The Ethos Institute follows five basic strategies in developing its activities and projects:

 1. Expanding the CSR movement

In order to consolidate the CSR movement in Brazil and ensure its continued growth, the Ethos Institute works towards (a) sensitizing companies all over the country and securing their engagement in actions aimed towards deepening institutional relations with - and the partnership between - the business sector and civil society, unions and government, (b) attracting media attention to the CSR theme and, finally, (c) better organizing and structuring the movement itself.   

Regionalization and Partnership Network
Based on an agenda centralized in São Paulo, actions are developed nationwide in a ripple-like effect. As such, the implantation of regional dynamics is a fundamental aspect of the strengthening of the CSR movement throughout Brazil, contributing to the creation of a favorable environment and the establishment of partnerships. In its work of consolidating local dynamics through the staging of periodical events and experience exchange meetings among companies, the Institute relies on associates who serve as regional animators and upon corporate entities that are important partners in the constitution of a national support network for the CSR movement.   

The number of partner entities that have already established centers and programs for CSR promotion and implementation is significant and includes 8 industrial federations, 33 associations, NGOs, 7 media vehicles and 45 third level educational institutions. The Ethos Institute currently runs regular activities in the 12 states with the highest concentration of companies in the nation. Brazil is a federation of 27 states, which means that we operate directly in 44% of the country.  
  

Ethos-Valor Award
Held annually since 2000, the Ethos-Valor Award is a national competition for graduate and post-graduate university students - the company directors and managers of the future - that highlights and recognizes graduate and post-graduate theses and monographies on themes related to CSR and sustainable development. 2004 saw the submission of 355 entries. The 2006 award was held recently and judged works produced in 2005. The Ethos-Valor Award has led to the establishment of a contacts network including more than 300 universities and faculties and an estimated 750 teachers and researchers.      

Ethos Journalism Award/ Ethos Journalist Network
The Ethos Journalism Award annually selects the best journalism conceived and produced in accordance with CSR concepts in the categories of radio, TV, photojournalism, magazines and newspapers. 415 items published in 134 media outlets nationwide were considered in 2004. Ethos also created the Ethos Journalist Network, whose membership now totals 360 professionals. The Network provides information and holds seminars on CSR training. It also keeps 1,300 journalists informed on CSR through its weekly newsletter.

Balance Award
The Social Balance Award is held in partnership between the Ethos Institute and four other entities (Aberje, Apimec, Fides and Ibase), all leaders in the social balance discussion. The preparation and publication of social balance sheets is an important practice in socially responsible management. This tool gives companies the chance to plan, evaluate and perfect their activities, making them more transparent and establishing a channel of communication and dialogue with society. The objective of the Social Balance Award is to recognize the best social balances in the following categories: Regional - with honors for the best social balances by micro, small and medium-sized companies, and National - the grand prize. The three editions of the Award held since 2002 have attracted a total of 489 submissions.   

Media campaigns
In conjunction with agencies, professionals and media outlets, the Ethos Institute annually promotes a campaign aimed towards impressing the importance of corporate social responsibility upon the public mind. The campaign is a joint venture involving various partners who collaborate with their expertise and communications/media outlets that volunteer to run the material.  

Other campaigns, such as the National Week for Citizenship and Solidarity, which advertised the Millennium Goals, also serve to mobilize society and disseminate socially responsible practices. The campaign for the Apprentice Law (which permits companies to take on apprentices aged between 14 and 18 part-time so as to prepare young people for the job market) was a case in which such a media drive contributed to the strengthening of a law that already existed.   

2. Deepening of CSR practices

In order to help companies internalize CSR practices more deeply the Ethos Institute has developed a set of tools and initiatives that also serve to strengthen and deepen relationships between the Institute and the companies and between the companies and their partners. 

Ethos Social Responsibility Indicators
The Ethos Indicators are a management self-assessment tool. Through a questionnaire filled in annually, the objective of the indicators is to help companies diagnose, plan for and monitor their incorporation of CSR practices.

Once the self-assessment survey is completed, the form can then be sent to the Ethos Institute for evaluation and the preparation of a confidential diagnostic report comparing the company's score against the average obtained by the other companies that have completed the indicator survey. The report also measures the company's performance against a benchmark group consisting of the ten highest-scoring companies.  

So as to better suit the realities of different economic sectors, the Institute has produced Customized Sector Indicators capable of providing a more precise assessment. Customized indicators are now available for small and micro companies and for the bakery, mining, financial, energy and paper and cellulose sectors. The Ethos Indicators were first applied in 2000 with 71 participants sending back their forms. This number rose to 120 companies seeking diagnostic reports in 2001 and 235 in 2002. 323 companies participated in 2003 and 352 in 2004. Overall, besides the companies that have answered the survey but not returned the form, more than 600 companies have completed the self-assessment and sent their responses back to Ethos for interpretation.  

Annual conference
The Ethos Institute National Conference has become a reference for the debate on socially responsible company management. Bringing together approximately a thousand businesspeople and executives each year, the Conference serves as a space for reflection and learning on various aspects of socially responsible management. The Annual Conference has seen seven editions and has become the most important event on CSR to be held in Brazil on a periodical basis. Since last year the Conference has acquired an international dimension, with many speakers and participants coming from other countries, particularly within Latin America. The public in attendance this year is expected to reach 1,100 participants.

Practices Bank
The Practices Bank contains model cases and serves to publicize the experiences of companies whose practices have earned high scores in the Ethos Institute Corporate Social Responsibility Indicators. The reports on model experiences and practices serve as a reference for companies looking to perfect or improve their practices in relation to any or all of the CSR themes.  

Social Balance Production Guide
Structured along the same lines as the Ethos Indicators, a social balance can also be used as a diagnostic and management tool, as in preparing one the company can gather relevant information on its social role and monitor its progress. The preparation of social balances also affords an opportunity for dialogue and comparison amongst companies from the same sectors.

3. Information production

The Ethos Institute runs a series of projects for the production and diffusion of knowledge to subsidize the social responsibility debate and publicize the progress made by the CSR movement. In addition, it also selects and presents company data and case studies and promotes interchange with other leading international entities working in the field of social responsibility.   

Production of newsletters and publications
The Ethos Institute produces a weekly electronic newsletter and dozens of other publications, such as manuals, studies, books and other products on CSR and sustainable development themes (see appendix), which it distributes to its associates and partners free of charge. These publications can also be downloaded from the entity's website. The weekly electronic newsletter is e-mailed to more than 16 thousand people. Entitled 'Weekly News', the newsletter includes a CSR events schedule for Brazil, the Ethos Institute's most important activities, a description of successful CSR practices adopted by companies, reviews on CSR literature and relevant clippings from important newspapers and magazines from Brazil and abroad.

Ethos Institute Website (www.ethos.org.br)

The Ethos Institute website is now in its fourth version and has become the Brazilian corporate social responsibility portal. The site receives 40,000 individual visitors per month accessing 450,000 pageviews. One of the main innovations in this fourth version of the Ethos Institute portal was to offer a mode of navigation that could meet the necessities of three kinds of company: those who are only starting out in social responsibility, those that are already active in the field and those who are at such an advanced stage as to be considered paradigms in corporate social responsibility. In accordance with this classification, the site’s content is now divided into three levels: for beginners, intermediate content and advanced content. The objective is to offer companies an oriented navigation through the site, simplifying their access to content that speaks directly to their reality and which could serve as a parameter for their own actions and initiatives. The portal also has an English version, which is to be improved this year, and there is also a monthly newsletter in English entitled 'CSR in Brazil', which aims to publicize the Brazilian CSR movement and the work of the Ethos Institute abroad.

InternEthos
The Ethos Institute website was conceived as a communication tool and meeting point for the Institute's various publics. The InternEthos project stemmed from the experience accumulated through the website and is fast transforming the portal into a platform for the promotion of a structured dialogue and exchange of information amongst people and organizations participating in CSR networks, using the internet as a vehicle and implementing a cycle capable of generating and renewing CSR-related knowledge. InternEthos will function through the Institute’s website as a data and knowledge codification and reference system.    

Annual Survey: Consumer Perception and Tendencies
The Ethos Institute is responsible for the application of the Corporate Social Responsibility - Consumer Perception survey for Brazil. The Brazilian survey is part of an international research project established in 2000 that monitors the dissemination of the CSR concept in 20 countries. This is an initiative of the Akatu Institute for Responsible Consumption and the Ethos Institute in conjunction with the market research institute GfK Indicator. Discussions on the role companies play in society and the view consumers have of that role are fundamental in orienting the corporate management of large corporations. The data obtained though these surveys subsidizes the formulation of corporate strategy and helps detect tendencies that could affect the performance of - or damage the image of - these companies. It is becoming increasingly clear that consumers want a prosperous, fair and environmentally sustainable world and, more importantly, that they are prepared to demand a posture from companies that aligns with that goal.      

4. Influence on markets and their most important players

With a view towards creating a favorable environment for the practice of CSR, the Ethos Institute works in partnership with economic agents to develop criteria for socially responsible investment as well as a public policy and CSR program.     

CSR Criteria
The Ethos Institute has established partnerships with the most important economic agents and has subsidized the development of social responsibility parameters for their activities within the market. An example of this is the work the Ethos Institute has done with pension funds in Brazil through their representative association, Abrapp. The result of this effort has been that these pension funds and other large companies have started to (a) adopt social responsibility criteria when evaluating their suppliers, (b) incorporate CSR as a deciding factor in choosing their investments and (c) make social and environmental provisions when making loan agreements. These initiatives have contributed to the spread of CSR principles throughout the market as a whole. 

Index of socially responsible companies
The Ethos Institute is a fundamental participant in a project run by Bovespa (São Paulo Stock Exchange) that involves developing an index somewhat similar to the Dow Jones Sustainability and London FTSE4GOOD indexes designed to monitor the performance of shares in companies that adopt CSR criteria. The 40 companies with the best social responsibility track records will be chosen from the 150 most profitable companies on the stock exchange. The selection will be made annually and will consider such aspects as respect for nature, the valuing and motivation of employees and relations with investors and the community. The Ethos CSR Indicators will be used as a reference in monitoring these companies.    

CSR in small and micro companies
Small-sized companies are essential to social and economic sustainability in Brazil. It is for this reason that the Ethos Institute has prioritized actions directed towards this segment so as to include small and medium-sized companies in the dynamic of CSR expansion throughout various chains of production. Given that small and medium-sized companies harbor the greatest potential for the creation of jobs and income, it is crucial that they engage in the CSR movement and align their economic goals and socio-environmental objectives.

In order to speed up the engagement of these companies with the Corporate Social Responsibility movement, the Ethos Institute has established an accord with Sebrae (Brazilian Service for the Support of Micro and Small Companies). The Ethos/Sebrae CSR Program for Micro and Small Companies has already produced various publications and a special edition of the Indicators specifically adapted for this type of business. 

CSR and society's organizations
With the support of the Ethos Institute, the CSR theme is also very much on the agenda of unions, NGOs and Third Sector institutions. One effect of this presence was the formation of the 'Social Observatory' by the CUT (Central Única dos Trabalhadores), an umbrella organization for labor unions. The 'Social Observatory' is an institute that articulates with unions and NGOs in order to monitor the social responsibility initiatives that companies develop for their internal publics in the sphere of labor relations.

The Ethos Institute also participated in the process of drafting the Brazilian Social Responsibility Norm, the NBR 16001, which was launched in December 2004 by the ABNT, Brazilian Association of Technical Norms. This norm establishes the minimum requisites expected of a social responsibility management system, considering the legal requirements, ethical commitments, the need for transparency and a concern with the promotion of citizenship and sustainable development. The Brazilian Norm will serve as a reference for the creation of the ISO 26000, an international norm that certifies companies in terms of their adherence to social responsibility practices.

5. Public policies and social responsibility

The Ethos Institute has promoted participation in and the formation of partnerships between companies and governmental programs. Given their ability to mobilize and articulate society, companies are a fundamental way of guaranteeing the efficiency of governmental actions. 

Program for the articulation of CSR with public policies
This program brings together Ethos Institute initiatives directed towards all of the agents working in the public sphere, such as government and legislative bodies and companies that exercise CSR practices. The interweaving of socially responsible company practices and public policies can help produce a favorable environment for the spread of successful experiences and reinforce the impact actions undertaken by the State can have upon society. The premise of encouraging such a partnership between the public and private sectors is to strengthen the commitment the Brazilian government made when it pledged to fulfill the UN Millennium Goals. The specific objectives of the project foresee the creation of an environment that is favorable to social responsibility by stimulating and broadening the movement with special focus on small and medium-sized companies and on the establishment of a CSR legal landmark, which would set up norms and reference parameters for sustainable development. It also envisages the promotion of social responsibility in national and international forums and on public agendas it considers strategic for the articulation of a new development model, as well as encouraging corporate citizenship and the fight against corruption by enlisting the support of companies in checking that public agencies are fulfilling their legal obligations and demanding that they do so. This effort can be made both through organs in which the Ethos Institute already has representation, such as CNDES, the Nation Social and Economic Development Council, and Consea, the National Council for Food Safety, or through new corporate participation forums, such as Businesspeople in Support of Local Initiatives.     

The main activities are: 1) The Decent Work Agenda, which focuses on combating child labor, the eradication of slave labor and on the equity and diversity program; 2) The 'I Want to Read' Program, the objective of which is to reduce to zero the number of towns in the country that still do not have public libraries. This program is run in conjunction with the Ministry of Culture, state and municipal culture secretaries and private initiatives; 3) Pro-Councils that envisage the creation of forums for debate with all of the public policy councils in the country; 4) National Citizenship and Solidarity Week, an initiative on behalf of a network of Social and Corporate Organizations initially structured by the Ethos Institute brought together to encourage social conscience and promote citizenship and solidarity nationally in a convergent and integrated manner, and 5) local initiatives in which governmental and private sector initiatives unite in order to raise the HDI (Human Development Index) rating of the neediest towns in Brazil, particularly in the North and Northeast.