New BSR Tool Helps Business Identify Strategic Social Investments | BSR Insights+ | Sustainable Business Network and Advisory Services

BSR’s new tool helps companies make strategic social investments in communities where they operate, which is a critical aspect of building sustainable local economies. Strategic social investments allow companies to maximize the impact of their resource allocations, increase the long-term sustainability of their efforts, develop productive and mutually beneficial relationships with local stakeholders, and mitigate operational disruptions by strengthening their social license to operate.

Applying BSR’s materiality analysis approach, this tool:

Provides companies with a consistent framework to identify social investment opportunities that are important to both stakeholders and business success.
Defines criteria to assess different opportunities such as levels of risk, anticipated impact, and number of people affected.
Prioritizes possible investments based on the defined criteria.

To learn more about this tool, which is a paid-for service provided by BSR, contact Alison Colwell.

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Authors

Alison Colwell portrait

Alison Colwell

Former Associate Director, BSR

San Francisco

Associate Director, BSR

San Francisco

Alison oversees the design and execution of projects on human rights, community engagement and development, responsible labor, strategy integration, and gender across industries, primarily with energy and extractives companies. She has conducted field work with communities and stakeholders in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America. Her human rights project work with the extractives industry includes implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (GPs) and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights. She also co-created a tool for companies to assess human rights risks and opportunities aligned with the GPs, and a tool to prioritize community investment opportunities aligned with both company strategy and community needs.

Prior to joining BSR, Alison worked with bilateral and multilateral international development agencies, including the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank, the International Development Research Centre, and NGOs affiliated with the Organization of American States. She is fluent in both English and Spanish.

Alison holds an M.A. in Public Policy and Administration from Carleton University, and a B.Com. and a B.A. in Global Development Studies from Queen's University.

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Authors

Alison Colwell

Former Associate Director, BSR

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