r/Philanthropy • u/_Prince_2 • 21d ago
Carrier choice in sociology..
So I have decided to pursue my higher studies in sociology and go into philanthropy. In particular "Corporate social responsibility specialist". How much do you guys know about this profession? What are your views? Is there scope in the field?
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u/Diabadass416 21d ago
This isn’t really a career but you can choose to do jobs which involve this. Corporate side you want marketing/PR know how as sponsorships are a huge proportion. Alternate route is HR to navigate team building or “someone high up cares about this thing” donations. On the charity side you go into fundraising ideally doing events as a starting place. You can grow into a corporate giving specialist after a few years at mid & large charities.
However might make sense to take a breath and think through what is driving you to pick something so specific & why this in particular. I think sociology is a great major but it’s good to be open minded about careers. No one has one job for life anymore so more sensible to focus on what brings you joy/meaning at work, tasks you hate/love and where your skills lay.
Enjoy uni :)
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u/jcravens42 21d ago
There are very, very few "corporate social responsibility specialists." Just a handful.
Most large corporations give the responsibilities of corporate philanthropy - giving away money to nonprofits quarterly or annually, crafting the corporate volunteering policy, tracking employees that take time to volunteer during work hours, organizing group volunteering activities, etc. - to someone in the HR department or someone in the marketing department.
When I was put in charge of such at a Fortune 500 company back in the 1990s, I was working in the HR office, as the assistant to the Vice President of HR. She realized I had worked a lot with nonprofits and gave me the responsibilities of corporate philanthropy, but I was still working as her assistant as well, doing all those things (scheduling, correspondence, etc.).
The people I've known who have been "corporate social responsibility specialists" either already worked for the company in HR or marketing and got promoted (or the additional responsibilities along with their other job) OR got the job because they had MANY years of experience in fundraising at a well known, highly respected nonprofit that the corporation knew of and had partnered with a few times, and in that job had networked with a LOT of corporate executives.