Vodacom has risen to the top of the corporate social impact rankings for the eighth year in a row, according to the most recent data from Trialogue, a corporate responsibility consultancy organisation.
Anglo-American, Nedbank, FirstRand, MTN, Sasol, Shoprite, Woolworths, Standard Bank, and Old Mutual completed the top ten, with the telecom behemoth having the highest developmental impact among corporate peers.
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Companies prioritise CSR despite economic challenges
According to the 2024 Business in Society published by Trialogue on Tuesday, corporate social investment (CSI) spending has increased at the quickest rate since the Covid-19 pandemic, rising nominally by 7.5 percent from R11.8 billion in 2023 to R12.7 billion in 2024.
The report indicated that despite a challenging operating environment for companies in 2024, this real growth is a significant increase over the past two post-Covid-19 years and reflects a recovery from that period.
“This year’s findings are particularly noteworthy as they demonstrate corporate South Africa’s sustained commitment to social development, even in a challenging operating environment,” said Trialogue director Cathy Duff.
He continued, “The growth in CSI expenditure signals a meaningful recovery from the pandemic period and shows that companies are prioritising their social commitments despite economic headwinds.”
Corporate Social Impact made by the companies
Leading the way in corporate giving, the basic materials sector—which includes mining and chemical industries—contributed 35 percent of all CSI spending.
Retail and media businesses’ non-cash contributions drove consumer services’ 29 per cent share, while the financial industry contributed 20 percent. With 92 percent of businesses allocating funding to the sector, education was found to be the most important priority.
15 percent of the financing went to social and community development, eleven per cent to food security, nine per cent to health, and five per cent to entrepreneurship.
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Non-cash donations, such as services, goods, and volunteer labour, made up 29 percent of CSI’s expenditures. NPOs reported receiving non-cash donations in nearly 85 percent of cases. 93 percent of corporations questioned support for non-profit organisations, indicating that corporate funding continues to be a major source of non-profit revenue.
These contributions, which accounted for an average of 71 percent of their CSI budgets, highlight the crucial role businesses play in the non-profit sector in South Africa.
Gift of the Givers, which was ranked first by both companies and NPOs for the fourth year in a row, was one of the NPOs that had the largest impact, according to the survey.
Companies and non-profit organisations rated Afrika Tikkun second for the second year in a row. The Smile Foundation was ranked jointly third by businesses and tenth by non-profit organisations.