The alignment and the organization of the socioenvironmental investments and actions of VCP have been performed with the aid of the Social Workgroup (GTS). Based on a participative model, this group is multidisciplinary and involves the areas of Communication and Social Responsibility, besides representatives from different areas and hierarchical levels, with the perspective of enhancing the value of the diversity of ideas and concepts.

Entrepreneurial social responsibility is a means of running the business that makes the company a partner and jointly responsible for social development. A socially responsible company is one with the capacity to listen to the interests of the different parties (stockholders, employees, service providers, suppliers, consumers, community, government and environment) and manage to incorporate them in the planning of its activities, seeking to fulfill the demands of every single one, and not just of the stockholders or owners.

In practical terms, implementing corporate social responsibility is to take care of the quality of the company’s relationships with its various audiences and to deal with the economic, social, environmental and cultural impacts of its activities.

Partners – Suppliers – Employees and third parties – Environment – Company – Press and Media – Government – Stockholders – Customers – Community and Third Sector.
The starting point of social investment is a local diagnosis – seeking to understand the reality and the demand of the municipality and of the community – and priorities are defined with a basis on indicators such as:

Municipal Human Development Index (IDH-M);
Social exclusion index;
Presence of VCP (percentage of area occupied) ;
Identification of opportunities and/or risks

The entire investment is made in a planned manner, allowing the Company to go through with the adequate distribution of resources among the various sites of activity of VCP. Six lines of action were also defined to orient these investments pursuant to the diagram below.

ESI – Distribution – Generation of work and income – Health and sanitation – Others – Culture – Education – N.B. – Sports
In 2006, the total amount invested by the company in social actions targeted at the external audience was approximately R$ 4 million, a sum 31% lower than that invested in the prior year.

This reduction occurred in sponsorships and results from alignment with the global policy of cultural investments of Grupo Votorantim launched in 2006, which began to centralize the allocation of resources to this area.

The main share of the external social investment (50%) was concentrated on projects geared toward education, maintaining the same focal point as 2005. VCP supports and develops several initiatives in the communities where it is present, as is the case of the following actions: