Our Jubilee year

Business in the Community was set up 25 years ago against a backdrop of high levels of of unemployment and urban rioting in the UK.  A few leaders in the business community had the vision and foresight to know that business had a vital role to play in offering solutions, driven not by pure altruism, but because it was the right thing to do for business - 'healthy back streets makes for healthy high streets'.  This was the start of our organisation.

I am struck by the journey and distance we have travelled since 1982, but also humbled by the scale of the challenges that both business and society face in the future.

25 years on and Business in the Community has a simple mission - to use its enormous store of knowledge, networks and expertise to inspire, engage, support and challenge companies to make a positive impact not only in our communities but in our workplaces, our marketplaces and our environment.

David Grayson, associate director for Business in the Community, has been part of the organisation's journey almost all the way through. He was recently appointed as a visiting Senior Fellow with the CSR Initiative at the Kennedy School of Government for 2006-07 and has written a Jubilee Dialogue Paper - looking back at 25 years of Business in the Community and the responsible business movement and looking forward to the next 25 years.  We would welcome your contribution to the paper and your answers will help David to complete the “Jubilee Commentary” which we will publish at our Annual Meeting in December 2007.

Now in their 10th year, Business in the Community's Awards for Excellence provide the opportunity for companies across the UK to be awarded a coveted 'Big Tick' for the positive impact their responsible business operations and activities have in the marketplace, the workplace, the environment or in the community.  As part of the Jubilee celebrations this year we ran a special award category for companies whose programmes have delivered a long term positive impact on communities.  You can access the case studies from the winning companies.

But the Jubilee celebrations are not just about looking back.  Business in the Community has developed a timeline that not only identifies significant events in the history of the responsible business movement but also invites members to add what they think will happen in the future.