For many years, when community involvement professionals used the term “government relations” they were referring to lobbyists who influenced legislators on policy matters important to their companies’ business plans. The rise of corporate citizenship, however, has broadened that view. CSR professionals now increasingly employ the advocacy skills of their government relations colleagues in matters that concern the company’s social agenda, because government plays such an important - almost ubiquitous - role in their community and corporate involvement activities.
Consider what is needed to achieve your business objectives when the outcome significantly affects a community or some social component of it. Building new high-voltage power lines comes to mind as a good example. The company needs to get a “license to operate,” which invariably has a government component to it, usually in the form of a permit that complements community approval for the project. Someone who understands the community’s concerns should make the business case to the public officials involved - and that someone is the CSR professional.
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