Last week, Life Science Cares released the first-ever Community Engagement Benchmarking Report, chock full of examples of industry CSR models and community efforts.

The report, which was produced in partnership with Slalom, includes the results of a survey of life science companies’ community philanthropy and volunteerism programs, policies and contributions. It also debuts a new maturity model which provides examples for community engagement efforts in Startup, Focused and Leading companies.

“It is one of Life Science Cares’ goals to build the capacity of our companies and our employees to give back in the community in a way that is impactful and effective,” said Executive Director Sarah MacDonald. “By benchmarking themselves among peers and aligning to the maturity model, companies can better understand how their community engagement efforts stack up and access resources to support their efforts as they grow.”

Based on feedback from companies who sought to understand how they compared to their peers, Life Science Cares partnered with Slalom over the course of three months to research the state of non-disease specific philanthropy and volunteerism among area life sciences companies. The goal of this research was threefold:

• Empower LSC member companies of every size by providing new, yet practical ideas to increase the impact of their programs
• Set a baseline measure of what models of philanthropy and engagement looks like in the industry
• Use the data to convene executives, CSR leads and other stakeholders to share best practices and align efforts

Download the report.

The findings were presented and discussed via webinar and the recording is now available online.

Building on the findings in the report, Life Science Cares is launching a new CSR Roundtable for community engagement staff in LSC member companies to share best practices and insights into running effective company programs. The group, aimed at industry employees in formal or informal CSR or engagement roles, will convene virtually in September. To learn more, email Sarah MacDonald at [email protected].