One of the large corporations that teamed up with Water ForWaves, was BMW. Initially researching
the community investment program was almost impossible, as BMW only has one
photo that links to a single website attached to the program.
I almost wrote the company off as having no investment to the charity but it
was through completing further research on the program that I developed a different point of
view.
A large
criticism of corporations is that they only do CSR programs for publicity. BWM
however took an unusual approach to their program. Water for Waves and BMW
teamed up to form “Care4Water.” This program is a
personal community investment program that included actual employees from BMW
distributing the water filters to communities in Thailand.
The website opens to a full story about their program, complete with photos of
actual employees volunteering in Thailand. The website showcases how much of
the project has been funded and a break down of what each aspect of the filter
costs to produce. The website is detailed and visually appealing.
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| Care4Water explains the filter and its costs in detail on their website |
Usually I
would say that BMW has done themselves a disservice by not making their program
more obvious on the website, but the simple and storytelling aspect of the
website design is refreshing. By allowing Care4Water to be detailed but also
hidden from the rest of the website, the only people who were actively looking
for the website would see it. This includes employees and stakeholders. In my
eyes, this makes the program seem more credible. Not only is the corporation
funding the project, the employees are actually volunteering and enjoying the program.
The founder of Waves for Water, Jon Rose, would agree. In a video about the program he said, “For a CSR program, it’s a lot more invested, it’s a
lot more integrated, a lot more personal.” That is high praise from the founder
of the charity.
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| BMW has a link to the video that was produced explaining their CSR program |
In my
opinion, it is rare to find CSR programs that actually positively benefit both
sides of the partnership and are simple and seemingly credible. BMW and Waves
for Water seem to have developed a workable CSR program that benefits BMW,
their employees and Waves for Water. It will be interesting to see how this
program grows in the future and how the general public will respond as the
program moves past their pilot program.
It is great to know that a company like BMW has not only invested financially in Waves for Water but also has invested employees time into the charity. Having BMW employees volunteer for a charity committed to such a great cause has enabled a partnership between the two organizations to form. As you mentioned, large corporations often get criticized for only engaging in CSR programs for positive publicity, but understanding that BMW has not broadcasted its services for Water for Waves changes my perspective on large corporations like BMW. Water for Waves and BMW’s program ‘Care4Water’ is a movement that exceeds the publics expectations, simply by creating a mutually beneficial partnership between a charity and a large corporation. I really enjoyed reading this blog post!
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