Our first GivingForum North was held at Yorkshire Building Society on the 10th September in Leeds. We were fortunate enough to be joined by many senior CSR professionals from all over the North of England, ranging from Scotland, Leeds, Newcastle and more. They were all very much excited to be at the launch of GivingForum North, as well to be part of an event that would be discussing a very current topic of a Shared Value Approach and its impact on CSR.
The event began with welcoming remarks from Ejaz, CEO and Founder of GivingForce, followed by a warm welcome from Tanya Jackson from YBS. Following this, there was an informative presentation from Leigh Thompson & Crystal Hicks: Beyond CSR: Moving to a mutually beneficial Shared Value Approach. Their presentation included a clear definition of what a Shared Value approach is and how it differs from conventional CSR. Leigh put across a compelling argument on why businesses should be considering this approach and gave recommendations on how they could start to implement this within their own businesses. Further discussions covered why a Shared Value Approach needs to be integrated into current business strategy, as well as what benefits can come from this approach.
Crystal Hicks complemented Leigh’s presentation with real-life examples of how and why they had implemented a Shared Value Approach at Oasis Social Housing, along with its impact on the business and its stakeholders. Tanya presented how YBS have reevaluated their strategy internally and have implemented a Shared Value Approach that was designed around purpose, creating a business strategy unique to the company.