>>> Community Index Magazine is the only Romanian-English bilingual publication in Romania dedicated to the field of CSR, available in both flip view and print formats. The yearbook includes the results of the Community Index 2023 ranking, exclusive national and international interviews, case studies and sustainability articles.

>>> Readers can enjoy exclusive articles and interviews that highlight the perspectives of recognized leaders from BCR, University of Wisconsin, Kaufland Romania, The Slow Movement or Seeds of Wisdom.

>>> The publication promotes and encourages the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals to support Romania in its efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda.

Community Index Magazine: a source of quality know-how for any professional with a sustainable mindset

The bilingual Community Index Magazine yearbook, now in its fifth edition, contains the results of the Community Index 2023 ranking, exclusive interviews with renowned international professionals, articles and interviews with local professionals in the fields of sustainability and CSR, and numerous case studies of some companies that are considered benchmarks for their community projects.

The publication is particularly useful not only for professionals in the field but also for companies, CEOs, Marketing professionals, community members, NGOs, universities, PR agencies and authorities.

The publication in flip view format is available for free at the following link: https://communityindex.ro/community-index-magazine-2023/

What type of content do readers find in Community Index Magazine?

1. Exclusive interviews with globally recognized sustainability experts:

• Riane Eisler, The Real Wealth of Nations
• Wakanyi Hoffman, Seeds of Wisdom
• Jessica Leclair, University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Nursing
• Carl Honoré, The Slow Movement

2. Articles and interviews with nationally recognized professionals:

• Ilinka Kajgana, BCR
• Katharina Scheidereiter, Kaufland Romania
• Gabriel Ivan, CHEP
• Adina Teleucă, TOBORO

3. National and international case studies:

• “Good Day – Little Volunteer Day on Via Transilvanica!”, Coca-Cola HBC Romania & Tășuleasa Social Association
• The Giant T-shirt, Kaufland Romania & 11even Association
• Phasing out plastic, Apple
• The Money School, BCR, FabLab & Edupedu Association
• Personal Sustainability Program (PSP), Auchan Romania
• Our Garden, Carrefour Romania
• Life Savers Program, Groupama Romania & The Foundation for SMURD
• Kokoro Sports Project
• Jobs for veterans, Starbucks
• Microsoft’s New BING

What is Community Index?

Community Index is the first and only ranking of programs and projects carried out by companies in Romania to invest in communities, launched in 2019. The ranking is the largest database of CSR projects in Romania and represents a useful analysis tool for companies, authorities and communities when making investment decisions.

It is a component of the ranking Romania CST Index (previously Romania CSR Index), the most important analysis of the level of performance and transparency from the perspective of corporate sustainability, in our country, launched in 2016.

There is a wide variety of initiatives and projects on the market, and a well-structured overview provides relevant information to help decision-makers create a strategy well adapted to the local and national context.

In order to establish the projects that were included in the Community Index 2023, more than 800 initiatives, projects or programs that took place in Romania between January 2022 and December 2023 were analyzed. The scorecard on the basis of which the evaluation was made had, in total, 6 categories and 46 indicators aligned with the most important international standards or references in the field of investments in communities.

What new findings did the 2023 analysis reveal?

The investment and donation market in support of communities has grown in recent years and amounts to over 80 million euros annually, mainly for Education projects for students (9.4%, a slight increase of 1% compared to 2022), Health (6%, down from last year) or Disadvantaged environments (23%, up 5% from 2022). Another area of interest for companies is Art/Culture, 10% of projects being developed in this direction, increasing compared to 9.2% in 2022. However, 4% of the projects carried out by companies in Romania are intended to combat Climate change, decreasing by 1% versus 2022, and 1.5% of the projects are in the direction of Sustainable cities, down from 4.4% in 2022.

Among the main trends highlighted following the analysis, we mention an increase in the level of transparency regarding the results and impact of CSR projects or programs. Also, companies are beginning to better align the Sustainability / CSR strategy with the specifics of the industry and the business strategy. As for the employees, they are more eager to help communities and appreciate companies that offer them the opportunity to volunteer for projects. Another observed trend is the fact that there is an increased interest in long-term goals: companies put more emphasis on generating impact over several years and avoid creating a dependency of the community – they focus on developing skills or an infrastructure that will remain in the community even after a company redirects its investment to other projects.

Among the projects that obtained Gold Recognition, we mention the Lifelab Educational Project developed by BCR, FabLab & Edupedu Association, in the Financial Education category – by participating in this program, students learn financial education concepts and practice planning and teamwork. In the Employee Involvement category, Auchan’s Personal Sustainability Program (PSP) was built as an effort to mobilize employees to get actively involved in projects supporting local communities. In the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle category – Banca Transilvania and Ateliere Fără Frontiere developed the Remesh project and fight for the social and professional insertion of vulnerable and marginalized people. Together in the Service of Good, a project developed by Secom Healthcare Group through which several initiatives in the field of health were supported, also received Gold Recognition in the Health category.

The year 2023 comes with a new Community Index distinction: for each individual category, we propose The One to Watch distinction – a special recognition to highlight the originality and innovation of projects that set an important trend for the coming years, in their field. Among the projects mentioned in this category were YOXO Forest – The first digital forest that became a reality, 100 business ideas for Romania – PENNY Romania or Self-confidence is learned in school – Oxygen.

Where are the ranking results published?

The 2023 results can be found both in the flip view and print Community Index Magazine yearbook, as well as online: https://communityindex.ro/rezultate-community-index-2023/

What are the objectives of the Community Index ranking?

The mission of the Community Index is to highlight CSR projects with high performance that place more emphasis on aspects such as dialogue with stakeholders, project sustainability and measurement of medium and long-term impact. In addition, the index aims to highlight those projects that can be considered Best Practices in their category and that can be used as an example in establishing the strategy of a new project.

The Community Index Magazine yearbook is the contribution of The Azores Sustainability & CSR Services agency to the development of the field of Community investments in Romania.

In addition to know-how and authentic content, this publication concretely contributes to the popularization of the concept of sustainability in the business environment: a part of the printed yearbooks will be offered, free of charge, to companies with over 500 employees (>750 companies). In addition, the flip view version will be available for free, to popularize the domain and contribute to its development.

FSC® certified paper from sustainable sources was used for printing the publication. The yearbook provides both valuable information and an authentic visual experience in itself. The cover of the publication is created by Ovidiu Solcan (collage artist), being a sustainable collage from recycled magazines, representing the Masterpiece “The Kiss”, made by the sculptor Constantin Brâncuși in 1907.

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About The Azores Sustainability & CSR Services

Consulting agency, established in 2013, with the aim of supporting Romanian companies regarding the integration of corporate sustainability in the business strategy, The Azores Sustainability & CSR Services has an approach focused on long-term results, the use of IT technology for a high level of accuracy of sustainability indicators and analysis/research to support decision-makers in companies in defining the corporate sustainability strategy.

The most important and complex project of the agency is Romania CST Index, previously called Romania CSR Index, a ranking launched in 2016 and which is the only one in Romania that evaluates the sustainability indicators of companies: information on sustainability management, economic, environmental and social impact. The index is launched every year during the Best Practices in Corporate Sustainability conference. The results together with Sustainability Profiles of Romanian companies are presented every year in Sustainability Index Magazine, a bilingual yearbook dedicated to sustainability & ESG in Romania.

In 2019, the agency launched Community Index, the most comprehensive ranking of corporate investment projects in communities and a centralizer of the best CSR campaigns carried out every year by Romanian companies.  The results of the ranking, together with case studies and interviews of national and international experts, are presented every year in Community Index Magazine, the only bilingual yearbook dedicated to investments in communities carried out by Romanian companies.