Looking to the future when all three levels of government expect to be increasingly strapped for resources, COMPAS asked members of the business panel for their thoughts on corporate social responsibility.

Opinion is divided about whether public corporations should be making decisions about allocating money to charities or whether this is a responsibility that shareholders should be exercising themselves. The CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS panel are also divided about whether listed companies should be encouraging employees to become involved.

Though opinion is divided about the proper role of the public corporation, a consensus does emerge on the types of charities that should get priority attention. These are above all charities

• with audit records to demonstrate their probity and efficiency,
• with local roots, and
• that focus on children.

These are the key findings from this past week’s Internet survey of CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS panel. The weekly business survey is undertaken for Canadian Business magazine under sponsorship of BDO Dunwoody LLP.

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