‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” So said Aristotle 3 000 years ago. And this has not changed. In the past nine years The CSI Handbook has monitored the perceptions of corporate social investment programmes by canvassing the opinions of a diverse sample of companies and non-profit organisations.
These respondents were asked to nominate companies that, in their view, demonstrate excellence in CSI.
This requires that companies display ‘an understanding of development, sound implementation and innovation, ensuring that funds achieve a developmental impact and inspire best practice in the CSI sector”.
In terms of nominations by corporates Absa was rated in first position, followed by Anglo American, Nedbank and South African Breweries. Anglo American was nominated in top position by non-profit organisations, followed by the four major banks: Absa, FirstRand Group, Nedbank and Standard Bank.