• 83% of companies in 2021 compared to 73% in 2020 targeted the field of health for intervention and support and 54% vs. 80% education
• 54% of the companies responding to the 2021 edition, compared to 76% in 2020, helped the community through cash donations, and 52% vs. 64% through volunteering
• 76% of responding companies in 2021, compared to 34% in 2020, say that the CSR budget has increased

Valoria and CSRMedia.ro have launched the ninth edition of the survey on the Dynamics and Perspective of the CSR Domain in Romania. As the result of the partnership between the two organizations, the survey is a comparative analysis of the evolution of the concept of corporate social responsibility and is addressed to CSR specialists, but especially to managers and executives who want to understand the evolution of this field.

The results of the current edition indicate a natural search for ways to respond to CSR teams to the challenges of 2021, the one in which we found out what the new normal looks like.

In 2021, 68% of responding companies define social responsibility as community involvement, 62% as business ethics, and 54% as a sustainable business strategy. Although like last year, most companies say they are involved in CSR because it is part of their public relations strategy (55%), there are more who say they are driven in this regard by the company's policy (+5pp), as well as those who say that shareholders require this involvement (+4pp).

The answers to this edition show that the percentage of companies that say they have a local CSR strategy increases by +14pp. Specifically, 50% of the responding companies, compared to 36% last year, say that they have a local CSR strategy that they implement. In 2020, the percentage of companies that say they have received the CSR strategy from the parent company will decrease from 48% to 40%. It is also worth noting the decrease by -6pp of companies that say they do not have a CSR strategy.

In 2021, 78% of responding companies, compared to 68% in the previous year (+10pp), say they have an internal/external process that they apply to identify topics relevant to CSR. The percentage of companies that say they do not have an internal/external process to identify relevant topics for the company in the field of CSR but work on it decreases from 19% to 13% (-6pp). This result further indicates a maturation of the CSR approach by companies.

Compared to last year, the number of companies following the impact of CSR increases by +11pp. Reporting according to international standards records an increase of + 18pp, the one according to own evaluation systems decreases by -5pp, and the one based on evaluations offered by partners decreases by -2pp. In 2021, 45% of the responding companies, compared to 27% in the previous year, say that they have a reporting according to international standards through which they follow the impact of CSR activities.

CSR budgets that have increased by 20%-30%, are more by +15pp in 2021 compared to 2020. And these are not the only ones that have increased. We see a +19pp increase in companies that say their CSR budgets are 10%-20% higher and a +7pp increase in those that are 5%-10% higher this year.

CSR budgets higher than 10,000 euros are increasing from 57% to 89% this year (+ 32pp). We see the largest percentage increase in companies that say they have a CSR budget between 200,000-500,000 euros (+ 14pp). Moreover, we see a +13pp increase in companies that say they have CSR budgets that exceed 500,000 euros. More. 51% of companies carry out projects with an average value of 10,000-50,000 euros in 2021. Only 8% say that the average value of their projects is over 100,000 euros (-4pp).

16 is the average number of CSR projects carried out by the responding companies in 2020. However, 41% of companies, +31pp compared to the previous year, say that they carry out 11-20 projects per year.

Most companies, 41% in 2020 vs. 10% in 2019, have carried out 11-20 CSR projects. On the other hand, 25% say they implemented 1-5 projects, and another 16% (-19pp) implemented 6-10 projects last year. It is also noteworthy that we have 3% of the responding companies that say they have carried out over 51 CSR projects in 2020.

In the first place remain the companies that carry out projects at the national level (68% in 2020 vs. 70% in 2019). Companies that do CSR projects at the regional level take second place (+10pp), and those that carry out projects at the local level take third place, with a decrease of -29pp. We see the highest increase of +27pp in the companies that carry out projects at the level of all the communities in which they operate.

At the nine editions of the study, the Valoria team responded positively to the invitation to support the realization of this reference study in the field of CSR. By getting involved in such projects, Valoria demonstrates its mission to turn people's potential into value, and this involvement is based on the company's values: competence, innovation, passion, trust. Through consulting, training, executive coaching, and market research services, Valoria supports performance and excellence in the business environment.

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About Valoria

Valoria is a consulting, training, and executive coaching company. Through our services, we help entrepreneurs to develop their businesses and to make concrete and predictable success. Companies turn to us for management consulting, marketing, human resources, and sales. We often respond to requests for training or coaching of management teams. Competence, trust, innovation, and passion are the values we uphold in everything we do. We build long-term partnerships and collaborations, because we offer guaranteed results and the best quality, at the right price. In 2021, Valoria has been nominated by the Daily Finance publication in the Top 20 Management Consulting companies in Bucharest. Find out more about us on www.valoria.ro