Business has always had an urge to share some of its largess with those less fortunate. With clear roots in the ancient mediterranean civilisations, a line runs through renaissance traders, victorian industrialists to today's billionaires racing to give away their fortunes. Aside from the warm fuzzy feeling they hopefully get, there is a clear strategic outcome. When companies connect effectively with external stakeholders through community projects they trigger a virtuous circle as employee motivation increases, driving performance and ultimately improving reputation. Yet some argue that corporate responsibility programmes are meaningless propaganda used to protect reputations by distracting from irresponsible behaviour elsewhere. So, where do you start? Who do you involve? How do you ensure what you are doing is rooted firmly in what your firm is trying to achieve? To discuss this, Andrew and Matt are joined by Jane Rawnsley whois head of corporate responsibility at the global savings and investments giant, M&G. The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown. Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA. Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years' experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc. We'd love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email [email protected]. This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach