Five things we ask every CSR partner before we take the money

Under Section 135 of the Companies Act, a qualifying company must spend 2% of average net profit on CSR. What that section does not say is how to spend it well, and the gap shows.

Here is what we ask in the first meeting.

1. What is the time horizon?

A daily feeding programme funded for one quarter is a nice photograph and an operational problem. Funded for three years, it lets us commit to a kitchen, a route and a team. We ask for a multi-year view, or we scope something honestly small.

2. Who owns the outcome internally?

The best partnerships we have are owned by someone with a budget line and a career interest in the result. The ones that stall are owned by a committee.

3. What will you do with an inconvenient number?

We will report a bad month. We ask, plainly, whether that ends the partnership. Partners who say yes get our short programmes, not our long ones.

4. Are your employees actually going to show up?

Employee-engagement clauses are written into most agreements and honoured in maybe a third. We would rather agree to two well-run serving days than twelve on paper.

5. Is the number attached to a real need or to a leftover budget?

March CSR spending is a real phenomenon. We will take it — the families at the gate do not care about your fiscal calendar — but we will tell you which parts of the programme can absorb it responsibly and which cannot.

The two answers that make us say no

"We need our branding on the meal packaging and a photograph of every recipient." People receiving food are not a backdrop.

"Can you make the numbers presentable for the annual report?" No.

Everything else is a conversation. Our CSR-1 is registered (CSR00042918), utilisation certificates go out within 30 days of quarter end, and we are happy to be audited by your team rather than only by ours.