Samenvatting

This work is designed in order to provide information for Project Aware on its internationalisation process. Project Aware is a human rights organisation based in the Netherlands. This thesis investigates facts with regard to the developments of corporate social responsibility and volunteerism in Europe.

Central Question:
To what extent are the current developments, relating to corporate social responsibility and volunteerism in Europe, of positive influence on the internalisation wish of Project Aware? And which criteria have to be fulfilled for Project Aware to successfully internationalise in Spain and the United Kingdom?

Corporate social responsibility and voluntary work are the two main objectives in this research. The increase in developments in these areas has been enormous in Europe. In the whole world initiatives are being made. The EU actively promotes CSR and many international organisations like the OECD and the UN promote CSR actively. Volunteering enjoys great attention in Europe, next to big umbrella organisations like the European Volunteering Centre initiatives on voluntary work are also being made on national levels.

The European Union
In the European Union member states CSR is mostly practised in the financial and business service providers and the industry. The EU itself has also been making efforts to stimulate CSR. For instance the Green Paper "Promoting a European Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility".
Also in the field of volunteering in the EU a lot is happening. The document on voluntary work from 1983 gains a lot of attention. When zooming in on the different EU countries it becomes clear that not everywhere in Europe a lot on CSR and volunteerism is being accomplished; it is not recommendable for Project Aware to establish its organisation in the new member states and it is questionable whether CSR and volunteerism are truly emerging issues.

The United Kingdom
In the UK corporate social responsibility enjoys high importance, maybe more than volunteerism. At least it is a more actual issue; the media are giving a lot of attention to this topic and for this research the documentation flow on CSR was inexhaustible. Formal volunteering is less popular than informal volunteering which is unfortunate for organisations such as Project Aware.

Spain
The degree implementation in CSR in Spain is moderate. Initiatives are made, but it is still unpretentious especially in comparison to the rest of Europe. The developments on volunteering are more promising for Project Aware although formal volunteering does not enjoy high interest of the Spanish. The general developments in the third sector are more positive but also still evolving.