Corporate Social Responsibility –what it is, what it does and who needs to know about it has transformed over the last decade. Long gone are the days of companies simply signing checks to charities or sponsoring events.

Far from being just a box-ticking, PR exercise, for many businesses, it now feeds into their wider strategy. This month with spoke to Founder & CEO of Creative Eco-Catalysts, Allison Quaid, who works with businesses to encourage them to look at social change holistically by integrating intellectual, emotional and social intelligence to inspire target audiences to take action. She told us not only about the many ways that freelancers add value to her business, but also shared some insights into the world of social responsibility and change.

Allison, tell us about Creative Eco-Catalyst. What led you to start the company and what are your plans for the future?

I started Creative Eco-Catalysts, a marketing consulting firm for sustainability, as a way to weave my interests in sustainability, culture change and communications together. I’m always looking to help companies make the topic of corporate social responsibility and sustainability relevant, meaningful and tangible, so I will continue to search out companies who I can help.  I also like running my own shop since this enables me to take on fun creative projects. I’m working on a small project related to social change with artists to help me make the message come alive – which they do so well.

You have worked with multiple freelancers through The Work Crowd, what business objectives have they supported you with?

The freelancers that I have worked with from The Work Crowd assisted me with various facets of delivering an internal communications campaign on sustainability for a large corporation in Germany. They had expert skills in graphic design, copywriting, editing, marketing and communication strategy.  Two of them had run their own firms, therefore, they understood my crazy deadlines. It has been a delight to work with such expert marketing assistance at a time where I desperately needed to transition to UK based freelancers.

Based in the United States, why have you chosen to work with U.K based freelancers over more traditional methods of employment?

My company is based in the US, but I have a large German client with whom I spend a lot of time, and therefore I needed to transition from my US-based freelancers to ones that were based in the right  time zone and native English speakers (which I couldn’t find in Germany).

As a  small marketing company, I need to hire freelancers to easily scale up and scale down as business dictates, as it can take six months from proposal to contract start, and several proposalsmight start at once. Last July, I was exactly in that position, where three contracts started, and I needed more help in my time zone to provide instructions on deliverables, and not work from 7am to 9pm, which proved unsustainable.

As an expert in social change, how has the world of social change developed in recent years and what  trends do you expect to see in the future?

Social change moves at a slower pace than I would like to see, in particular, on environmental issues. Change is often driven by emergencies, but unfortunately with climate change, we need to continue to prioritise action over worry, since the consequences are predicted to be catastrophic for many. The rise of digital media means that we can more quickly be informed of events, and share innovations for adapting, but I think the future will continue to be bumpy.  I’m not overly optimistic, but I stay positive because we must do our best to leave a constructive legacy.

“The Work Crowd sources expert marketing and communication support so that you can quickly scale up when business calls. It has been a real joy to work with three high-caliber marketing freelancers from The Work Crowd.”- Allison Quaid, Founder & CEO of Creative Eco-Catalysts

If you’re looking to scale your business with flexibility or looking to work with one of our CSR experts, feel free to give us a call on 0203 828 8440 or drop us a line to find out more.