Evaluating my progress

The three goals I had set for myself as a CSR intern at ON Semiconductor a few months ago were as follows:

1. Further understand the relationship between the for profit and not-for-profit sector.
2. Strengthen my ability to be a good team player.
3. Provide informative yet concise presentations.

In regards to my first goal, I believe I've learnt a significant amount about the intersectional relationship between businesses and nonprofits both through my internship but also MPA program. Sustainability reporting through the GRI requires me to understand the requirements on the GRI, which was initiated by the nonprofit sector. Furthermore, in developing a corporate giving program and volunteer time off policy, I've also had to learn more about nonprofits. In relation to giving, one area that is important is overhead ratio. Nonprofit organizations strive to lower overhead in order to attract giving from donors. This aspect was especially evident when attempting to devise thresholds for giving from a corporate perspective. With volunteering, I needed to learn more about the different types of opportunities afforded by nonprofits and how well they match with the core values of ON Semiconductor along with their business goals.

In regards to my ability to become a strong team player, I definitely believe I've made progress. Two projects that I worked on, namely EcoVadis and GRI, required a high level of collaboration between various departments and team members. For EcoVadis, I worked with a team of approximately four employees and collaborated with various departments in order to provide the necessary information. The results of the teamwork were evident through our score which improved significantly from the previous year we completed the same assessment. In regards to the GRI, I am still working with various departments and learning how better to improve processes in order to make sustainability reporting an easier endeavor for the company.

Lastly, I believe I have taken a step in the right director to provide informative, yet concise presentations. I've given a series of presentations, often on the same topic. This has allowed me to tweak presentations to ensure that I am improving on the content I provide. Over time, I've also become more comfortable with one-on-one presentations, small group presentations, and conference presentations.

Overall, I have made progress on each of the goals I set during at the start of my internship. In the future, I aim to keep improving in each of three aforementioned goals while also developing new goals that I can work toward.

Thank you

While in my couple of weeks at ON Semiconductor as a CSR intern, I wanted to say the following to my supervisor:

I wanted to thank my supervisor for providing me the invaluable opportunity of interning at ON Semiconductor as a CSR intern since May, 2015. While I had dreamed of landing a CSR role within a company, I never initially thought I had the right type of experience or credentials for the position. Luckily, my supervisor saw something in me when first reviewing my resume and finally speaking with me during the interview.

My supervisor has not only been a manager who I have reported to but also a mentor who I've learnt a great deal from. One thing I am most thankful for is the encouragement and confidence that my supervisor has provided me. Through the opportunities afforded, I've become a much more confident and effective public speaker. Prior to this May, I used to be terrified of speaking to both smaller and larger groups of people, especially if those in the audience were more experienced. My supervisor, however, allowed me to present in front of various other employees within the company including the CEO. Knowing how nervous I was, though, she spent about an hour with me prior to the presentation just so I could rehearse.

Besides building my confidence, my supervisor has also allowed me learn so much about the CSR field. I've been placed on several different projects involving sustainability reporting, volunteer time off, and corporate giving. In regards to corporate giving, rather than just facilitating a program that she designed, I was provided the independence to both create and run the programs myself. This shows the level of trust my supervisor has in me, and I am thankful for that.

Lastly, I am extremely grateful for the full time position I will be starting at ON Semiconductor in January, 2016. I am glad that my supervisor saw the potential in me to grow from an intern to a full time staff. I look forward to continuing to work within a CSR capacity at ON Semiconductor and hope that I can add significant value to the company.

What I have learnt through the MPA

As my final post, I thought it would be most appropriate to talk about my experience within the MPA program at ASU. A couple of years ago, I knew that I wanted to get a Master's degree but I was unsure of what program to actually pursue. I had worked for the nonprofit sector for a while at that point and realized that my true passion resided within that sector. After some research, I realized that the MPA was the most appropriate program for myself if I wanted to continue working in the nonprofit sector, and ASU had one of the top 20 programs in the nation. I clearly remember that it was one evening in April 2014 that I was accepted into the MPA program at ASU. I could not wait to begin my journey in Phoenix, Arizona.

The MPA program has been invaluable in allowing me to develop both soft-skills and sound knowledge on aspects of the nonprofit sector that I was not exposed to previously. This includes classes on human resource management, organizational behavior, financial management, nonprofit management, and budgeting. I have also developed stronger interpersonal skills, time management, and communication skills through the MPA. In regards to interpersonal skills, this final semester has been especially helpful as I've participated in three group projects requiring coordination and teamwork. Written communication skills on the other hand have been necessary throughout the program as I drafted essays, reports, and memos for various classes. While verbal communication skills were necessary in the MPA, I believe this particular skill was most needed and therefore developed during my internship.

Overall, I believe the MPA has been an excellent experience and has allowed me to be exactly where I wanted. It was half way through the MPA that I realized that I wanted experience within the CSR field. Even though I do not have a background in sustainability which is often key for CSR roles, several of the knowledge I gained from the MPA was useful in securing an internship and eventually full-time employment.

The Strengths & Weaknesses of ON Semiconductor

ON Semiconductor has been an incredible company to work at for the last few months and learn about CSR. Perhaps one could argue that a weakness of ON Semiconductor is its lack of a robust CSR program. The company has only published two CSR reports, both of which are very basic in content. Neither of the reports have also been benchmarked according to an external standard. Similarly, ON Semiconductor does not have a corporate giving or volunteer time off program. While each of these factors may be considered weaknesses, they have proven to be very helpful in allowing me to grow.

Since ON Semiconductor does not have a holistic CSR program, I have been responsible in creating much of the program. This includes doing the first GRI report, drafting the next CSR report with added content, launching a corporate giving program in January, and developing a volunteer time off policy. Accordingly, ON Semiconductor has presented me with several opportunities to grow.

A true weakness of ON Semiconductor, from what I have seen in my limited time is perhaps the culture in relation to philanthropy. In the past, ON Semiconductor has not been as active during our annual United Way campaigns. Similarly, programs such as corporate giving and volunteer time off have been resisted as they do not conform with the company's existing culture. I can understand why this is the case: both volunteerism and giving cost a company money. Accordingly, there will always be resistance from individuals who are focused on the financial bottom line.  Having said that, however, I do believe things are changing. Hopefully over the years, the culture of the company will transform into one that is actively and willingly engaged within the community as a good corporate citizen.

Mapping my future

For my capstone class this semester, I was required to developed a five to ten year career and learning plan. Since 10 years seemed to far out into the future, I opted to create a five year "map", a portion of which I thought I would share with you:

I've often found it difficult to to clearly determine a roadmap for my professional career. As I have mentioned in my previous posts, I have diverse experience in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. However, much of this experience was a result of chance. Since starting my internship at ON Semiconductor, however, I have realized that my interest does in fact lie in for-profit companies and I have been more deliberate in carving out a space for myself within the private sector while addressing public issues.

I would like to continue developing in the area of corporate social responsibility in Phoenix, AZ. Since May 2015, I have learnt a significant amount about sustainability and human rights issues that are most pertinent to the semiconductor or electronics industry. For example, the sustainability reporting I currently engage in is closely related to the EICC.

In the immediate future, I would like to continue working in a full-time capacity at ON Semiconductor. Fortunately, I will be doing so starting January 2016. This way, I will get to continue working on several of the projects I have already started. I think it would have almost felt wrong if I had left the company before I got to see each of the projects to completion! In the next five years, though, I would be open to the idea of other organizations with robust CSR programs. If I want to remain in Phoenix, AZ, I believe Intel will be the ideal workplace as it is one of the largest electronics companies in Phoenix and has a strong and respectable CSR program.

Until then, however, I look forward to my career at ON Semiconductor and hope that I can contribute to my fullest capacity in order to develop a strong corporate social responsibility program that benefits all of our stakeholders including employees, customers, shareholders, and the community generally.

Career services

After being an intern at ON Semiconductor for almost 6 months, I was finally offered a full time role within a CSR capacity. Due to my goal of securing employment at ON Semiconductor after graduating this semester, I decided to speak to my supervisor directly on any opportunities within the company about two months ago. I thought it would be best to be upfront and let her know that I was about to start applying for jobs but would really appreciate the opportunity to stay at ON Semiconductor. Accordingly, I decided to avoid any career services until I was sure about my prospect at ON Semiconductor.

As of January 25, 2016 I will be the Corporate Social Responsibility Analyst at ON Semiconductor! My main job responsibilities will remain mostly the same with the addition of internal audits. Due to EICC and customer requirements, ON Semiconductor conducts internal audits at all of our manufacturing sites globally to ensure that we are meeting certain standards. While I have not engaged in audits till date, this is one area that I am looking forward to gaining experience in. Along with conducting audits I will also continue working on projects I have already started: the GRI (with 2015 data), the 2016 CSR report, corporate giving, and volunteer time off.

I can say that it has been an incredible relief to securing a job prior to completing to school. I look forward to enjoying a month off after the semester finishes as I plan on traveling to Australia and India!

Public service

According to economist Milton Friedman, the biggest social responsibility of a corporation is to maximize profit for shareholders. In fact, this was the dominant view among businesses for several decades as they only focused on profit as their bottom line. However, more recently, corporations have started to realize that they do in fact have a role in public service. This role involves social, economic, and environmental issues (in other words, the tipple bottom line).

Environmentally, a business must monitor and eventually reduce the amount of water and electricity consumed. A company must also have an adequate waste management system for both solid and chemical wastes. Such programs have been adopted by ON Semiconductor and are evident in the company's CSR reports.

Along with producing profit, a business must also strive toward social justice in order to secure a healthy and talented workforce. This involves hiring and remunerating individuals according to work-related standards as opposed to gender, race, ethnicity, age, etc. ON Semiconductor is a company that does in fact follow such standards and compensates individuals according to his or her talent.

Socially, ON Semiconductor is working toward establishing more robust philanthropic programs that will allow the company to invest greater time and money within communities. This includes a corporate giving program as well as a volunteer time off policy. The company has also taken a strong stance on conflict minerals, which has posed a significant human rights issue in the DRC and adjacent country. Accordingly, ON Semiconductor strives relentlessly to ensure that there is no trace of conflict minerals throughout the company's supply chain.

Ultimately, while being a corporation, ON Semiconductor is committed to public service by developing sustainable business practices that minimizes businesses's carbon footprint and enhances its social impact within its workforce and community. In that sense, ON Semiconductor is a corporate citizen adhering to several of the tenants followed by public sector organizations that are engaged in public service or urban development.

Arizona's water crises

Although this topic is more related to my coursework within the MPA, Arizona's water crises does have significant implications for residents of Arizona and businesses as well. ON Semiconductor has a goal of reducing water usage year-by-year. Setting and achieving such goals are essential in states such as Arizona that are living in a drought and are at risk of decreased water supplies.

According to the Arizona Department of Water Resources, "the has been a Drought Emergency Declaration in the state of Arizona. If nothing is done, the demand for water is expected to exceed the available supply in the next 25-50 years" (ADWR, 2014). There are several reasons why Arizona is in such a condition, but two reasons that have captured my attention include mismanaged regulatory measures and the price of water. Despite being a desert, Phoenix often lives an "oasis" lifestyle with lush gardens, man made lakes, backyard pools, water fixtures, and hyper-green golf courses. Similarly, the price of water in Arizona is strikingly low compared to other states in the nation. Compared to Boston where the average family of four using 100 gallons per person each day pays $65.47, a family of four in Phoenix using the same amount pays $34.29. In fact, water is so heavily subsidized in Arizona that we are only paying for the treatment and transportation cost rather than the commodity itself. While I understand that this is the case for many cities and states around the United States, I believe Arizona must ensure adequate pricing of water to indicate to consumers the scarcity of the resources.

Ultimately, if no action is taken Arizona may face a similar crisis to that of California. Accordingly, residents and businesses of Arizona must educate themselves on water-conservation methods and adopt lifestyles and operations to ensure that the state does not in fact deplete water levels to a dangerous low.

Volunteer time off

Volunteering is an integral part of civic life in America. In fact, more and more millennials seek employment opportunities that allow him or her to actively participate within the community. This type of participation is beyond merely providing monetary assistance to charities. Rather, it involves the time and skill necessary to make a change within one's community.

Although ON Semiconductor does not currently have a volunteer time off policy enabling employees to volunteer during the work week and get paid for doing so, the company does have several employees who are active within their local communities. In fact, employees at the Phoenix site regularly volunteer at St. Mary's Food Bank and Habitat for Humanity in order to address basic human needs.

In order to encourage greater volunteerism within the workplace, I have been developing a volunteer time off policy that would be available to all employees globally. The volunteer time off policy would enable employees to volunteer one work day (as the hours constituting one work day may differ between employees in different positions and in different countries) at a charity of their liking while still getting paid. When creating this policy, however, it has been important to determine which activities truly constitute volunteerism and which organizations are considered eligible. For instance, providing free ski lessons while on a ski holiday yourself would not constitute a volunteer activity. Similarly, nor would attending your child PTA. In contrast, tutoring underprivileged children in STEM related topics or engaging in homelessness outreach would.

By creating a robust volunteer time off policy, I aim to ultimately boost employee morale, attract newer talent into the organization, provide existing employees the convenience necessary to volunteer, and enhance ON Semiconductor's corporate social responsibility program.

Ethics and corporate social responsibility

Last week, ON Semiconductor hosted its biennial Corporate Ethics Program (CEP) and Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) conference for employees from various sites. The conference was held over a four-day period at the Valley Ho hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona. The participants of the conference involved Chief Ethics Liaisons (CELs) who are present at every one of ON Semiconductor's sites globally. The role of CELs is to promote ethical practices that abide by local laws and regulations as well as the company's code of business conductor. Similarly, EICC champions who promote the EICC's code of conductor within the corporation were also present at the conference.

The CEP and EICC conference covered various topics including anti-corruption, risks involved in mergers and acquisitions, and sustainable procurement to name a few. Speakers at the event included employees as well as leaders within the field who are external to ON Semiconductor. Perhaps the most interesting and valuable portion of the conference was working through hypothetical situations involving ethical dilemmas. These hypothetical situations were created by various EICC champions and CELs in order to provide employees an example of what situations they may face in the future and how best to deal with them.

Overall, the conference highlighted the immense importance placed on ethics and anti-corruption within ON Semiconductor. Ethics are integral to the corporate social responsibility of a company. Most companies today strive to be ethical and create a brand image that customers respect and value. The only way to achieve this, however, is at an individual employee level.

EcoVadis

I was recently assigned to complete ON Semiconductor's EcoVadis assessment to satisfy customer requirements. EcoVadis is an online CSR platform that aims to improve environmental and social practices of companies by leveraging the influence of global supply chains. Within the environmental realm, EcoVadis assesses companies on aspects such as energy consumption, water, biodiversity, local pollution and air emissions, to name a few.  Similarly, social, ethical, and supply chain issues are also considered by assessing companies on practices related to health and safety, labor relations, corruption & bribery, and human rights within the supply chain. The methodology of EcoVadis is based on the Global Reporting Initiative, the United Nations Global Compact, and ISO 26000. Furthermore, EcoVadis is a trusted partner for organizations including Verizon, Johnson & Johsnon, Coca-Cola, Nokia, Bayer, Alcatel-Lucent, ING Bank, Air France-KLM, Centrica/British Gas, BASF, and Merck.

In order to submit sufficient information to cover the breadth of topics in EcoVadis, a team was in charge of retrieving and providing answers and relevant supporting documents. After submission, a team of analysts at EcoVadis analyze the answers and audit the documents provided. Thankfully, the group effort allowed us to score higher than the last time this test was taken and demonstrate continuous improvement to our customers. The results of the assessment are also presented in a way that allows a company to compare itself with other players in the field.

Interview with a CSR Professional

For this blog post, I interviewed the Corporate Social Responsibility Communications Manager at Intel in Chandler, AZ. While looking to secure a full time job for the end of this year, I reached out to the CSR communications manager at Intel to find out about any openings. Although there were no openings, the conversation proved extremely helpful in learning about CSR at Intel and tips to become successful in the field more generally. 

Background
The main responsibilities of the CSR communications manager at Intel is to engage in sustainability reporting like the GRI, which I covered in an earlier post. Prior to working full-time at Intel, the CSR communications managers completed a Bachelor of Science, Conservation, and Resource Studies from the University of California Berkley. 

Advise
The main advise I was provided was to work on my soft-skills. Examples of such skills include communication, negotiation, and persuasion. While in the CSR field, there is a lot of coordination that happens between various departments. In order to coordinate well, communication skills is very important. Similarly, negotiation and persuasion skills are also equally important. CSR often involves implementing new programs that look beyond profit as the bottom line. However, to convince others of the importance of such a program does require some persuasion. 

New trends
A newer trend in organization is to have a very decentralized nature to CSR. While most companies will have small CSR departments that handle all aspects of the sustainability and social issues, various departments are now becoming involved in the same area. For example, supply chain could have one employee who's just is solely to look at supply chain from a sustainable perspective. Accordingly, it is important to develop knowledge on how various operations in a company are related to CSR. 

Leadership

Defining leadership is often a difficult task. There are several words that come to mind when attempting to describe a leader: visionary, influential, respectable, respectful, motivating, encouraging, knowledgable, inclusive, and engaged. Rather than defining a leader, however, it is sometimes easier to recognize a leader. In my opinion, a leader is one who is able to inspire, empower or enable others to realize their full potential. My supervisor at ON Semiconductor has definitely been a leader in that sense. She has acted as a mentor who has guided me in an area that I had no previous experience. However, while providing the necessary guidance my supervisor has also allowed me to engage in my own projects and act upon my own ideas, thereby providing me with the independence required to realize my potential.

I have noticed the importance of leadership within a CSR capacity at my internship. In fact, I would like to further my leadership skills to inspire other departments to behave in a manner more consistent with sustainable practices. I believe this is especially important when you are encouraging other departments in a company to adopt programs that are not typical of a profit-maximizing business. Through leadership skills allowing one to recognize and influence the power dynamics within an organization, I believe I will be able to better further CSR programs.

LinkedIn

Toward the end of my Spring 2015 semester at ASU, I set up a meeting with a career advisor to get tips on landing an internship. I had been actively looking for an internship within the nonprofit sector (particularly in fundraising or grant writing, since that was a gap in my resume) or CSR work, which I was deeply passionate about.

The first thing I realized during my meeting was that I really needed to focus in on what I wanted to do. If I was not as passionate about landing a nonprofit internship, I should focus all of my time and energy on CSR-related jobs. Furthermore, I also needed to zero in on which city I would like to work in. While I was willing to move away for three months for an internship, I knew Phoenix would be the ideal city to gain work experience. I wanted to remain in Phoenix after graduating in December 2015, so finding an internships in the same city would be beneficial. After realizing which type of internship I wanted over the summer and where I wanted to live, the next step was to find companies that have CSR programs in Phoenix or individuals within Phoenix who are in CSR-related positions.

The best way to do this, according to the career advisor, was to use LinkedIn. The business networking tools enables individuals to connect with professionals within different industries, showcase talents and skills, and look for jobs. Although I have had a LinkedIn account for a few years now, I never really used the tool to its fullest capacity. I've regularly updated my professional and educational experience on LinkedIn and connected with people I knew through school or work. However, what I learnt during my meeting with my career advisor is that there several other ways I could used LinkedIn. It was important for me to not only showcase my experience but to also connect with people who could be important in furthering my career.

By using key words such as "corporate social responsibility", "corporate responsibility", and "corporate affairs" I was able to find professionals within the Phoenix area in the field I was most interested in. Finding these individuals also gave me a better idea of which companies valued CSR. Similarly, I was able to search ASU alumni in the same field, who could offer their advise as I looked for an internship.

Although I ultimately did not find my current internship through LinkedIn, I learnt a tremendous amount about the online tool through my meeting with my career advisor. Since then, I have been careful to regularly update my profile and routinely search for companies, jobs, and individuals within the CSR field.

To learn more about my educational and professional experience and see how I've used linked in please have a look at my page, https://www.linkedin.com/in/nehalshah1990.

Blending Business Practices and Social Good

One of the main factors attracting me to the world of CSR was the potential to blend business practices with social good. One of the classes I am taking this semester, titled Social Entrepreneurship has further advanced my knowledge on this topic. There are several types of social enterprises, including nonprofits with ventures supporting the organization's social mission, or for-profit organizations that address social issues through its operations. During the course of the semester, I've learnt about social entrepreneurs such as Muhammad Yunus or facilitators of entrepreneurship such as the Ashoka Foundation.

While scoping the internet for inspiring individuals who have engaged in social entrepreneurship, I stumbled upon a 45 minute video on Manoj Bhargava, the founder of five hour energy. I've never been a consumer of five hour energy as I've resorted to coffee for those all nighters that are necessary from time to time in grad school. However, after viewing this video, my conception of five hour energy, its parent company, and the founder of the product has changed significantly.

Manoj Bhargava, while valued at $4 billion has chosen to give away over 90% of his income to address social issues. Through technological innovations, Bhargava has chosen to address three main areas: energy, water, and healthcare. According to Bhargava, individuals are often trapped in the cycle of poverty due to their inability to access basics such as energy or safe drinking water. To address this problem, Bhargava has established certain divisions of his organization that are dedicated to creating sustainable forms of energy and safe drinking water. One example is a bicycle that can generate electricity. In fact, one hour of peddling can provide 24 hours of clean energy that can be used for basic necessities such as lighting or charging appliances. Similarly, Bhargava also works with graphene, which is a fantastic heat conductor, for energy purposes.

To learn more about Bhargava and his entrepreneurial endeavors, I would highly recommend "Billions in Change", which can be found on YouTube.

Who I am and Where I Come From

I realize that I've delved significantly into my work without giving you a proper introduction. As you may remember, I am currently a student at Arizona State University pursuing my Master of Public Administration degree. But, to get a better idea of why I am here today, let me give you a background of where I come from.

When ever someone asks me where home is I usually respond saying Atlanta, Georgia. While this answer seems to make most sense, it is a little complicated. I was born in Atlanta but at the age of two my family moved to Mumbai, India. At the time, my dad worked for Coca-Cola and the company was being reintroduced to India after being kicked out in 1977 due to a nationalist movement. After four years in Mumbai, my family moved to New Delhi since Coca Cola was shifting its office to the capital of India. Fast forward another four years and my family was packing its bags once again to move to Jakarta, Indonesia (a place I had never known even existed until the year 2000). Again, four years later, and I was starting my 10th grade of school in Sydney, Australia.

So as you may have gathered, I've moved around, a lot. It was only a little over three years ago that I decided to come back "home" to Atlanta where my parents had recently bought a house to gain some sort of permanency in where I live. Shortly after coming back to America, I began volunteering (and then working) at United Way of Greater Atlanta. I had always known since high school that the type of work I do should make an impact in the community. Having been brought up in developing countries, I had been exposed to several of society's ills that needed attention.

One of the bigger problems facing Atlanta is its homeless veteran population, which is higher than the national average. While working in Atlanta, I served on a government grant that required United Way to house 300 homeless veteran families within one year. Although I enjoyed the work I was doing, a part of me knew I was not done studying yet. It was finally in April 2013 that I was accepted into the MPA program at ASU and decided to pack my bags once again to begin this chapter of my life.

Giving Back

Corporate philanthropy provides a significant source of funding to nonprofit organizations within the community, especially when government contracts and grants dwindle during times of economic hardship. There are several benefits to the company as well if it participates in philanthropic activities. My push for developing a robust corporate giving program at ON Semiconductor is premised on four main arguments:

1. Public Relations: The more involved a corporation is within the community, the more visible it will be to the public. Very rarely does a company's philanthropic work go unnoticed by the media. Customers also often demonstrate loyalty to a company based on its reputation. Greener companies are generally preferred by consumers and investors both. While many employees may already donate through the workplace, a comprehensive corporate giving program is better able to track donations and measure the impact of giving. This in return provides for greater publicity. 
2. Profit: Linked to positive PR is profit. With positive publicity, organizations are able to gain a larger customer base and reap greater profits as well. 
3. Employee engagement: Employees are increasingly looking for additional benefits when selecting a place of work. Along with the usual health, dental, and pension, millennials are looking for ways to give back while in the workplace. Corporate giving can give individuals the opportunity to make a bigger difference in the community by asking their employer to match contributions. Several large companies now offer sabbaticals to long-term employees where they can use skills they have developed in the workplace to address a community need. Additionally, employees can team up with other coworkers for certain causes. 
4. Morale: Ultimately, greater employee engagement boosts morale. The more pleased an employee is with the corporate culture of a company, the more productive she or he is likely to be. Increased engagement leads to less absenteeism and tardiness.

While there are several reasons for a company to pursue a corporate giving program, there must also be certain guidelines in place to ensure that company dollars are being spent wisely. Drafting eligibility criteria and developing minimum thresholds can ensure that appropriate background checks are conducted on the organization prior to giving. The last thing any organization wants is to associate itself with a nonprofit that lacks transparency, efficiency, and financial stability. If the proper mechanisms are in place, however, a company can give back to the community significantly.

The Global Reporting Initiative

Over the last few months, I have engaged in sustainability reporting in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Sustainability reporting is increasingly viewed as a best-practice for companies worldwide. By gathering and reporting information on organizational processes, companies can assess their impact on the economy, environment, society, and governance. Disclosing sustainability information can also allow companies to have better reputations through transparency and accountability; meet expectations of employees, customers, and other stakeholders; improve access to capital; and increase efficiency and reduce waste.

The GRI is an international nonprofit organization in the sustainability field. Since 1999, the organization has established one of the most prevalent sustainability reporting standards and built strategic partnerships with the United Nations Environmental Protection, the UN Global Compact, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the International Organization for Standardization.

GRI’s mission is to make sustainability reporting a standard practice; one which helps promote and manage change towards a sustainable global economy. Organizations from different industries use a common set of guidelines through the GRI Framework to gather and report information that stakeholders find important.

G4 is the latest version of the GRI Framework, which encourages organizations to show significant economic, environmental, and social impacts of operations that also influence stakeholders including employees, customers, investors, the community, and government. Several of the indicators that companies may report on through GRI include labor relations, resource consumption, emissions, product safety, and procurement practices.

Currently, GRI’s Sustainable Disclosure Database features 7,598 organizations that have submitted 18,922 GRI reports.

A Day in the Life

My day as a corporate social responsibility intern at ON Semiconductor is difficult to describe due to a lack of routine. This is primarily because of the the various projects I am on and the work required for each of them.

Since the start of my internship in May, however, just making my way to my cube has been an adventure. ON Semiconductor has had various stages of renovations over the summer, which often makes the office a maze to navigate. Despite this, I aim to start work by 8:30 a.m. most mornings. The only time my hours may vary is if I have a conference call scheduled with a coworker in Malaysia. If this is the case, I will either come in later in the morning and stay back, or start sooner in the morning and leave earlier in the afternoon.

Usually, my day begins with checking emails at 8:30 am while I have my breakfast (toast, fruit, and coffee). During the summer, checking my email would not take as long since I would be in the office on a regular basis. Since the start of the fall semester, however, I am only in the office twice per week (Tuesdays and Thursdays), which means that I have several emails to get through. After checking my emails and responding to those that require immediate attention, I will usually plan out my day by creating a list of items that I would like to get through. I guess I've always been a "list" type of a person, as I do this with groceries, homework, and work now too.

As previously mentioned, my main projects during the internship are the GRI report, corporate giving proposal, volunteer time off proposal, and EcoVadis. I will usually work on one to two of those projects per day, depending on which ones need the most attention due to upcoming deadlines. Recently, I've been focusing most of my attention on the EcoVadis assessment which entails emailing fellow employees regarding any supporting documentation needed for the assessment and preparing it for submission. With the other projects, however, I usually spend time doing research on industry practices (e.g. how other companies are using the GRI to benchmark their CSR reports or how much companies are devoting to philanthropic activities). I also often prepare presentations of my projects for the Employee Activity Committee or the SVP of Corporate Social Responsibility.

Overall, I would not say that I have a "typical" day as an intern at ON Semiconductor. However, some of my most common tasks involve corresponding via email with other employees to retrieve answers or evidence for reporting purposes; preparing presentations; or conducting research.

The Art of Presenting

As you may remember, one of my goals as an intern this summer has been to hone the skill of presenting in a concise yet informative manner. Last Thursday, I was able to confirm whether or not I have come closer to achieving this objective. Two of the projects I have been working on - ON Semiconductor's Global Reporting Initiative Content Index (GRI report) and the corporate giving proposal - needed the attention of the company's CEO. Both projects required a "green light" in order for me to proceed. The GRI index, if approved, would be incorporated in ON Semiconductor's 2016 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report and the corporate giving proposal would become closer to implementation.

As it turns out, the timing of my presentation could not have been more perfect. Coincidentally, one of the required readings for my Capstone class (PAF 509) last week was in fact on perfecting the art of presentations as policy analysts. Chapter 5 of Michael Mintrom's People Skills for Policy Analysts outlines the methods of giving an effective oral presentation.

Mintrom describes communication with the analogy of ringing a door bell. The process of communication involves the presenter sending a message and an audience receiving the message and proving feedback in return. In the case of a door bell, a visitor will aim to press the door bell at just the right pressure to ensure that the receiver is able to hear and understand the message (or in this case the sound of the door bell). In order to achieve this, Mintrom presents a number of tips on how to prepare according to your objective, practice, learn about your audience and venue, understand the need for visual aids, and dress appropriately.

Ultimately, I was able to use several of the tips provided by Mintrom such as the importance of practicing the content of my presentation and using a structured PowerPoint presentation to more effectively convey my point. And the results of using these tips: the green light from the CEO! I can now proceed to the next steps of my project, including preparing for an external GRI report and forming a budget and committee for ON Semiconductor's corporate giving program.

ON Semiconductor

ON Semiconductor is a Phoenix-based private corporation, which was established in 1999. Along with Freescale, ON Semiconductor is a spinoff of Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector. The company aims to drive energy efficient innovations in signal management, logic, discrete, and custom solutions. ON Semiconductor components are found in automotive, communication, computer, consumer, industrial, LED lighting, medical, and military goods.

As a corporate social responsibility intern at ON Semiconductor, it is my aim to enhance the company's triple bottom line: people, planet, and profit. Several of the projects that I am working on as a CSR intern have allowed me to better understand the economic, social, and environmental impact of business operations. Examples of certain projects include:

1. The Global Reporting Initiative: a sustainability reporting framework developed by the nonprofit sector to help companies convey their economic, environmental, and social activities. 
2. Corporate giving: a program that allows ON Semiconductor to increase its philanthropic role within the community through more directed donations. 
3. Volunteer time off: a  corporate policy that allows employees to increasingly participate in the community by volunteering at organizations of their choosing with the support of ON Semiconductor. 
4. EcoVadis: a corporate social responsibility assessment that evaluates the company's initiatives in regards to the environment, health and safety of workers, labor rights, and sustainable procurement. 

In addition to the aforementioned projects, I am also a member of ON Semiconductor's Employee Activity Committee, which organizes employee engagement activities as well as philanthropic activities such as volunteering, marathons, food drives, and giving. 

The 3Ps

The three Ps - people, profit, and planet - is central to my role as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Intern at ON Semiconductor this year. While traditionally most businesses have focused on profit as their bottom line, the significance of people and planet is becoming more evident through business operations.

My name is Nehal Shah and I am currently in my final semester of the Master of Public Administration (Nonprofit Management) program at Arizona State University (ASU). You may wonder why I would pursue work experience in the field of CSR when my major is Nonprofit Management. Prior to commencing my MPA, I worked at nonprofit organizations such as United Way, ActionAid, and Amnesty International. Through my experience at United Way, in particular, I noticed that organizations do not operate in mutually exclusive "sectors". Just as United Way relies heavily on businesses for funding, private sector organizations rely on the nonprofit world to act socially responsible.

Accordingly, one of my main goals for 2015 has been to further understand this relationship between the "for profit" and "not-for-profit" sectors. How important are nonprofit organizations in helping businesses realize the 3Ps? The answer, I've learnt, is very. Along with learning about nonprofit-private sector collaboration, I also aimed to strengthen certain professional skills during my time at ON Semiconductor. Being an effective team player and giving informative, yet concise, presentations are two skills that I have purposefully focused on during my internship.

To learn more about my projects on the 3Ps and how I continue to grow professionally through my experience as a CSR intern, stay tuned!