Future Proofing Your Corporate Social Impact Program
There’s been great change over the past year in the world of corporate social impact, yet one theme remains: the recognition that the corporate social impact programming of yesterday is no longer effective in achieving the change we want to see. Given how fast social and environmental issues are changing, it may be time for brands to revisit their social impact playbooks. Should companies stick with yesterday’s goals and action plans? Or, should they make a change?
If you’re like me and believe the social impact landscape has outpaced current practices, keeping the status quo is no longer an option.
What companies need to know.
Expectations have changed dramatically, which is commonplace in this work. But specifically what is new at the moment are the expectations that communities have when it comes to how companies address social and environmental issues using more traditional mechanisms like employee volunteering and corporate philanthropy. Practices like philanthropy and volunteering have historically been thought of as being inherently fair and just. But now these are increasingly being scrutinized.
We have already seen a focus on trust-based philanthropy and applying a racial equity lens in how a corporation or their foundation makes monetary donations. But over the last couple years – and albeit with far less attention - the practice of also applying equity to volunteering has emerged. When we talk about making volunteering more equitable, there are two sides of this coin.
Applying practices inward: Ensuring that every employee has access to volunteer opportunities by removing barriers and increasing accessibility of those opportunities for more than just the employees that have the greatest privilege.
Applying practices outward: How employee volunteers show up in the communities you seek to serve, and doing so in culturally appropriate ways that don’t inadvertently promote saviorism or further perpetuate inequities.
Some have even described this as the “decolonization of volunteering.” Let that sink in.
It’s now expected that brands increase access to opportunities to volunteer for their employees, especially those that identify as members of minority groups. At the same time, it’s crucial we also look at how volunteers show up to serve communities in ways that don’t unintentionally cause harm.
What corporate social impact teams can do now.
There are a number of ways your corporate social impact team can adapt to these changing expectations. The first, of course, is to revisit your social impact goals and strategy, including your enterprise goals, the strategy, and any framework designed to reach those goals. Don’t stop there, though. Also revisit the tactics and actions that ladder into the strategy. These same goals and strategies may be tethered to a signature program that engages your employees in volunteering, giving campaigns, strategic philanthropy and other aspects of your brand.
Here’s what to focus on:
Evaluate your current volunteer practices. Think about who has access. When increasing access to your employee volunteer program, think about how they identify, the accessibility for those living with disabilities, time constraints, cultural appropriateness, language accessibility, providing more agency for employees, and ensuring proper resource and funding allocation. Consider updating how your company defines volunteering. Here’s a guide to use when assessing your brand’s volunteer program.
Link skills-based volunteering (SBV) with enterprise DEI goals. Think about how your volunteer program intersects with your company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals. Pinpoint the intersection of SBV and talent acquisition, learning and development, and employee performance. Linking your brand’s SBV program with your brand’s talent goals may help achieve other people and culture goals.
Apply equity to grantmaking practices. There’s no time like the present to rethink your grantmaking practices. Apply an equity lens and think about adopting practices of trust-based philanthropy. Here are some suggestions we have in this toolkit.
Rethink your enterprise social impact goals. There’s nothing wrong with making a course correction to your goals. So, check in with your internal and external stakeholders and determine if the goals you set years ago are still achievable and supportive of their needs. If your goals are now outdated or misaligned, then consider modifying your strategies to achieve them. Alternatively, if goals don’t exist, then perhaps it’s time to establish some. Just be sure your goals are thoughtful and created correctly from the start.
As you’re assessing your practices, think about conducting listening sessions with different stakeholders. These could be employees from all levels within your company, but also people in the community you support. These stakeholder interviews can be effective to get insight on their priorities and the things that they’ve identified as relevant to them.
This doesn’t mean you have to create your program solely on their feedback; it means inviting them to the table to be a part of the discussion and provide them some level of agency in the process. This accomplishes two things: one, it helps to gain insight on the things that are most concerning to them; and, two, it acknowledges the role stakeholders play in helping you achieve your brand’s social impact goals. Make them your allies and accomplices. Their feedback will help you:
Identify barriers that prevent employees from volunteering,
Find overlap between volunteering and DEI goals,
Help you align your efforts to be supportive of their department and business goals, and also
Help you avoid harmful grantmaking practices.
When all is said and done, if your programs lack some of these components, then perhaps it’s time to think about a social impact program redux. You can adjust your processes, create new guidelines, including redefining what counts as volunteering, or add a new call to action. Keeping up with the rapidly changing landscape is always going to be a challenge. Taking these actions will position your social impact program to meet the needs of now while also helping position you better to meet the needs that are approaching on the horizon.
The Uplift Agency
Uplift builds strategies, programs, and communication campaigns that advance ESG in workplaces, supply chains and communities.
We know how to navigate the road ahead because we’ve already been down it – 90 percent of our team has led environmental or social programs in corporations or nonprofits. Because ESG is all we do, our services are more comprehensive and integrated than most firms.
