There's no question: The playing field for corporate community involvement is changing and it will continue to change.

Expectations of companies continue to rise, while trust continues to decline. Social and environmental issues have moved to the fore, while long-standing problems– hunger, poverty, access to education and medical care – continue to plague people around the world. Inside companies, ethics are all the rage due to high-profile executive scandals. And corporate social responsibility and corporate citizenship are gaining both intellectual traction and resources.

What is in question is your role in this change. Are you interested in shaping the future of corporate community involvement? Do you want to take a leadership role in shaping the field?

A changing field

Once an under-developed and under-appreciated part of the organization, community involvement has emerged over the past 20 years as a critical part of the corporation.  And The Center for Corporate Citizenship has been there every step of the way, offering critical training and engaging companies in research designed to help shape the field.   

Now The Center has created the CI Leadership Roundtable to provide leadership to the community involvement field.

Conceived as a collaboration between The Center and current and future leaders in corporate community involvement, the Roundtable is an ongoing forum for:

• Identifying and discussing social and community development trends
• Reviewing changing public policy and public expectations for corporate engagement on social issues
• Discussing trends in community involvement strategy and management practices
• Sharing experiences and benchmarking best practices
• Providing input into The Center’s research and education agenda

A premiere network for community involvement strategy

The Roundtable will convene twice annually and hold teleconferences as participants deem useful and necessary. Participation is by invitation only and will be limited to a small group of people who have demonstrated a passion for community involvement excellence as well as a penchant for taking a leadership role in this space.

Inaugural meeting scheduled for November

The first meeting of the CI Leadership Roundtable is scheduled for:

November 10-11, 2006
The Bellagio Hotel
Las Vegas, Nevada

The focus of this event will be:

• Orientation to the mission of the Roundtable, which is to provide forward leadership to the CI field
• Assessment of the current state of corporate community involvement – where have we been, where are we today, and where do we think we’re going? 
• Identification, discussion and action planning for how the Roundtable will address and tackle the critical issues facing the CI function

Second meeting scheduled for March 2006

The second meeting will be held March 23-24, 2006 at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando, Florida – in conjunction with The Center’s annual International Corporate Citizenship Conference, March 26-28.  The agenda will be derived from the November conversation with additional input from Roundtable participants.

For more information, contact Billy Brittingham at 617.552.2555 or brittiwi@bc.edu.