At last week’s sySTEMnow Conference in Milwaukee, a convening of math and science educators and the businesses funding their efforts, I was a panelist for a session titled The ROI for STEM Outreach Efforts: Quantifying Corporate Social Responsibility. Several conferences have begun hosting sessions like this to help employees in CSR departments measure the business impact of their corporate philanthropy and volunteerism.  

Like smart-grids and low-sodium soy sauce, everyone genuinely supports the notion of “measuring ROI” because it sounds good on paper and few downsides come to mind. But, measuring the business impact of CSR often unveils that several CSR activities currently pursued by businesses do not truly drive value for the corporation. And, as Jeffrey Immelt has said, “the first word in corporate social responsibility is corporate.” This realization may put CSR employees in the uncomfortable position of deciding whether or not to sever long-standing relationships with grant partners and discontinue certain volunteer opportunities.

However, several traditional STEM initiatives supported by corporations do in fact create business value. Three business outcomes immediately come to mind:

1. Increase Employee Engagement - volunteer initiatives do an excellent job of building employee commitment to the firm. Why not compare employee satisfaction for those who volunteer vs. those who do not? Ultimately, firms could compare the retention rates of employees who volunteer to those who do not and show how money spent on volunteer initiatives increases employee retention and decreases recruitment costs.
2. Recruit a Strong Workforce - firms which support local education initiatives reason that students with stronger STEM skill sets will ultimately become better employees. So, why not measure the number of students from supported programs that get hired by the firm? Firms which support higher ed initiatives could certainly begin to track the recruitment of students from these programs. Ultimately, firms could try to show a decrease in recruitment costs attributable to investments made in strengthening the skills of students.
3. Improve Corporate Reputation - firms which support education initiatives may be receiving positive press coverage of their efforts. They should consider tracking the number of media mentions and impressions yielded by their education initiatives. Several corporate marketing departments already have data demonstrating the business value of positive press. Therefore, companies could measure (albeit inexactly) the business value created through STEM initiative. 

Still, measurement tends to be a top-down proposition that usually begins when bosses ask questions that can’t be answered with anecdotes. This is more evident than ever in today’s business environment, where no budgets are sacred cows and bosses are trying to determine the value generated by each department. CSR employees should begin measuring the aforementioned outcomes to proactively demonstrate the value of their work, rather than being caught flat-footed at an inopportune time.