Small Businesses Can Go Green, Too: 4 Steps for Smaller-Scale CSR

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) seems to be a term that almost exclusively describes huge corporations with big budgets for financing their sustainability efforts. However, small businesses can market themselves as “green” and “socially responsible”, too - they should just take slightly different routes to accommodate their smaller sizes.

Here are 4 ways small businesses can become just as eco-friendly as corporate giants:

1. Create a sustainability plan.

Calculate your company's carbon footprint and create a plan to reduce it.

You may be eligible for free energy audits from your local utility or rebates for upgrading old equipment. Investigate other free or cost-effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint without breaking the bank, and include them in the plan.

Create deadlines and check-in points, and hold to them. It's important that the plan will produce significant, tangible results, because otherwise it will lose credibility. You can even measure the results in "cars taken off the road" or "trees planted" to make it more meaningful to consumers.

2. Do the little things.

Your business may not have the money to install solar panels on your roof or buy carbon offsets. However, there are endless little things your company can do to go green - you may just have to get creative. Some ideas include: Give an extra vacation day to employees who bike or take mass transit to work. Start a compost pile outside for biodegradable lunch trash. Call up your municipality and find out how you can arrange recycling pickup if you don't have it already. Turn off computers at the end of the day. Give out a "Greenest Employee of the Month" award with a prize, like a gift card to Starbucks or a free lunch.

While it may not seem like much compared to large company's efforts, your business' efforts can create a compelling story. Plus, these efforts are all very relatable. While some companies may donate millions to green nonprofit groups, your efforts will be completely tangible to your customers.

3. Volunteer.

While your company may not have the funds to make significant contributions to environmental groups or green nonprofits, you can use your manpower and volunteer with green causes. Beach cleanups, Habitat for Humanity trips, and planting community gardens aren't just great ways to help the environment - they can also be fun team bonding activities. Again, these activities will be much more compelling and tangible to your customers than a financial contribution.

4. Promote your efforts.

Of course, once your business has made an effort to go green, you need to market, market, market! Consumers love to hear that the products or services they are buying come from companies who care. Your sustainability story will give your company an edge on the competition.

Post your sustainability plan and carbon footprint online, with progress reports. Add pictures of your employees volunteering and making sustainable behavior changes around the office. If you have products, add your green story to the labels.