Recent natural disasters that have occurred in the country have seen to a philanthropic response on the part of many companies. Take ExxonMobil, for example. This company, in partnership with a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), extended aid to earthquake victims in Yogyakarta and Central Java and signed an agreement for a rehabilitation program in quake-devastated regions in these two provinces, writes Burhanuddin Abe, Contributor, The Jakarta Post, Supplement - November 30, 2006 at http://www.thejakartapost.com/.
Forwarded by Budhi Mulyawan 011206.

ExxonMobil's aid of US$1.5 million is focused on education, health and economic development. "This aid is part of our social responsibility. We are not alone as many parties are involved in this activity," said Peter J. Coleman, president director and general manager of ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia Inc, adding that the NGOs partnering with this company in this respect are Dompet Dhuafa Republika, Bulan Sabit Merah Indonesia (BSMI), Pos Keadilan Peduli Umat (PKPU), Habitat for Humanity and Gadjah Mada University.

The definition of Corporate Social Responsibility is still debatable but its application is inevitable. Former Thai prime minister Anand Panyarachun said at the Asian Forum on CSR held three years ago in Bangkok that CSR was considered a necessity to building a good and trustworthy image of a company. Implementing practices that demonstrate responsibility toward a company's immediate environment and society will improve the value of shareholders and the company's financial achievements and can guarantee a company's sustainable success.

Under a CSR scheme, a company no longer assumes responsibility based on a single bottom line, or the corporate value as reflected in its financial condition, but it must honor responsibility based on triple bottom lines, namely the financial, social and environmental aspects.

CK Prahalad, a professor in corporate and international business strategies at University of Michigan Business School, writes in The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid that CSR is one of several solutions to breaking through the barrier between fulfilling the needs of the poor and profit seeking: both can go side by side for sustainable empowerment of the poor.

Awareness of the importance of CSR is now a global trend. However, not all companies in Indonesia care about it. Meanwhile, companies with CSR programs usually do not have a special division for their schemes. However, although they do not have their own CSR division, they can always team up with, for example, NGOs concerned with environmental and social matters.

A large company may require an NGO as its partner to run its philanthropic program. PT Unilever Indonesia Tbk, one of Indonesia's largest companies producing household products, collaborates with an outside party for its CSR program. This company, established before Indonesia proclaimed independence in 1945, has carried out its CSR programs since its inception. However, a special institution, called Yayasan Unilever Peduli (ULI Peduli or ULI Peduli Foundation/UPF), assigned to deal with CSR programs, did not come into being until Nov. 27, 2000.

In fact, a special institution alone is not enough for the company's many and diverse CSR programs. For its Green and Clean Campaigns in Surabaya (2005) and Jakarta (2006), for example, Unilever collaborated with a number of partners such as the sanitation office of the Surabaya municipality administration and the Jakarta provincial administration, Surabaya State University, ESP-USAID, Bangun Pertiwi, Rumpun Bambu, Sahabat Lingkungan and Bina Mandiri. Also involved in these CSR programs were women household welfare activists at the subdistrict level, Karang Taruna youths, etc.

The company also teamed up with Dana Mitra Lingkungan, an independent non-profit organization concerned with environmental affairs. "We cannot work alone. By teaming up with them, we could carry out our CSR programs in a more elegant manner and refrain from being like Santa Claus distributing money," said Okti Damayanti, general manager of Yayasan Unilever Peduli, PT Unilever Indonesia Tbk.

A business and an NGO may be seen as a harmonious pair in the implementation of a CSR program. Of course, some NGOs suspect the good intentions of some companies wanting to team up with them for a CSR program. However, there are quite a lot of broad-minded NGOs that are willing to team up with various companies in implementing CSR programs. Plus the missions of many NGOs are in tandem with CSR principles.

Take Dana Mitra Lingkungan (DML), for example. There are five items in its working program: (i) small aid program, which is intended to help and develop the capabilities of institutions in nature conservation through field activities, (ii) special aid program, in which aid is given to education in the environmental sector; (iii) sanitation, drinking water and family latrine program, which is intended to reduce the pollution of the rivers flowing into Jakarta Bay and is implemented in slum areas in Jakarta; (iv) the Indonesian waste recycling development program (Peduli), which is aimed at overcoming the problems of garbage and also at making use of garbage as a raw material for recycled products and (v) a program of small grants for non-governmental organizations actively engaged in environmental affairs and involving local communities.

DML is very open to various forms of cooperation, especially because this non-governmental organization, which was established on Oct. 27, 1983 by businesses, industrial figures as well as economic and environmental experts, has a mission that suits a CSR program. "Our mission is to help maintain the conservation of nature, which is increasingly damaged and polluted, following intensified industrialization. DML wishes to improve public awareness about the need to save nature, which has all these years been considered free of charge," said Prasasti Asandhimitra, DML director.

Indeed, saving the environment needs a special effort as a joint responsibility of the community. A company may share this responsibility through its CSR program, which may involve a wider scope of issues than just the environment. And while NGOs can critically voice public interest, they can also serve as partners to major companies in realizing their various CSR programs.

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