A good corporate social responsibility policy must feature clear objectives and deliver measurable outcomes in society. To achieve this, the policy must reflect what the business is and what it does. This reinforces the firm's business purpose and its core competencies. The corporate social responsibility policy should have a clear strategy of changing the community. It should not call for a one-off event but for efforts that gradually transform society through the firm's positive influence.

The policy should be geared toward identifying a few needs that the company can address adequately. Most companies that try to address multiple social challenges do not make significant progress at solving social issues.

The corporate social responsibility policy should be well-developed and understood by all stakeholders. Employees, shareholders and customers must understand what the firm intends to do and what the expected outcome is. When the company communicates its goals, such programs can earn support from both staff and community members, increasing the chances of success. Thus, each group of stakeholders should be given detailed information about the policy.

A good corporate social responsibility policy identifies qualified partners for the proposed program. It is vital to partner with experts in a particular social issue that the firm is tackling. This gives the initiative the benefit of expert knowledge and supports the credibility of the policy.

The policy should provide tools to measure the success of any program it initiates. Moreover, it should have set timelines according to which certain milestones of the program are to be reached. This allows for better capital allocation in support of the policy's goals and for accurate progress reports.