The Bench Marks Foundation is an independent faith based organisation monitoring corporate performance in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with the focus on social sustainability and economic empowerment. The organisation encourages CSR that goes beyond reporting mechanisms and focuses on the gap between policy and practice, thereby assisting civil society groups and corporations to move beyond philanthropy to more strategic interventions that benefit both corporations and society. Central to the Foundation's agenda is how CSR is integrated into companies' operations and ensuring that it is at the core of every decision making process.

The Bench Marks Foundation is part of an international faith-based coalition that also has partners in Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, the USA, Colombia and the United Kingdom. Our partners in South Africa are the South African Council of Churches (SACC), the Ecumenical Service for Socio-Economic Transformation (ESSET), Industrial Mission of South Africa, and the Justice and Peace Department of the South African Catholic Bishops Conference.

Consisting of community blogs and an activists school that is part of the larger Bench Marks Foundation's aim to get communities and church leaders actively involved in monitoring private corporations (and government) to ensure they are acting in an accountable and socially responsible way.

Visit the site at:

http://sites.google.com/site/monitoringaction