By Kate Rogers

Americans are placing a higher emphasis on the role of business and corporations to help solve societal issues, according to the 2010 goodpurpose Global Study, released last week. Due in part to the recession, 87 percent of Americans believe that corporations need to place at least equal weight on society’s interests as on those of business.

The study found that 62 percent feel it is no longer enough for corporations to solely give money away to good causes. Instead, respondents claimed they want businesses to integrate charitable causes into their day-to-day operations. Almost half (47 percent) of respondents also said they feel that brands only support nonprofits to gain good publicity, which is up 10 points from 2008’s survey.

Carol Cone, managing director of brand and corporate citizenship at New York City-based Edelman, which commissioned the survey, said she was surprised at the emphasis placed on corporations overall to support good causes. The world is becoming more globalized, Cone said, which has eroded trust in institutions.

“Consumers have high expectations and millenials have huge expectations across the board,” she said. “They want to work for companies that share their values, and shop at companies that are aligned with their own values. This is embedded across the enterprise.”

The fact that this trend is on the rise in a poor economy is no coincidence. “Social needs are closer to consumers in this economy,” Cone said. “You have a rising class of consumers, and they are not just about consumption. They want a company to donate proceeds to global issues, and that bodes well for nonprofits.”

Consumer expectation of government to do the most good for charity has declined since last year’s study to 30 percent, and 23 percent of Americans responded that “people like me” should be doing the most good for charity. This is an increase of eight points from 2009.

Americans are not the only consumers looking out for charities when shopping. They are being outpaced by emerging markets in Brazil, China, India and Mexico, where consumers are more likely than Americans to purchase and promote brands that support good causes. According to the study, approximately eight in 10 respondents in those countries expect brands to do something to support a good cause, compared to 63 percent of Americans.

Emerging markets are outpacing their counterparts in the West for philanthropy because of their different value sets, Cone said, adding that these countries also ranked higher for volunteerism.
“Family and community are very important in these markets,” she said. “When you start getting out of subsistent living, education is hugely important. So is healthcare, and the environment, and it becomes about the small things that individuals can do. When you buy a product, you buy into helping that cause.”

The study also found that 75 percent of Americans believe that projects that sustain and protect the environment can help grow the economy. Cone cited China as a prime example of a green building industry to spark growth in jobs and the economy.

“Their core natural resources are at tremendous risk, and the government realized they cannot sustain their growth if they are denigrating their water and air,” she said. “Clean technology has become a huge industry in China, and they are outpacing us. It’s not what we do in this country, slapping a green ribbon on it. It becomes a win-win (creating jobs for green technology).”

The survey consisted of 20-minute interviews with 7,259 adults in 13 different countries. The interviews were conducted online in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), the United Kingdom and the U.S. In-person interviews were held in China and India, and the study was representative of the country population in all of the countries with the exception of the U.A.E., where the study was representative of the online population.
The survey also found that:

* U.S. consumers rank purpose as significantly more important than design and innovation or brand loyalty as a purchase trigger, when quality and price are the same. Nearly 47 percent of Americans report social purpose is their number one deciding factor.
* Twenty-seven percent cite loyalty to the brand and 26 percent report design or innovation come first as deciding factors, when quality and price are the same.
* More than one-third of Americans would punish a company that doesn’t actively support a good cause by criticizing it to others (34 percent), refusing to buy its products and services (36 percent), or sharing negative opinions and experiences with others (37 percent).
* Nearly 47 percent would not invest in a company that doesn’t support good causes.
* Americans reported Pepsi, Newman’s Own and Nike as the top three brands that place as much, or more, importance on supporting a good cause as they place on profits.
* Eighty percent of U.S. consumers believe corporations are in a uniquely powerful position to make a positive impact on good causes, and 79 percent believe it is acceptable for brands to support good causes and make money at the same time.