CACI CSR

In this blog, I will discuss CSR at CACI Int Inc. I will go through a short exercise that we did in class in order to determine where CACI should be with CSR strategically. This means what current or future CSR activities are aligned with CACI's core competencies that are most feasible for the company to create competitive advantage.

To start off, CACI's current CSR activities are under the umbrella "CACI Cares".
The current CSR activities fall under these groups:

1. The Troops
• Deploying Talent - Creating Careers (provides careers for talented veterans with disabilities)
• Hire a Vet Today (which gives hiring managers the opportunity to join our recruiters at career fairs) 
• Sponsors and Donates to
• Cause (Comfort for America's Uniformed Services)
• Fisher House Foundation
• Project Healing Waters
• USO
2. Education

• Scholarship Program, in conjunction with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (CACI sponsors five college undergraduate scholarships of $1,500 per year for up to four years of college undergraduate study. Three of these scholarships are awarded to college-bound children of full-time, regular CACI employees, while two scholarships are awarded to applicants outside of CACI who demonstrate excellence in the fields of science, math or technology.)
• Heart of America - Books From The Heart^® (Conducts book drives for under-resourced elementary schools in their local communities.)
• In2Books (In2Books secure digital platform to help enhance children's reading, writing, and critical thinking skills.)
•  Junior Achievement (JA) (Gives employees an opportunity to provide classroom assistance that helps students develop strong educational and life skills.CACI supports the annual JA Bowl fundraising event, with more than 250 employees participating. Employees also volunteer at JA Day, which introduces elementary school students to JA programs.

      3.  Community

• CACI Cares encourages employees to volunteer as individuals and groups in support of their local communities. 
• Each month, CACI also spotlights a national charity to which employees can volunteer, participate, or donate to make a difference in their local communities.
• CACI also gives back to its own employees in need - we raise funds and donations of vacation time or other needed items for those who find themselves in difficult situations.
• Past Programs Include:
• American Heart Association
• Capital Area Food Bank
• Make-A-Wish Foundation
• Special Olympics
• Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
• Marine Corps Marathon
• Toys for Tots
• Veterans Moving Forward
• Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts
• Wreaths Across America

      4.  Donations - Will be given as long as the following guidelines are met. This is what is stated from he website:

CACI Cares is honored to support a variety of charitable causes. All formal requests for grants, in-kind assistance or other types of support should be sent in writing along with proof of your organization's 501(c)(3) status. Please be patient, as it may take us up to six weeks to respond to requests.

• Guidelines:
  • Include a specific description of your organization and project, your contact information, and any relevant program history.
  • Recipients must be IRS-approved 501(c)(3) organizations. We cannot fund individuals, for-profit organizations, essentially religious or political organizations.
  • The activities of recipient organizations must support core educational initiatives, warfighters and veterans, or community citizenship.
  • Contributions are restricted to specific projects or programs only, not general operating accounts.
  • CACI Philanthropy will not support requests for programs deemed to be discriminatory based on race, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, national origin, or physical or mental disability.

Now that we have the list of current CACI CSR initiatives, I will look at CACI Core Competencies. I have found that is difficult to determine these based off of the broad business that we are involved in. Generally speaking we operate globally,  and provide solutions and services as a contractor to the federal government in multiple capacities. Even though it is not listed, I know that we are deeply rooted in providing media and marketing for other organizations to include, the National Guard, Exxon Mobile, and other commercial customers. I feel that we should expand into this area for growth since we do such a great job at it.

Given this information, I believe CACi is in the Tax/Expense areas on the continuum of CSR. Some of the CSR activities fall under a Defensive posture and others are under the Good Citizen approach that they push their employees to conduct for them. Engagement is low, since I work for them but had to search for our activities. I rarely ever see anything from corporate on these. Mission is peripheral and the resources spent are extremely small. The scope of activities are narrow and they have little to no strategic value.

Looking at CACI's Core Competencies, it would have more of an impact if their CSR initiatives were more global. Developing some solutions or services that the federal government would be interested in purchasing in order to aid in their CSR would be a great idea. It is also important to understand that it is the people that are hired that create these solutions and services that are then purchased by the federal government thus creating profit.  CACI needs their CSR activities to bring in the highest quality and best employees. It is great that they offer Veteran Services but they do not execute to the fullest. We don't attend may shows or events anymore due to budget cuts so these efforts are slowly being lost. Education is a great one if they offered more to their current employees. If they gave a percentage of tuition reimbursement to the family of the employee and not just the tax break amount to the employee, they may get more qualified employees to come work for them instead of the competitor. They could even include a minimum work time for the amount given so that they aren't at risk of losing money. This would be a great shared value situation and really bring some talent to the company.

Everything else that is being conducted come from the employees reaching out on their own. This is great but I wish they spotlighted the employees themselves and not just umbrella it under the CACI name but share the experience with the employees that are doing these efforts.