Overview of 2023 CSI research

Trialogue is pleased to present its 26th consecutive year of research into the state of corporate social investment (CSI) in South Africa. This article outlines the most noteworthy results from the 2023 primary research as well as Trialogue’s secondary analysis of CSI expenditure. Note that ‘2023’ refers to data from the 2022/23 financial year, which differs across organisations, depending on the month of financial year-ends.

CONTENT

Estimate of total CSI expenditure
Growth in total CSI expenditure
CSI spend by industry sector
CSI spend across the top 100 companies
Respondents
CSI expenditure in 2023
Governance and management
Strategy
Development sector funding
Geographic distribution of funding
Corporate
Funding recipients
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E)
CSI communication
Read more:

Estimate of total CSI expenditure

This estimate is based on an analysis of the CSI expenditure of listed South African companies and multinationals operating in South Africa as well as state-owned enterprises. Our analysis considers:

Year-on-year changes in the CSI expenditure of 135 listed companies and the net profit after tax (NPAT) of 151 listed companies, using publicly reported data
Year-on-year changes in the CSI expenditure of the 68 companies that participated in Trialogue’s 2023 primary research
A triangulation of published CSI expenditure as a percentage of published NPAT with SARS data on total company taxable income and tax
A comparison of the combined CSI expenditure of the top 100 companies and scenario analysis of how much of the total market the top 100 companies represent
An extrapolation of total expenditure based on the number of medium and small companies in South Africa.

Growth in total CSI expenditure

Growth in CSI expenditure has not shown a consistent trend since a long period of growth in real terms between 1998 and 2013. In 2014 and 2015, CSI expenditure experienced negative growth in real terms. In 2016 and 2017, real growth flattened. It showed a slight increase between 2018 and 2020 before showing a significant decline in 2021 because of Covid. Growth in 2022 was marginal in real terms.
In 2023, our CSI estimate showed a 1% real increase from the previous year to R11.8 billion. This growth reflects a degree of post-Covid recovery, tempered by low economic growth and a difficult corporate operating environment.

CSI spend by industry sector

Based on public CSI expenditure data of 188 companies in 2023, the three industry sectors contributing the most to CSI were the same as in previous years.
Basic materials (28 companies), including mining, water, forestry and chemicals accounted for the largest portion of CSI expenditure (37%) in 2023.
Consumer services (32 companies), including retail, media, travel and tourism, was the second-largest contributor, accounting for 29% of CSI expenditure, a high portion of which was non-cash contributions.
Financials (50 companies) was the third-largest sector, accounting for 18% of CSI expenditure in 2023.

CSI spend across the top 100 companies

CSI expenditure remained concentrated, with the top 100 companies (by CSI spend) accounting for R8.7 billion, or 74% of total CSI expenditure estimated at R11.8 billion.
Of the total R8.7 billion spent by the top 100 companies, more than two-thirds (70%) was spent by the 23 companies whose CSI expenditure was more than R100 million in 2023.

Respondents

Companies

Between May and August 2023, professional researchers conducted virtual interviews with CSI representatives from large South African companies. Companies also had the option of self-completing the online questionnaire, which was then verified by the researchers.

There were 68 participating companies in 2023. Of these, 53 (78%) also participated in 2022.
Since it was first measured in 2011, the financial sector has been the best-represented sector in the corporate respondent sample (26% in 2023). The consumer goods sector was the second largest in 2023 (15%), followed by basic materials – including mining – at 12%.
The surveyed companies were large, with over two-thirds of companies (69%) having an annual income of over R1 billion in their latest full financial year, and 40% having an income of over R10 billion. Almost half of companies (46%) had an NPAT of over R1 billion.
Six out of ten companies (59%) employed more than 5 000 people, with a quarter (25%) having more than 20 000 employees.
Two-thirds of the companies (67%) had a BBBEE status of level 3 or better. Over half (55%) had a BBBEE status of level 1 or level 2.
Most companies (72%) scored the full five points for the socioeconomic development (SED) element of the BBBEE scorecard.
Twenty-seven companies in the sample (40%) are included in the FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Index. Of these, 14 companies (52%) are in the top 30 companies in the index.

Non-profit organisations

NPOs were surveyed between May and August 2023, using the online survey tool Qualtrics.

A total of 89 NPOs participated in the 2023 research. Of these, only 17% or 19 organisations, also participated in 2022.
The NPO sample was relatively evenly distributed in terms of organisation size, although weighted towards medium to large organisations with an annual income of over R2 million (54%).
Fifteen percent of the sample had annual incomes of more than R20 million.
Three-quarters of NPOs (76%) employed 50 people or fewer, while 11% employed over 100 people.

CSI expenditure in 2023

Changes in CSI expenditure

CSI expenditure is once again increasing, after the decreases associated with the pandemic and subsequent economic downturn. In 2023, well over half of companies in the sample (59%) reported an increase in CSI expenditure compared to the previous year, continuing the upward trend since 2021 when a low of 36% of companies reported an increase in CSI expenditure.
The proportion of companies reporting a decrease in CSI expenditure in 2023 dropped to 24% from 27% in 2022, and 51% in 2021.
An increase or decrease in corporate profits was the most likely reason for year-on-year changes in expenditure, followed by project requirements/needs of recipients.
Of the 40 companies that reported increased CSI expenditure in 2023, 19 companies (48%) cited an increase in corporate profits as the main reason for the increase.
The main reason for decreased CSI expenditure by companies was also a change (decrease) in corporate profits, cited by 13 of the 16 companies (81%) that reported decreased CSI expenditure in 2023.

Value of social investment of corporate sample

Total social investment of the 53 companies that reported expenditure figures for 2023 was just over R3.8 billion. Total social investment is comprised of cash CSI expenditure by a CSI division, foundation or other department and non-cash expenditure in the form of goods and services and volunteering time. It excludes expenditure through BBBEE community ownership trusts.
Most social investment was in the form of cash expenditure which amounted to 70% of total social investment in 2023. Cash CSI expenditure was mainly through a CSI department (30%) or a separate legal entity such as a trust or a foundation (26%).
Non-cash giving amounted to R1.2 billion for the sample – equivalent to 30% of total social investment – and was almost entirely comprised of donations of goods. The high proportion of non-cash giving in the past two years is mostly because of goods donated by one retail company, the value of which amounted to 73% of total non-cash giving by all companies in the 2023 sample.
Only one company reported spending through a BBBEE community ownership trust, to the value of R303 million, equivalent to 8% of the total social investment of R3.8 billion.
Nearly three-quarters of participating companies (49 companies) spent more than R10 million on social investment in 2023, with 26 companies (38%) investing more than R50 million. Of these, 15 companies (22%) invested more than R100 million.
The 2023 median social investment of the 53 companies reporting exact expenditure figures increased to R29 million, from R27 million¹ in 2022. The average total social investment by companies reporting values increased to R75 million in 2023 from R59 million in 2022, due to the inclusion of more large CSI spenders in the sample.

Categories of social investment

In 2023, around half of companies (53%) reported CSI expenditure through a CSI department, compared to 71% in 2022. This was mirrored by a decrease in average cash expenditure through a CSI department which comprised 38% of CSI expenditure on average in 2023, down from 53% in 2022.
Close to one-third (31%) of companies reported cash expenditure through another company department or division other than CSI in 2023, with an average expenditure of 31% in this category.
More companies reported cash expenditure through a trust or foundation – 44% of companies in 2023 compared to 17% of companies in 2022. The average cash expenditure through a trust or foundation also increased, from 6% in 2022 to 18% in 2023. This is still lower than in the US where 77% of companies reported cash expenditure through a foundation, and this comprised a third (33%) of total community investments on average in 2022.
Over half of companies (53%) reported non-cash giving of products, services, volunteering time or a combination of these. This is also lower than in the US where 70% of companies reported non-cash giving.
Fewer companies reported giving goods and services in 2023 (38% compared to 49% in 2022), but average CSI expenditure through this category remained similar at 13% in 2023 (12% in 2022).
Although 21 companies (31%) reported contributing volunteering time in 2023, only seven companies quantified its value, resulting in a low average across the sample (less than 1%).

Method used to determine CSI budgets

In 2023, 41 participating companies (60%) determined their annual CSI budget as a percentage of net profit after tax (NPAT). This method is increasingly dominant since the introduction of the BBBEE Empowerment Act, prior to which budgeting was primarily based on company decision and board approval (55% in 2003).
Thirty-nine of the 41 companies (95%) that used this method in 2023 allocated between 0.6% and 2% of NPAT to the annual CSI budget, with most allocating 1% of after-tax profit, in line with the target for SED spend of 1% of NPAT in the BBBEE Scorecard.
Only one company reported CSI budgeting based on existing expenditure in 2023, compared to six companies (9%) in 2022.

CSI expenditure line items

Almost all respondent companies (94%) included direct project expenditure in cash CSI expenditure, and it comprised 90% of total cash CSI expenditure on average, higher than in previous years.
Costs related to monitoring and evaluation (M&E) were the second most prevalent expenditure item for companies in 2023 (41% of companies), up significantly from 26% in 2022. However, the average expenditure on M&E remained the same at 2% of companies’ cash CSI expenditure.
Fewer companies spent on CSI marketing and communications (28%) and staff costs in 2023 (26%) compared to 2022 (35% and 32% respectively). This may be a result of incorporating these costs under ‘CSI administrative costs’ which increased from 17% of companies in 2022 to 26% in 2023.
Companies’ average expenditure on CSI staff costs decreased to 2% of cash CSI expenditure on average in 2023, from 6% in 2022.

Governance and management

Governance structure

In 2023, around one-quarter of participating companies (16 companies) reported having multiple structures for managing CSI. In most cases, respondents had a CSI department in the company and a separate legal entity such as a trust. This is in line with previous years, including 2022 where 16 companies (25%) reported CSI expenditure through multiple structures.
Forty-eight companies (72%) managed at least some of their CSI internally in 2023 – 27 companies through a dedicated department within the company, 20 companies by another department of the company and one company with a dedicated department and another department.
Of the 48 companies that managed their CSI internally, 19 (40%) reported to the corporate affairs/public affairs/government affairs department (almost unchanged from 42% in 2022), while seven companies (15%) reported to human resources. The number of companies with CSI departments reporting to marketing/communications increased significantly from none in 2022 to five (10%) in 2023.
Thirty-eight companies (56%) managed at least some of their CSI through a separate legal entity – 23 companies (34%) through a registered trust and 15 companies (22%) through a registered non-profit company (NPC). The number of companies using NPCs for CSI has increased steadily since the legal structure was introduced in 2008.
Three-quarters of companies that have a separate legal entity for the purpose of CSI (25 companies out of the 34 that responded) said that they have one such structure, and around a quarter reported more than one structure.

Management of CSI functions

Almost one-quarter of companies (24%) reported that the trustees or non-profit board of directors have ultimate oversight of the CSI function. Another quarter of companies (25%) indicated that ultimate oversight sits with the company board (16% social and ethics committee and 9% company board).
Where ultimate oversight sits within the company, it is most often with the divisional executive (19%).
Around half of companies (53%) had small teams of fewer than five people managing and administering CSI in 2023, with 14% having fewer than two employees. One-quarter (25%) employed ten or more people.
In 2023, the median number of full-time equivalent CSI employees was three, unchanged from 2022. In the US, the median number of community investment employees was 11 in 2022.

Use of artificial intelligence

Over one-third of participating companies (35%) have invested in the procurement or development of artificial intelligence (AI) in core operations, whereas only 10% have invested in the procurement or development of AI in CSI work.
Fewer NPOs have invested in AI for core operations (15%).

Strategy

ESG strategy

In 2023, over two-thirds of companies (68%) said their overall business strategy very much integrates and responds to their company’s material environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. A further 25% indicated their business strategy responds to critical ESG issues to some degree, a slight increase from 20% in 2022.
Four in ten companies (41%) said that ESG is already integrated across every department, while 56% expect ESG to be integrated across every department in the next five years, and 3% expecting integration only after six years.
A similar number of companies indicated some form of integration of ESG metrics into performance and remuneration indicators for staff (45%) as not (43%), in line with 2022 findings

CSI rationale and benefits

In 2023, moral imperative/the right thing to do was ranked as the top reason for supporting CSI, with almost half of companies (47%) rating it the top reason and 79% selecting it in their top three. This has been the top reason reported for doing CSI every year since it was first measured.
Licence-to-operate obligations (other than the BBBEE Codes) moved to second place, with 46% of companies selecting it as one of the most important business reasons for CSI.
BBBEE Codes moved from second place in 2022 to third in 2023, with 43% of respondents including it in their top three. Reputation was also selected by 43% of respondents as one of their top three reasons.
More companies included the industry sector charters as a top reason for doing CSI – 21% in 2023, up from 10% in 2022.
Attracting and retaining the best candidates and employees was listed by 44% of companies as the main employee benefit of CSI. This was followed by improving employee engagement scores (31%). See Chapter 2 on page 86 for more on employee views on volunteering.
Almost half of companies (49%) considered improved reputation/trust scores as the main customer or brand benefit of CSI. This is an increase from 35% in 2022. A third of companies (31%) chose improved brand perception as the most important customer benefit of CSI, while 12% cited increased customer loyalty.

CSI strategy

Companies were most likely to use government policy documents (75%), global codes and standards (72%) and research on their own projects (54%) to inform their CSI strategies and practices. Over half of companies (51%) also used research into other companies’ CSI practices.
There was a decrease in the use of many other resources used to inform strategy between 2021 and 2023, with the use of this Handbook falling from 65% to 43%, and the use of other industry publications and dialogues also declining.
The responses to the question about the anticipated changes in companies’ approaches to CSI over the next five years showed some positive trends, including shifts towards more strategic and collaborative partnerships, greater alignment with strategic goals and increased monitoring. However, slightly at odds with a more strategic approach, around half of respondents foresee no change to the number of focus areas they support (which, on average, is five) and over half expect to support more projects.

CSI positioning

In 2023, companies reported practising an average of two types of CSI as depicted in Trialogue’s CSI Positioning Matrix. This is in line with the results of 2022.
The most popular approach was strategic CSI, practised by three-quarters of companies (76%) and receiving an average of 49% of CSI spend. Strategic CSI shows evidence of developmental results (outcomes or impact) and business benefits that go beyond reputation to significant improvements in engaging with business stakeholders or gaining competitive advantage.
There was a further drop in the percentage of companies that reported practising developmental CSI in 2023, from 74% in 2021 to 69% in 2022 and 66% in 2023. Developmental CSI refers to CSI that generates significant social outcomes with limited alignment to the core business. However, the average CSI spend on developmental CSI remained similar in 2023 (38%) compared to 2022 (40%).
The proportion of corporates supporting charitable grantmaking projects continued to decline, from 56% in 2021 to 48% in 2022 and 41% in 2023. Charitable grantmaking often takes the forms of once-off donations, without a focus on business value or measured developmental benefits.
Commercial grantmaking prioritises corporate benefit over social benefits and remains the least practised approach. The percentage of corporates practising this approach decreased from 18% in 2021 to 13% in 2023, and it received only 2% of CSI spend on average.

Strategic alignment with global and local development agendas

Companies and NPOs were more likely to integrate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) than the goals of the South African National Development Plan (NDP) into their strategies.
SDGs have also increasingly been linked to social investment work, while integration of the NDP elements into strategy is lower in 2023 than it was in 2020 for companies and NPOs.

Although a quarter of companies (25%) reported using the SDGs as a framework for reporting and/or measuring their work, just 15% claimed to use the SDG indicators to measure all projects. Fewer NPOs (12%) claimed to use the SDGs as a framework and used the SDG indicators to measure all projects (14%).
Companies aligned with 5.6 SDGs on average. The SDG that CSI programmes aligned most closely to was again SDG 4 (quality education), with 84% of companies reporting alignment. SDG 2 (zero hunger) is increasingly a priority, with 63% of companies aligned to it, up from 43% in 2020. Corporate support for SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing), SDG 9 (industry) and SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) decreased the most between 2020 and 2023.
NPOs aligned with fewer SDGs on average (3.9). Like companies, most NPOs (71%) were aligned with SDG 4, but unlike companies this was followed by SDG 3 (49%) and SDG 1 (36%).
Companies aligned with an average of 3.4 of the NDP’s ten core elements of a decent standard of living, with most aligned to quality education and skills development (85%), followed by employment (53%) and adequate nutrition (37%).
Similarly, NPOs aligned with an average of 3.9 of the NDP’s core elements, with quality education and skills development (76%), employment (33%) and social protection (33%) scoring highest.

Development sector funding

Corporate

Companies supported an average of five sectors in 2023, with 24 companies (35%) supporting more than five sectors. This is in line with 2022 and 2021 and slightly above the average of 4.6 sectors supported in 2020.
Education remains the most popular cause for companies. Even though most companies (78%) supported education in 2023, there was a decrease from 2022 (98%). The average CSI spend on education, however, increased from 44% in 2022 to 48% in 2023. Education is also the most common focus area in the US (53% of US companies).
Social and community development remains the second most supported cause, supported by three-quarters of companies (74%) in 2023, the same as in 2022. The average CSI spend on social and community development remained 13% in 2023.
Disaster relief continues to be the third most popular cause, supported by 62% of companies in 2023, a decrease from 71% of companies in 2022. The average CSI spend on disaster relief also decreased slightly from 8% in 2022 to 6% in 2023. These decreases are most likely due to reduced spend on Covid-19-related projects.
Food security and agriculture was supported by 60% of companies in 2023 and received an average of 9% of CSI expenditure, in line with support and spend in 2022.
Entrepreneur and small business support was also in line with 2022, with 38% of companies supporting the sector with an average spend of 8% in 2023.
Fewer companies (38%) supported the health sector in 2023 than in 2022 (43%). The average CSI spend on health was 6% in 2023. This differs from the US where health and social services received the highest average spend (25%).
Over a third of companies (37%) supported environmental causes through their CSI, but these receive just 3% of CSI spend on average.
More companies supported the sports development, social justice and advocacy, and safety and security sectors in 2023 than in 2022. The average CSI spend in these sectors remains below 5%.

Non-profit

NPOs supported an average of 2.7 sectors in 2023, in line with previous years and lower than companies, reflecting the role of NPOs as implementers.
Social and community development and education remained the most supported sectors, supported by 65% and 56% of NPOs and accounting for an average 31% and 33% of NPO spend respectively.
Health remained the third most supported sector (28% of NPOs), with an average expenditure of 12% in 2023.

Geographic distribution of funding

Corporate

Companies supported projects in an average of five South African provinces in 2023, excluding national projects (those operating in two or more provinces), in line with 2022 findings.
Over half of companies (56%) supported national projects, which accounted for an average of 64% of CSI expenditure in 2023. This is slightly down from last year, when 65% of corporates supported national projects at an average of 68% of CSI expenditure.
Gauteng was again the most supported province, with 32% of companies supporting at least one project in Gauteng in 2023. The average CSI expenditure on projects in the province was 10% in 2023.
Support for the rest of the provinces was more evenly spread in 2023, with 29% of companies supporting projects in the Eastern Cape, 28% in both the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, 25% in Mpumalanga, and 22% in both Limpopo and the Free State. Projects in each of these provinces received 5% or less of average CSI expenditure.
In 2023, four companies (6%) gave an average of 2% of their CSI expenditure in support of international projects (up from none in 2022). This differs significantly from the US, where 76% of companies gave internationally, and international giving accounted for 22% of total community investments on average in 2022.

Non-profit

NPOs operated projects in an average of two provinces, excluding those operating nationally and/or internationally.
The proportion of NPOs operating projects nationally decreased from 29% in 2022 to 18% in 2023, with the average expenditure decreasing from 19% in 2022 to 15% in 2023. Average NPO expenditure on national projects is significantly lower than corporate expenditure on national projects (64%).
South Africa’s two economic hubs (Gauteng and the Western Cape) cumulatively received more than half (54%) of NPO expenditure on average, although this is most likely due to the location of NPOs in the sample.

Funding recipients

Identifying projects

Most companies (79%) identified their major CSI projects proactively, with only 21% of companies reactively selecting projects based on applications made to the company (up from 15% in 2022).
The fundraising approach that was the most successful with companies was solicited proposals from NPOs, with 44% of companies reporting that it had resulted in funding. This approach was used by 95% of NPOs and generated the largest share of their income (47% on average).
Interestingly, 19% of corporate respondents identified unsolicited NPO proposals as resulting in funding. Over half of NPOs (58%) sent unsolicited proposals, which generated an average of 13% of NPO income.
Thirty-eight percent of companies claimed that no fundraising resulted in funding as all CSI expenditure is done proactively.

Types of organisations supported

NPOs remained the most popular recipient of CSI funding, with 84% of companies directing an average of 63% of their spend to NPOs in 2023. Surprisingly, the proportion of companies directing CSI funding to NPOs fell below 90%, even as the average contribution increased.

Schools, universities, hospitals and other government institutions remained the second most supported channel, with 57% of corporates funding them directly and an average of 19% of expenditure directed towards them.
Support of social enterprises increased from 17% of companies in 2022 to 28% in 2023, with social enterprises receiving an average of 5% of CSI expenditure.

Types of funding

Company uptake of more progressive types of funding is relatively low. Most companies would not consider providing funding for reserves (75%), providing loans (74%), or providing unrestricted funding (69%, albeit down from 84% in 2021).
In contrast to this, and somewhat surprisingly, 60% of NPOs received unrestricted funding from companies in 2023, and 39% received funding for reserves.
Over a third of companies (37%) provided funding dependent on outcomes in 2023, and another third (35%) indicated that they would consider doing so. However, only 12% of NPOs received funding dependent on project outcomes from companies in 2023.
Over a quarter of companies (28%) provided resources to enable an NPO to self-generate funding in 2023 and another 29% said they would consider doing so. Yet only 3% of the NPOs in our sample received such funding from companies in 2023.

Number of projects supported

Most companies (70%) supported between six and 50 projects in 2023, with just over a quarter (27%) supporting between 11 and 20 projects.
Ten percent of companies respectively reported support for fewer than five projects and more than one hundred projects.

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E)

M&E policies and budgets

Over half of companies had a stated policy on M&E in 2023 (57%), slightly down from previous years.
Twenty-five companies (37%) allocated a portion of the CSI budget to M&E. Of these, most (76%) allocated 5% or less of their CSI budget to M&E. The budget allocation ranged from 0.6% to 20%, with a median of 4.5% and an average of 5% of the CSI budget.
Fewer NPO respondents reported having a budget for M&E (37%, down from 45% in 2022). Of these, five NPOs (22%) allocated more than 5% of their budget to M&E. The allocated budget for M&E ranged from 1% to 20%, with a median of 6%.

M&E staffing

The proportion of companies with internal staff to manage M&E appears to be gradually increasing (50% in 2020 to 56% in 2023), with a quarter of companies (25%) having more than one person in 2023, up from 15% in 2022. In line with this, fewer companies (20%) did not have any internal or external resources dedicated to managing M&E in 2023 compared to 2022 (32%). These findings are similar to the US where 56% of companies have measurement resources at least partially, if not entirely, in-house.
The proportion of NPOs with internal staff for M&E (either part time or full time) has remained fairly constant around 70%, higher than for companies. A quarter of NPOs (25%) had no dedicated internal or external M&E resources.
More companies (24% in 2023, up from 16% in 2022) than NPOs (5%) used external consultants for M&E. Similarly, 23% of US companies work with external consultants for M&E.

Working together on M&E

NPOs claimed that companies most often involve them by feeding back on M&E findings, although only 56% of NPOs received feedback on M&E findings from the majority of their corporate funders. This was followed by their involvement in data collection (48%).

Only 19% of NPOs have been involved in the design of programmes with the majority of their corporate funders, while a quarter (25%) were involved in designing M&E methodologies.

Measuring outcomes

Although small, the proportion of companies that do not measure outcomes for any projects has increased, from 4% in 2021 to 10% in 2023. Only 3% of NPO respondents did not measure outcomes for any projects.
The percentage of companies measuring outcomes for all grants decreased from 66% in 2022 to 53% in 2023. This is a deviation from the upward trend in past years. However, the proportion of companies that measure outcomes for grants made for a specific CSI project increased (from 9% in 2022 to 18% in 2023), as did the share of companies measuring outcomes for grants larger than a specific threshold (from 12% in 2022 to 15% in 2023).
Around half of NPOs (49%) recorded and measured outcomes for all projects in 2023, in line with recent years. The proportion of NPOs that measured outcomes for all projects, but only at selected sites or stakeholders, remained broadly unchanged at 19%. The proportion of NPOs measuring outcomes for projects only when it is a condition of funding decreased from 17% in 2022 to 12% in 2023.

M&E and data systems

Most NPOs reported using specialised systems for M&E, with 78% using them for reporting and 72% for data collection. By contrast, only 27% of companies used them for reporting and 25% for data collection.
There is low adoption of specialised software as a management tool, with only a third of corporate participants (33%) reporting its use for CSI management, and only 36% of NPOs reporting using it in the management of grants.

Use of M&E data

Companies used M&E data mostly to report to their boards (84%), to plan or revise strategies (79%) and projects (76%), and to make decisions around whether to exit a project or continue with support (63%). There was a marked decrease in companies that do not use M&E data, from 8% in 2022 to 4% in 2023.
NPOs most commonly use M&E data to report to the board (73%) and to funders (70%), and to plan or revise projects (64%).

CSI communication

Communication rationale and budgets

The most common reasons companies communicated their CSI work in 2023 were for brand enhancement and to encourage partnerships and collaboration, in both cases cited by 72% of companies.
NPOs communicated their work to attract donor funding (87%) and to encourage partnerships and collaboration (84%). Sharing challenges and lessons learnt was cited by just under a third (32%) of NPOs.
A quarter of companies (26%) allocated a portion of their CSI budget to communication. On average, these companies allocated 5% of their CSI budget to communication, ranging from 0.9% to 15%.
More NPOs (58%) than companies allocated a portion of their budget to communication in 2023. Of the 38 NPOs that provided communication budget information, an average of 6% was allocated to communication, with 45% of these NPOs allocating less than 5%.

Communication staffing

Almost two-thirds of companies (62%) employed people internally to manage CSI communication in 2023 – 6% one part time, 19% one full time and 37% more than one person. This is more than those employing M&E staff internally. Over a quarter of companies (26%) did not employ anyone to manage communication.
Only 29% of companies manage CSI communications within the CSI department. Most companies used the corporate communications (71%) or marketing (38%) departments to manage CSI communication.
The majority of NPOs surveyed (73%) have one or more people appointed to manage communication internally, either in a full-time or part-time capacity. Around one-fifth of NPOs (21%) did not have any staff managing the communication function.

Communication channels and reporting

The company annual report remains the most common channel for reporting on CSI, used by 78% of companies in 2023.
The use of social media is increasing, with the platform being the second most used channel by 74% of companies, ahead of the company website (66%).
The use of company websites, company sustainability reports, staff and customer newsletters/magazines, CSI specific reports, and company and CSI brochures decreased between 2022 and 2023.

See last year’s research findings at the Overview of 2022 CSI Research.

Source: The original version of this article was published in the Trialogue Business in Society Handbook 2023 (26th edition).

Inclusion in the FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Index

Yes 40% of corporate respondents

No 60% of corporate respondents

Total annual income

% corporate respondents 2023 n=67

12% Less than 500 million

10% R500 million – R1 billion

19% R1 billion – R5 billion

10% R5 billion – R10 billion

18% R10 billion – R50 billion

22% More than R50 billion

9% Don’t know

New research reveals leaders in corporate giving

Rewarding Strategic CSI: BriteLink MCT wins 2024 award

VWGA | Moving people forward: Empowering South Africa’s youth through Volkswagen For Good

Vodacom at 30 years: Celebrating socioeconomic impact

CECP: Investing in Society 2024 edition

The Sanlam ESG Barometer: Navigating ESG in Africa

Oceana: Grassroots CSI supports fishing industry transformation

The situation of young children has worsened but there is now an important window to change course

Enhancing enterprise and supplier development ecosystem effectiveness in South Africa

Momentum explores elevating CSI through collaboration

CONTACT US

Overview of 2023 CSI research

Total estimated CSI expenditure in 2023 was R11.8 billon

Estimate of total CSI expenditure

Growth in total CSI expenditure

Nominal

Nominal versus real growth in expenditure

Real

CSI spend by industry sector

CSI expenditure by industry sector

% of expenditure 2023 n=188

37% Basic materials

29% Consumer services

18% Financials

5% in Consumer goods

3% Industrials

3% Telecommunications

2% Healthcare

1% Utilities

1% Technology

1% Other

CSI spend across the top 100 companies

CSI spend across the top 100 companies

More than R100 million per company

R50 million – R100 million per company

R25 million – R50 million per company

Less than R25 million per company

Respondents

Companies

Inclusion in the FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Index

Yes 40% of corporate respondents

No 60% of corporate respondents

26% Financial

Industry sector

% corporate respondents 2023 n=68

15% Consumer goods

12% Basic materials

7% State-owned and public enteprises

6% Consumer services

6% Healthcare

6% Telecommunications

4% Technology

4% Oil and gas

3% Industrials

2% Utilities

9% Other

Total annual income

% corporate respondents 2023 n=67

12% Less than 500 million

10% R500 million – R1 billion

19% R1 billion – R5 billion

10% R5 billion – R10 billion

18% R10 billion – R50 billion

22% More than R50 billion

9% Don’t know

Total net profit after tax (NPAT)

% corporate respondents 2023 n=68

7% Loss (negative NPAT)

10% R0 to less than R50 million

9% R50 million to R100 million

7% R100 million to R500 million

5% R500 million to R1 billion

22% R1 billion to R5 billion

24% More than R5 billion

16% Don’t know

Number of employees

% corporate respondents 2023 n=68

15% Fewer than 1 000

25% 1 000 – 5 000

18% 5 001 – 10 000

16% 10 001 – 20 000

21% 20 001 – 50 000

4% Over 50 000

1% Don’t know

10 -Don’t know

Company BBBEE status/level

% corporate respondents 2023 n=68

37 – Level 1

18 – Level 2

12 – Level 3

10 – Level 4

Estimate of total CSI expenditure