Conventional wisdom is that it is expensive to be a good corporate citizen, a luxury that only the biggest brands can afford.  However, there is a lot of interesting data that suggests the contrary, i.e. being a good corporate citizen is a valuable, monetizable practice.  In a recent article in Tech PR Nibbles, (a blog about tech and PR trends and ideas) Amy Messanger pulls an interesting bit of data from a recently published Pew report on Millennials.

She says:

21% of Millennials say that helping people who are in need is one of the most important things in their life – more important to them in fact than owning a home or being successful in a high paying career. Will their views change as they age and become less idealistic? I wonder.

She also says:

A December 2009 Yankelovich study showed 69% of consumers say that when a company donates to or does something for school or community, they think its right to buy things from that company as often as possible – a 10% jump in that answer from 2005.

Messanger points out that big brands have been making a push to promote their social and philanthropic agendas.  It’s hard to watch TV these days without seeing a big name company, drop big dollars for television ad space to flaunt their latest issue advocacy or community engagement campaign.  For example, the Pepsi refresh campaign has not gone unnoticed.  Think of the Gap (Red) campaign which donates half the proceeds to helping women and children with AIDS in Africa.  American Express has been touting its support for small business initiatives.  And there are countless others.

I am not sure we have seen a time when big companies have spent so much money on paid media to highlight their social responsibility initiatives.  Aside from the fulfillment of being a good corporate citizen, consumer trends are showing that being a good corporate citizen is not just fashionable, but profitable.  I think we will only see this effort grow in the coming years.

You can read Amy Messanger’s full blog article here.

Check out the Pew Research Center Report on Millenials – it is very interesting.