Communication
Fondation Guilé reviews the positive work it has carried out over the past 10 years of shareholder engagement
After making a significant contribution over the last ten years to promoting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for sustainable economic development, Fondation Guilé will end its activities.
Fondation Guilé has achieved its philanthropic aspiration of contributing to the common good through the promotion of Corporate and Investor social responsibility, engaging in dialogues with stakeholders to foster best practice among market participants. For ten years, a number of investors have supported the actions of Fondation Guilé by investing in three engagement funds, giving the foundation the mandate to promote the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact among the invested companies.
To carry out this mission, Fondation Guilé designed in 2006 a methodology enabling the continuous improvement of CSR practices: the GuiléReportingAssessmentTM. Over the course of a decade, a hundred companies from these engagement funds have been evaluated on their level of integration of the Global Compact principles. During Fondation Guilé’s dialogues with senior representatives of the monitored companies, the assessment results were presented and improvement measures discussed. The impact of this engagement is described in a report published by the foundation, « 10 Years of Guilé Reporting Assessments – Developments, impacts and learnings » available on its website.
At the end of 2016, the foundation board observed that the CSR market place had matured and active shareholder ownership had become mainstream. The board came to the conclusion that the core objective of its initiative was successfully achieved. Therefore it has decided to cease the activities of Fondation Guilé.
Fondation Guilé warmly thanks the numerous contributors who have enabled the organisation to successfully lead ten years of shareholder engagement, and in particular BHP – Brugger and Partners for its commitment, entrepreneurial spirit and its contribution to the GuiléReportingAssessmentTM methodology. The Fondation thanks the members of its board and management, as well as all those who have worked with Fondation Guilé and the members of its network of consultants. Numerous partners in the Fondation Guilé ecoystem have helped the organisation to accomplish its objectives, including Baur Consulting, BHP – Brugger and Partners, BSD Consulting, Richard Dion, EthiFinance, Impact Partnership Advisory, Sigmalis and Sofies.
About Fondation Guilé
Fondation Guilé was created by Charles and Bernadette Burrus, a Swiss family of industrial entrepreneurs who have played for six generations a pioneering role in Corporate Social Responsibility in Switzerland.
As a not-for-profit Swiss foundation recognised as a public-interest organisation, Fondation Guilé is guided by respect for human dignity and to promoting sustainable development, in particular within companies.
CONTACT: Régis Burrus, President of Fondation Guilé: contact@fondation-novandi.org