Conference highlights social responsibility

How adopting principles of corporate social responsibility can help companies meet business challenges will be the focus of the upcoming spring conference of New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility.

The conference, “Sustainable Solutions & Innovative Strategies: Addressing Real Business Challenges with CSR Principles,” will be held from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. May 7 at the Grappone Center in Concord. The event is designed to show members of the business community the connection between CSR — corporate social responsibility — and the community, the workplace and the environment.

Keynoting the event will be Bill Mosher, founder of Visionaries Inc., a non-profit organization that created “The Visionaries,” a national public television series that profiles the of nonprofits.

In 2006, Mosher joined with Chester College of New England to open the Visionaries Institute International, a center for the production of nonprofit media that will offer a master of arts degree in socially responsible media beginning in the fall.

Following Mosher’s address, six educational workshops will feature sustainable solutions and innovative strategies to real business challenges.

Workshop topics include:

• Economics of Sustainability
• Making the Employee-Business-Community Connection
• The Convergence of Insurance and Social Responsibility
• Local Accountability for Sustainability
• Social Networking
• Values-Driven Leadership

The NHBSR Spring Conference brochure contains a full description of the educational workshops and can be found at nhbsr.org under “What’s New.”

Over lunch, attendees will be addressed by Gov. John Lynch and be invited be invited to participate in one of six discussions organized by Clean Air-Cool Planet. The discussions will focus on issues considered vital to businesses, the community and the environment.

Also at the conference, Clean Air-Cool Planet – an organization dedicated to finding and promoting solutions to global warming — will be awarded the 2007 NHBSR Cornerstone Award, which is presented to an individual, business or organization that exemplifies the concepts of corporate social responsibility and promotes them to the New Hampshire business community.

Cost of the conference is $100 for NHBSR members and $125 for non-members.

For more information, visit nhbsr.org or call the NHBSR office at 645-3562.