Baseline survey of the United Nations’ Global Compact and the Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation
September – October 2006

The survey regarding the understanding and practices of corporate social responsibilities in Bulgaria was planned in the first half of 2006 within the framework of the Bulgarian Network of the Global Compact. It aims at understanding what the attitudes towards corporate social responsibility among large and medium companies, and among Global Compact member companies are. Analyses of the basic models and practices, the restraining and
encouraging factors for corporate responsibility are important for the future good project planning by Global Compact Network in Bulgaria.

Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation is a natural partner in the research due to its long experience as an analyst of the processes of strategically considered giving and to its work with Bulgarian companies towards improvement of their social programmes. In the research design the learning from the research in social responsibility, as a part of a wider study of philanthropy in Bulgaria in 2005, implemented by the Foundation, was taken into consideration.

The present research was commissioned to Alpha Research Agency because of its expertise in researching the attitudes towards giving both of companies and individuals. For the implementation of this research a methodology has been chosen, which combines both quantitative and qualitative methods. 37 business representatives in charge of social responsibility programmes participated in the qualitative survey. The standardized interview conducted with 121 companies gave the quantitative data.

The Analysis presents a picture of a growing interest towards responsible business behavior among large and  medium companies in Bulgaria. Corporate social responsibility is defined as a value and companies are interested in getting such a reputation as a result of their activities. However, further efforts for better planning, implementation and evaluation of socially engaged programmes are needed. Business networks, non-profit organizations, media and the companies themselves should work to increase the available capacity for the implementation of long-term and effective socially engaged activities.

Corporate Social Responsibility within the Bulgarian Context (English version) (2.03 MB )