News
December 13, 2021
For more businesses involved in their community! Corporate social commitment: a component of sustainable development that is too often forgotten…
We would very much like other companies to join us in supporting social causes that are too often forgotten in the context of sustainable development and ask IQ to influence the companies it supports, because it is together that we will be able to make a difference and improve our neighborhood, our city, our province and ultimately our own business conditions.
I recently joined the board of directors of a non‐profit organization (NPO) in southwest of Montreal, Les Scientifines. With more than 30 years of experience in popular science, Les Scientifines’s mission is to promote science after school to young girls aged 8 to 17 from disadvantaged backgrounds to enable them to develop various transversal skills, and thus counter dropping out of school and encourage them to continue their studies in fields which are still considered today as more masculine.
It is important for our company, OPAL‐RT, to invest in the scientific training of young girls because we are sorely lacking in manpower, especially women, and we believe that it is essential to invest in the long term. Moreover, the mission of Les Scientifines fits perfectly with our values: innovation, perseverance, accessibility, improvement of the living environment.
As it is the case for the majority of NPOs, Les Scientifines must, each year, invest a great deal of effort in the search for funding to ensure the sustainability of the organization. Government grants are never guaranteed, and donation commitments are often short‐term. However, recurring donations are more than necessary to allow the organization to continue offering its services.
So I turned to my business partner and spouse, Jean. Together, we assessed what we could do through our company, OPAL‐RT, to help our community. We observed, on average, without taking extremes into account and according to an American study: An Absence of Transparency: The Charitable and Political Contributions of US Corporations. J Bus Ethics 155, 1101–1113 (2019), https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-017-3537-z , companies that create foundations, give up about 0, 75% of their profits. Jean and I quickly concluded that we could double that percentage without jeopardizing our growth plans too much. And that’s how we got involved with Les Scientifines and other NPOs.
So, I tell myself that if a Montreal SME like ours can invest in its community, I do not see why all profitable companies could not do the same with at least 1.5% of their profits. In fact, our employees tell us that they are 94% proud that we support social causes.
Thus, at OPAL‐RT, we have adopted guidelines for sustainable development:
All these decisions were made possible, in part, by Investissement Québec (IQ) which has regularly supported OPAL‐RT over the past 25 years and helped us become profitable. In addition, IQ sets us by example with its “Sustainable Development Action Plan 2021‐22”.
We would very much like other companies to join us in supporting social causes that are too often forgotten in the context of sustainable development and ask IQ to influence the companies it supports, because it is together that we will be able to make a difference and improve our neighborhood, our city, our province and ultimately our own business conditions.
Lise Laforce, P.Eng., ASC
Co‐founder, OPAL‐RT TECHNOLOGIES
It is important for our company, OPAL‐RT, to invest in the scientific training of young girls because we are sorely lacking in manpower, especially women, and we believe that it is essential to invest in the long term. Moreover, the mission of Les Scientifines fits perfectly with our values: innovation, perseverance, accessibility, improvement of the living environment.
As it is the case for the majority of NPOs, Les Scientifines must, each year, invest a great deal of effort in the search for funding to ensure the sustainability of the organization. Government grants are never guaranteed, and donation commitments are often short‐term. However, recurring donations are more than necessary to allow the organization to continue offering its services.
So I turned to my business partner and spouse, Jean. Together, we assessed what we could do through our company, OPAL‐RT, to help our community. We observed, on average, without taking extremes into account and according to an American study: An Absence of Transparency: The Charitable and Political Contributions of US Corporations. J Bus Ethics 155, 1101–1113 (2019), https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-017-3537-z , companies that create foundations, give up about 0, 75% of their profits. Jean and I quickly concluded that we could double that percentage without jeopardizing our growth plans too much. And that’s how we got involved with Les Scientifines and other NPOs.
So, I tell myself that if a Montreal SME like ours can invest in its community, I do not see why all profitable companies could not do the same with at least 1.5% of their profits. In fact, our employees tell us that they are 94% proud that we support social causes.
Thus, at OPAL‐RT, we have adopted guidelines for sustainable development:
- Our products are used by our customers to build equipment that will reduce their carbon footprint.
- We finance university and student projects.
- We have made the decision, since last year, to increase the value of our donations and to dedicate 1.5% of our profits to social causes, especially in our neighborhood.
All these decisions were made possible, in part, by Investissement Québec (IQ) which has regularly supported OPAL‐RT over the past 25 years and helped us become profitable. In addition, IQ sets us by example with its “Sustainable Development Action Plan 2021‐22”.
We would very much like other companies to join us in supporting social causes that are too often forgotten in the context of sustainable development and ask IQ to influence the companies it supports, because it is together that we will be able to make a difference and improve our neighborhood, our city, our province and ultimately our own business conditions.
Lise Laforce, P.Eng., ASC
Co‐founder, OPAL‐RT TECHNOLOGIES
