and gain access to senior level individuals they wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to meet, in addition to gaining valuable skills and experience.

As a result, Choi said, Morgan Stanley has donated 6,500 hours of community service this year, worth approximately $1 million – and that figure does not include the value of the advice provided by the firm.

Joan Steinberg, Managing Director and Global Head of Philanthropy at the firm, added, “When we say we want to deliver the best to our communities, this is what we mean.”

By Melissa J. Anderson

Last month, Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge published a working paper explaining how mandatory reporting of non-financial information can influence not only a company’s performance on environmental or social targets, but also how it impacts talent management within that company as well. And according to the papers authors, Ioannis Ioannou of London Business School and George Serafeim of Harvard Business School, the influence is significant.

The paper, Consequences of Mandatory Corporate Sustainability Reporting, explains that while many of the globe’s largest corporations voluntarily report non-financial information, several countries have moved toward requiring them to do so, for example in Denmark, Sweden, France, and South Africa.

Here are five ways, based on the results of the authors’ study of companies in 58 countries, that corporate responsibility reporting (called “sustainability” reporting in the paper, but referring to environmental, social, and governance reporting) improves management within companies.

By Kelly Tanner

Audrey Choi, Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Global Sustainable Finance, moderated a panel discussion last week entitled, “Will Microfinance Succeed in the BRIC countries? Does Regulation Matter?” The answer to both questions, according to panelists Hans Dellien, Chikako Kuno, and Elisabeth Rhyne, is yes.

The event, organized by Financial Women’s Association and sponsored by Morgan Stanley’s Global Sustainable Finance and Women’s Initiative, focused on how regulation promotes and hinders microfinance institutions in Brazil, Russia, India, and China, collectively referred to as the BRIC countries. Though these countries are known as emerging opportunities for investors, they have “enormous potential and enormously different market dynamics,” says Choi.

She asked, “As we get to a real evolution of the field, where you have investors coming into microfinance with very different motivations, very different kinds of checkbooks…What happens? What is the right way to untangle mission and profit and fiduciary responsibility?”

By Melissa J. Anderson

Thomas Cook, the UK-based airline and tourism group, released its annual sustainability report last week, which detailed, among other things, the launch of the company’s Group Working Party on Sustainability, the company’s improvements and honors in environmental performance, and details on charitable commitments for both its Thomas Cook Children’s Charity and its donations following the earthquake in Haiti last year.

The report, which is available both by PDF and interactively on the company’s website, explains the company’s historical commitment to socially responsible travel. According to Manny Fontenla-Novoa, Thomas Cook’s CEO, the company was founded on the belief that working class people deserve the opportunity to travel and learn about the world. Today that belief encompasses not just a social commitment, but environmental and charitable commitments as well.

Fontenla-Novoa explains in the report:

“Longevity is one of our business objectives and to be a successful business today we need to be economically, environmentally and socially sustainable. For Thomas Cook Group, that means addressing a wide range of long-term challenges, including providing a great holiday experience for customers while ensuring their security and safety, maintaining a committed and engaged workforce, improving fuel efficiency and monitoring the carbon emissions from our planes; and encouraging sustainable practices in a global supply chain.”

By Melissa J. Anderson

Last week, the Women’s Network for a Sustainable Future organized an event around new trends in sustainability reporting. With shareholders, regulating agencies, and the public increasingly interested in results, the quality of metrics around corporate sustainability has improved dramatically, as has awareness of the importance of benchmarking and reporting progress.

Ann Goodman, Executive Director of WNSF said, “Everyone from the SEC down and up is clamoring for disclosure.”

Moderated by Helle Jorgensen, US Sustainability Advisory Leader and member of the Global Sustainability Leadership Council, PwC, the panel included Margaret Lindeman, Sustainability Strategist, Lockheed Martin, Erica Matthews, Manager, Public Policy and Sustainability, Pepsico, and Mike Wallace, Director of Sustainability Reporting Framework, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

Corporate sustainability metrics matter to investors, consumers, and employees – and improving metrics around sustainability reporting will be critical to corporate success in the future.

By Melissa J. Anderson

Recently, an article appeared in the Huffington Post calling for a Chief Good Officer, a C-level executive who would fill the gap between marketing and operations. Deron Triff, CEO and Co-Founder of Changeagents.com, explained that the CGO would be the “next evolution of the corporate social responsibility manager, but with a real seat at the table.”

But if CSR doesn’t have a seat at the decision making table already (Chief Responsibility Officer, Chief Sustainability Officer, etc), will giving it a new name really change that?

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Last week Danish pharmaceuticals company Novo Nordisk released its most recent Annual Report. Rather than publishing several different reports dealing with its financial, sustainability, corporate responsibility, philanthropy work, etc, the company stuck them all together in one big document.

Integrated reporting goes a long way to reveal how the company thinks about its social and environmental commitments – that they are strategically important, side-by-side with its financials.

The “One Report” movement has been picking up steam for some time now, a tangible symbol of the triple bottom line thinking which initiated much of today’s corporate responsibility work.

According to Lars Reiben Sorensen, this is all part of the company’s values-based management system, the “Novo Nordisk Way of Management.” He wrote:

“In the words of our people, we are continuing to manage our business in a responsible and sustainable way, with a focus not only on improving the company’s finances but also on improving our social and environmental performance.”

By Melissa J. Anderson

Last week PwC released its first ever global corporate responsibility report. Rather than including data like lists of awards the company has won for its efforts, or firm-wide diversity statistics, or sustainability metrics, the report is positioned as a “dialogue” around the meaning of corporate responsibility, and how it should be successfully integrated within a firm’s business strategy.

And that’s the main issue, PwC says – CR has evolved past bonus activities to make a firm look good. It must now be considered a core part of every company’s strategy for growth and success.

PwC aims to come out as a leader in this sense of corporate responsibility. As Samual A. DiPiazza Jr, PwC International’s CEO, wrote in the report:

“As trusted advisors in the business community, we have a responsibility to consider all aspects of social and environmental sustainability. Our advice cannot be based solely on the drivers of change for today; we have a responsibility to help shape the drivers of the future. By using our expertise and skills to address social issues and assist communities, we can create change.”

The idea for the report is clearly to showcase the firm’s global leadership on the issue of corporate responsibility. But make no mistake – this is a business document. Insofar as PwC’s employees are advisors to their clients, the purpose of the new report is to explain to clients how PwC demonstrates corporate responsibility, and how it can help them do it too, as they navigate through the swiftly changing CR waters.