1. Itâs important to craft a compelling, authentic story about your organizationâs social impact.
By a wide margin, âSocial Impact Storytelling: By the Numbersâ was the most popular article from our blog this year, because now more than ever people understand that âItâs up to social impact leaders to show how one good deed snowballs into another, then another, until, with time and effort, purpose becomes the center of work life.â
2. Trust remains central to corporate social responsibility.
With its knack for good timing, Edelman, the worldâs largest public relations firm, published its annual âTrust Barometerâ just ahead of the World Economic Forumâs marquee conference in Switzerland to much fanfare. The skinny? Distrust is ânow societyâs default emotion,â and companies outrank governments in the squinting public eye. However, responsible business firebrand Alison Taylor argues âall of this is a form of PR, [the idea] that trust is something you can accumulate like money.â Taylor, executive director of Ethical Systems and clinical professor at New York Universityâs Stern School of Business, adds that âwhat is being called âtrustâ here is not âtrustâ in any kind of academic understanding. This is reputation.â Where do you stand? Check out Edelemanâs reportâor just the takeawaysâand criticism in The Guardian.
3. Workplace volunteering needs to be flexible, diverse, and repeatable.
In the past five years, enterprise companies have exceeded all expectations and established a new baseline for corporate social impact. Three trends grew throughout 2023 and will continue to define corporate volunteerism in 2023. Read the full story.
4. 2023 shaped ESG regulations, but thereâs still work to be done.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission released its proposal for new rules for managing and disclosing environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors. The final version has yet to materialize, and ESG seems to have fallen on the list of SEC priorities for the coming year. Read what we might expect in 2024 in Bloomberg Law.
5. Thereâs a huge difference between intent and impact.
This year, we hosted a three-part webinar with our partner True Impact. The subject: How to put your organizationâs giving and volunteering data to work maximizing your total impact. There is a common misperception that the difference between talking about intent and talking about impact is merely rhetorical, a matter of word choice. The truth is that impact is measurable and knowable; thereâs no magic word that can take the place of the number of mouths fed, backs clothed, or pounds of carbon taken out of the supply chain. Read more in our takeaways.
6. Loneliness may be as harmful as smoking â15 cigarettes per day.â United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthyâs "Advisory: Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation" sent shockwaves through the media. âLoneliness is far more than just a bad feeling,â Murthy writes:
âŚit harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death . . . The harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity, and engagement are diminished.
How do we stop this dangerous trend? The Financial Times argues that âexecutivesâ response to this newly declared epidemic must start with what it means to their own people.â In many cases that means thinking critically about how business decisionsâlike leveraging artificial intelligence and revoking flexible work arrangementsâmay impact mental health and wellness.
7. Companies need to do all they can to create a âculture of service.â
Over the past year, enterprise blockchain leader Ripple has seen eye-popping employee participation in charitable giving, volunteerism, and genuine human connection throughout their organizationâto the tune of 78 percent. Read our spotlight to learn how they get it done.
8. There is a real human cost to artificial intelligence.
A bombshell report in New York Magazine reveals that âbehind even the most impressive AI system are peopleâhuge numbers of people labeling data to train it and clarifying data when it gets confused,â with some earning as little as $1.20 per hour. But itâs not just technology companies developing machine learning tools that need to treat workers fairly; itâs up to all of us learning to work alongside AI to think deeply about the ethical issues involved with an increasingly complex industry. Read âAI is a Lot of Work."
9. âIntegrated philanthropyâ is changing corporate social impact.
Nina Rauch, Head of Social Impact at the leading insurance innovator Lemonade, notes that âWeâve found employees are more motivated and engaged when they work for a company that cares about social issues. Engaging in charitable work can foster a sense of purpose and camaraderie among employees, and social impact initiatives often require innovative solutions.â For more on how employee engagement in social impact helps Deed partner Lemonade transform insurance as we know it, read Rauchâs latest for Fast Company.
10. Give nonprofits the final say.
It can be easy to lose sight of the hard, daily work that nonprofit staff put in day in and day out. But their efforts donât end when our office volunteer days adn fundraisers end. In November, Makeeba McCreary from New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund and Bob Giannino from United Way Of Massachusetts Bay wrote a moving plea for funding in WBUR which weâll leave as this newsletterâs final word for 2023:
Ask the leader of any nonprofit about their experience with funders, and theyâll tell you about a time when they had to contort their vision to fit a particular funderâs priorities. These stories are not anomaliesâthey are the norm...[Changing] systems and practices that have been in place for generations is hard. But it is never too late to take steps toward a more equitable approach to giving.
