Nearly 40 professionals established the Bulgarian CSR association (BAKCOC) on 19 October 2018 in Sofia. The association will work for the development of their profession.
The establishment of the new organization was supported by the Bulgarian network of the United Nations Global Compact, by the Bulgarian business leaders’ forum and the University of Finance, Business and Entrepreneurship.
BAKCOC members will focus their work in three specific directions:
· acknowledgement of the modern profession and setting high professional work standards
· development of new competences and professional skills in the CSR (corporate social responsibility) practitioners
· validation of the authority and importance of the profession and the academic institutions in which it is being thought
A research, focused on the topic of CSR professionals [1] in Bulgaria, states that the companies’ CSR activities and budgets are growing and that the profession is gradually being implemented in the Bulgarian companies. More than 20% of the experts practicing this profession are engaged with CSR activities full time, whereas 49% combine the CSR tasks with those in communication and PR. Less than 10% of them, however, possess specific professional qualification or university degree in this field. At present, there is a lack of courses offered by the companies, since 78% of the once participated in the study, report that they still do not have specifically developed CSR courses or programmes for their employees.
Today companies state that their motives for investing in CSR are: increasing their competitiveness, innovations, employee engagement and trust building in their clients/service providers/local communities.
[1] The research was conducted by CSR AdviceBox and Junction Bulgaria in the period 1-31 October 2018, among 108 CSR practitioners.