With more than 7,000 companies participating, the Global Compact is currently the world’s largest network for corporate social responsibility.

Six organizations of the United Nations make up the heart of the Global Compact network: the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Environment Program, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Development Program, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Multi-Stakeholder Platform

The Global Compact strives to integrate all relevant social actors: governments that established the ten principles; companies whose actions are to be influenced; employees who are creating the process of global production; civil organizations representing broader stakeholder groups; as well as the United Nations as the only truly political global forum with the necessary authority to organize and moderate the Global Compact.

Global Compact Office

The Global Compact Office located in New York is the UN entity formally entrusted with the support and overall management of the Global Compact initiative. It has received the endorsement of the UN General Assembly (A/RES/60/215) and has been given UN system-wide responsibilities for promoting the sharing of best practices. The Global Compact Office also has responsibilities with regard to advocacy and issue leadership, fostering network development and maintaining the Global Compact communications infrastructure. Furthermore, the Global Compact Office plays a central role in advancing the partnership agenda across the UN system and has overall responsibility for brand management and implementation of the integrity measures.

Local Networks

Local Networks are groups of participants that come together to advance the Global Compact and its principles within a particular country or geographic region. They perform increasingly important roles in rooting the Global Compact within different national, cultural and linguistic contexts, and also in helping to manage the organizational consequences of rapid expansion. Their role is to facilitate the progress of companies (both local firms and subsidiaries of foreign corporations) engaged in the Compact with respect to implementation of the ten principles, while also creating opportunities for multi-stakeholder engagement and collective action. There are currently more than 90 Local Networks around the world.

Each Local Network is coordinated by a focal point. This can be either a participant of the Local Network or an organization responsible for CSR in the country. In Austria, the focal point is located at  respACT – austrian business council for sustainable development.

Annual Local Networks Forum

The Annual Local Networks Forum is the main occasion for Local Networks from around the world to share experiences, review and compare progress, identify best practices, and adopt recommendations intended to enhance the effectiveness of Local Networks.

Global Compact Board

The Global Compact Board is a multi-stakeholder advisory body that meets annually (first meeting in June 2006) to provide ongoing strategic and policy advice for the initiative as a whole and make recommendations to the Global Compact Office, participants and other stakeholders. The Board comprises four constituency groups – business, civil society, labor and the United Nations – with differentiated roles and responsibilities apart from their overall advisory function.

Global Compact Leaders Summit

The Leaders Summit is a triennial gathering of the top executives of all Global Compact participants and other stakeholders. As the largest gathering of its kind, the Leaders Summit represents a unique opportunity for Global Compact participants to discuss the Global Compact and corporate citizenship at the highest level, and to produce strategic recommendations and action imperatives related to the future evolution of the initiative. The last leaders summit was held in New York in June 2010 and was attended by over 1,200 participants from more than 130 countries.