[Editor’s Note: On Sept. 18 & 19 BCLC will host its annual Global Corporate Citizenship Conference at the U.S. Chamber headquarters. The conference and its corresponding report, Development 2.0: Changing the Way Globalization Works, will focus on factors that affect global development. The following article, an excerpt from the report, is an example of those factors.]

In recent years, corporations have taken a greater responsibility for their potential physical effects on the environments in which they hope to grow, often in developing countries. "Sustainability," "carbon footprint," and other terms are buzz words for that growing sense of environmental responsibility.

It is just as important for businesses to consider their effects on the sustainability of communities. CSR makes good business sense because it considers potential markets and employees. Healthy businesses need strong communities.

Communities can be more robust with businesses that are successful, responsible corporate citizens providing employment opportunities and other resources to fuel local economic engines. 

As the world becomes more interdependent, the health and well-being of all communities is the basic building block for creating markets for consumer goods and services, as well as a competent workforce. Especially in developing countries, business can play an important role as a positive force for creating vibrant communities.

The problems of health, education and poverty do not respond neatly to simple solutions.  There are no clean lines to delineate the roles of government, business, and nonprofits in addressing these problems.

However, business has the potential to provide thought leaders for the kinds of collaborative partnerships required to build effective solutions.

Bill Gates has recently proposed a new system of "creative capitalism — an approach in which governments, businesses, and nonprofits work together to stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or gain recognition, doing work that eases the world’s inequities."

United Way works with communities in 47 countries and territories around the world, in partnership with businesses and governments as well as other nonprofits, to align people around a community agenda to improve social conditions. This Community Impact Model offers great potential for businesses to make a positive difference, especially in developing countries.

In Colombia, for example, a major multinational consumer goods corporation recognizes that an educated population is necessary to provide both its workforce of the future and its consumer market.

There are 3 million children who do not attend school in Colombia. More than 500,000 children between the ages of 10 and 15 are illiterate. Working with nonprofits and the school system, the company has offered its expertise to help create a program that trains teachers in an appropriate methodology for teaching these older children to read and write.

The success of this program has raised visibility of the problem and other companies have joined in support. Even the government Ministry of Education has taken notice and is supporting this effort.

Dividendo por Colombia, a United Way affiliate, provides the local, on-the-ground infrastructure that makes community change possible and provides linkages for the companies in Colombia.

Consider the market that exists among the world’s poor. More than 4 billion people earn less than $3 a day. Yet the combined purchasing power of this group tops $5 trillion. 

What if business, government, and nonprofits could work together to provide products and services that are needed by this market in a way that creates profit while offering jobs and education to help lift people out of poverty?

That’s today’s challenge. Business has the innovative spirit to partner with nonprofits, government and others to create tomorrow’s solutions.

Teresa Hall Bartels is president and CEO of United Way International.