In 2011, IMS celebrates its 25th anniversary!
The year 2011 is particularly special for IMS – Entreprendre pour la Cité. It marks 25 years of existence. This is an opportunity to take stock and continue the work while staying true to its mission.
Being the reference actor and the pioneer of corporate societal engagement, and supporting companies in a professional and independent manner, while developing high value-added partnerships for businesses and society: here in a few words is the ambition sought.
To facilitate the rise of corporate societal engagement, IMS offers four types of services to its members:
– Inter-company meetings and exchanges of best practices to move forward together on new topics,
– Support for companies in their internal processes and policies,
– Concrete actions to act together at the local level,
– Communication tools to publicize the progress and innovations of companies within the network.
-Created in 1986, IMS – Entreprendre pour la Cité unites a network of over 200 companies by supporting them in their Societal Engagement efforts. The association helps companies develop initiatives that create value for the territories where they are located and generate greater social equity.
-IMS promotes on a daily basis the engagement of companies in sponsorship programs, the integration of disadvantaged groups, diversity management, equal opportunities in education, and support for local socio-economic development, especially in sensitive neighborhoods.
More broadly, IMS invites its member companies to open new paths of collaboration with City actors and to integrate innovative and coherent societal approaches into their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies that are aligned with their challenges.
Beyond a strong network activity, combining experience sharing, studies, monitoring, and information dissemination, the association supports its member companies in implementing their approaches. From the policy formulation to operational follow-up, including training, IMS provides its member companies with personalized assistance in defining and implementing their Social Responsibility projects.
-Let’s remember that currently, corporate societal engagement is essentially a voluntary approach.
But in this area of Corporate Social Responsibility, as in others (environmental protection, governance, working conditions…), civil society’s expectations are becoming increasingly pressing. Some pioneering companies have understood this well. In connection with their stakeholders, they become aware of the active role they can play in promoting social cohesion and the development of the regions in which they wish to thrive.
Beyond their ethical convictions, business leaders indeed have every interest in engaging in societal approaches and transforming stakeholder expectations into opportunities.
Corporate societal engagement encompasses initiatives that create value for territories and generate greater social equity:
•Support for nonprofit organizations and public interest actors
•Non-discrimination and diversity management
•Access to employment for disadvantaged people
•Equal opportunities in education
•Support for economic development in territories
•Integration of CSR criteria in supplier relations
•Access to products/services for disadvantaged groups
