WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Corporate Responsibility Officer Association (CROA) today announced that it is expanding to engage individuals at every level of an organization to enhance the role of businesses in society. At the same time it also transitions from an organization-focused membership to a professional society with individual memberships and organizational underwriters to increase access to these vital services. This change focuses the work of the association on the individual corporate responsibility practitioner and allows for strengthening of the profession and broader involvement in recognition of the increasing interest in and proliferation of this role. CROA will for the first time allow aspiring practitioners to engage as general members, retains its close ties with CR practitioners as practicing members, and continues its multi-stakeholder involvement of corporations, non-profits, government and academic institutions.
"Now we will be able to provide anyone -- from a new hire to a chief responsibility officer -- access to information, tools, and data they can use to improve the corporate responsibility of their company," said Richard Crespin, Executive Director of the CROA. "Building off our strong membership base at the senior levels of some of the world's most responsible companies, we will bring their insights and lessons to current and aspiring CR practitioners everywhere."
Increasingly people at all levels of an organization have an interest in playing a positive role in their company's impact on society. People in human resources, environmental health and safety, communications, and even procurement, can find ways of directly contributing and/or find themselves called upon by senior management to play an official role. The CROA now defines a practitioner as anyone who has corporate responsibility as part of their job description. A general member includes MBA candidates, non-profit professionals in related fields, and corporate employees or consultants that want to engage corporate responsibility in their work.
"BCLC is pleased to support the continued development of the Corporate Responsibility Officers Association," said CROA Board Member Stephen Jordan, Founder and Executive Director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center. "The establishment of a national professional society is an important step forward for the field of corporate social responsibility."
“As a corporate responsibility practitioner that heads up this function for my company, I am thrilled to be part of this transition to a more powerful platform for collaboration amongst CR professionals,” said CROA Board Member Kathy Hannan, National Managing Partner – Diversity and Corporate Social Responsibility at KPMG.
“By making this exciting change, CROA can better help myself and my colleagues be ever more effective in our contribution to our companies and the role of our companies in society,” said CROA Professional Development Chair Kevin Moss, Head of Corporate Responsibility at BT Americas.
As a professional society with the mission to promote the practice and profession of corporate responsibility in the service of good business, CROA will provide the platform for members to transform ideas into action, advancing corporate responsibility, the profession, and their own careers across multiple responsibility disciplines including sustainability, governance, social responsibility, ethics and philanthropy.
“I very much support this transition as it gives CROA the opportunity to teach to skills, not simply knowledge, for people at all levels of the organization, providing the professional development they need to improve the role of business in society,” said CROA Board Chair Bob Pojasek, adjunct lecturer at Harvard University.
Join CROA now or learn more at www.croassociation.org.
About The Corporate Responsibility Officers Association (CROA) www.CROAssociation.org The CROA and its members transform ideas into action, advancing corporate responsibility, the profession, and their careers. The CROA is the single largest independent community founded on the concept that to excel in corporate responsibility, organizations need to embrace all CR disciplines: sustainability, governance, social responsibility, and philanthropy.
With the vision to empower the individual -- corporate responsibility practitioner, chief executive, senior executive, and individual employee -- to enhance the role of companies in society and the natural environment, CROA works to:
- Improve the role of business in society, helping companies be good corporate citizens.
- Embed good corporate citizenship behavior in how companies achieve business goals and financial success.
- Enable professionals and companies to be purposeful about their impact on the environment and society.
- Empower the CR practitioner in driving responsible corporate decision making.
- Engage individuals throughout the organization to make a difference at work, changing the behavior of corporations.
- Help companies recognize the potential for improved performance by supporting the professional development of their CR practitioners through programs like certification.