Milwaukee flooding brings out the best in local CSR actions from Kohl’s

Employee engagement is I think the cornerstone of larger companies declaring a lasting commitment to CSR initiatives. When a disaster strikes such as the recent wide-scale flooding in Milwaukee an engaged workforce not only are encouraged to help where they can but many they sincerely wish to do so. The response this week from Kohl’s Department Stores demonstrates exactly that.

The giant retailer operates more than 1,050 stores in 49 states and they remain very committed to their home patch, which happens to be in suburban Milwaukee. Kohls have expanded rapidly from being a midwestern retailer to one of the largest in the US, exceeding the dramatic pace of their expansion has been the continued expansion of the company’s CSR program. When the catastrophic floods devastated Milwaukee Kohls leaped into action by donating $100,000 to the American Red Cross to assist in emergency relief efforts for local residents. Kohl’s have also recognised that additional support beyond financial can make an impact and have encouraged its team to volunteer in local cleanup projects. In turn Kohl’s will offer corporate grants to nonprofit orgs that the Kohl’s staff assist. That direct involvement in the community is a clear priority in terms of CSR and nothing a company does shows a stronger commitment to local citizenry. Kevin Mansell, Kohl’s president said in a press release:

“With our corporate headquarters and more than 7,000 associates in southeastern Wisconsin, our thoughts are with all of the families in our community dealing with losses and damages from the flooding that hit the Milwaukee area last week, Kohl’s strives to be an active member of each community it serves. We feel it’s especially important to do even more at a time like this and are proud to support our hometown by providing financial assistance and the hands-on support of our associate volunteers.”

The recent events in Milwaukee are naturally on the radar but Kohl’s are actively working with local non profit organization on a continuous basis. When a retailer expands as much as Kohl’s and covers such a large part of the country I think spreading your community contributions as widely as possible not only makes sense but broadens the impact to a great extent. Within the last decade over 45,000 different associate volunteer events throughout the US have been supported by Kohl’s to the tune of almost  1,000,000 hours in volunteer time.  The company also manages a philanthropy program dedicated to childhood education, health and environmental matters that has raised over $150 million in the last decade.

Retail is obviously a huge staple of the economy and it’s a fierce market. So while competitive pricing and perhaps the savviest consumers ever known have created retail wars in every city, its worth knowing what some of the mega-retailers are going to combine the objectives of CSR. People, Planet and Profit – the  CSR triple bottom line is underpinned by supporting your community, a fact that Kohl’s seem to embrace.

To learn more about Kohl’s CSR programs please visit their site