Our History

1. 1993

   BMI primary research: 56% of a sample of 100 corporate grantmakers used the term ‘corporate social investment’ to describe their community development activities. The BMI research was a precursor to the Trialogue Handbook.
2. 1998

   The first Corporate Social Investment and Development Handbook was published by BMI. It estimated annual CSI expenditure at R1.5 billion, with 54% of CSI spend going to education.
3. 2000

   Trialogue was registered as a company, and the Handbook became the Trialogue CSI Handbook. Trialogue publishes the inaugural edition of the e-Commerce Handbook – a guide to the Internet revolution. It was renamed in 2002 to the e-Business Handbook and sold after the 4th edition in 2004.
   
4. 2004

   Trialogue publishes the first edition of The Good Corporate Citizen. The title was renamed to The Sustainable Business Handbook in 2006 and produced annually until 2009.
5. 2006

   The Community and Individual Development Trust (CIDT) becomes a part-owner of Trialogue. The trust is now named the Imvula Education Empowerment Fund, and it provides access to education and employment opportunities for historically disadvantaged youth.
6. 2007

   The Trialogue CSI Conference was launched, convening practitioners from companies and nonprofits to share lessons and ideas on how to improve the impact of CSI.
7. 2009

   Trialogue publishes the inaugural edition of the Environmental Handbook – a guide to Green Business in South Africa. Two annual editions of the title were published.
8. 2010

   The Sustainable Business Handbook was transformed to a quarterly and then an annual Sustainability Review, published in partnership with the Financial Mail which ran until 2016.
9. 2014

   The Trialogue Strategic CSI Award was launched.
   Trialogue launched its CSI forums, quarterly events that engaged on a range of CSI topics.
   Trialogue partners with EY to host a series of quarterly sustainability forums, covering topical issues. The forums run through to 2018.
10. 2015

    Trialogue launches a Funders Guide, listing and profiling nonprofits. Two editions of the Funders Guide were published.
    Trialogue partners with EY to undertake research on the role of the Social and Ethics Committee.
11. 2017

    The Trialogue Knowledge Hub was launched as a freely available online body of knowledge for CSI practitioners.
    The 20th edition of the Handbook is published as The Trialogue Business in Society Handbook, in recognition of the increasingly holistic role of business within society.
12. 2018

    Trialogue becomes the Southern African local authority of the Global Exchange, an international network of similar organisations established to share knowledge and practices by CECP (CEOs for Corporate Purpose) in the US.
13. 2020

    Virtual Trialogue webinars replaced the in-person CSI forums during the Covid-19 pandemic. The monthly online webinars continue and reach a wider audience.
14. 2022

    The Trialogue Academy was launched as an online platform for learning more about responsible business, sustainability and CSI.
15. 2026

    Trialogue launches the Sustainable Business Self-Assessment Tool, , a short, executive-level diagnostic designed to quickly reveal how well sustainability is embedded across organisations.