Walking the Talk
These companies have moved beyond pledges and are making good on their commitments to pursuing a purpose beyond profit.
Umpqua Bank Offers $2M Infusion to Support Minority, Women Entrepreneurs
Cross-Posted from Finance & Investment. Through a series of multi-year partnerships with business-focused nonprofits, Umpqua aims to close the opportunity gap in access to capital, resources, and expertise for traditionally underserved innovators.
Rural Studio Immersion Program Enriching Students, Reviving West Alabama’s Black Belt
Cross-Posted from Product, Service & Design Innovation. At Auburn University’s architectural-training program, “housing is health.” Associate Director Rusty Smith asserts: “As architects, we have a professional responsibility. It's not only an ethical or moral responsibility; it's a professional responsibility, as well, to act when we see people in crisis.”
5 Ways to Turn Your Purpose into a Competitive Advantage
Cross-Posted from Marketing and Comms. An intentional purpose will be unique to every company — based on your history, culture and the role you play in your customers’ lives. But, based on our interviews with leading purpose-led companies, here are five common themes that can inspire your own ‘purpose advantage.’
Water May Be Life, But It Is Never a Given: Learnings from the Navajo Nation
Cross-Posted from Collaboration. It’s 2022, and 1 in 3 homes on the Navajo Nation Reservation still do not have a tap or toilet. In 2021, human rights nonprofit DigDeep collaborated with Kohler to launch the Water Is Life microgrant program — which is working to make safe water a reality for all residents of the Navajo Nation.
Decolonizing Wealth Project Redistributes $1M Towards Indigenous-Led Sustainability Efforts
Cross-Posted from Finance & Investment. The multi-year, multimillion-dollar Indigenous Earth Fund initiative will support systemic and policy-change efforts centered around Indigenous leaders and environmental solutions.
Climate Action Plans: How Do We Know If We’re Making Real Progress?
In our experience, it’s challenging to proceed from knowing your company’s emissions profile to crafting a climate action plan to reduce it. Successful companies will adopt the right mix of strategies for them — which is where the bigger challenge comes in.
BlackRock's Fink Expounds on Need for Decarbonization, But Not Divestment
In his annual letter to CEOs, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink says that, while decarbonizing the global economy is ‘the greatest investment opportunity of our lifetime,’ he also asserts that ‘divesting from entire sectors will not get the world to net zero.’
1% for the 99%: Corporate Leaders’ Golden Opportunity to Recharge US Communities
Cross-Posted from Finance & Investment. By unleashing the corporate balance sheet, finance teams can provide resources to nurture local entrepreneurial talent, improve climate resilience and build housing — all with minimal risk.
Timberland Gives Worn Items New Life Through Timberloop™ Take-Back Program
Cross-Posted from Waste Not. Timberloop enables Timberland and its community to work together to keep products and materials in circulation for as long as possible — critical to the company’s goal for 100% of its products to be designed for full circularity by 2030.
2022 Is the Year of Net-Zero Integrity
All net-zero commitments are not made equal. 2022 must be the year of authentic climate action — and for that to happen, net-zero strategies must rise to their full potential as a tool to combat climate change.
HSBC to Phase Out Coal Financing by 2040 — Will Wall Street Follow Suit?
Cross-Posted from Finance & Investment. HSBC announces its thermal coal phase-out plan on the same day as a Sierra Club-Center for American Progress report calls out Wall Street’s outsized contribution to the climate crisis. Can the necessary sea change be made in time to avoid disaster?
Tony’s Chocolonely: The Advent of More Teachable Brand Moments?
Cross-Posted from Marketing and Comms. “Tony’s has done a great job of raising awareness of an important issue; and there is a real risk that the overriding message that will be left, once the dust settles, is one of a brand getting it wrong — and that could undermine all of the important messaging that Tony’s tries to share through its purpose.”
European Retail Giants Drop Brazilian Beef Over Deforestation Linked to Meat Giant JBS
Cross-Posted from Supply Chain. The move comes following an investigation by Repórter Brasil and Mighty Earth that tracked deforestation-linked beef to European retail store shelves. JBS, the world’s largest beef producer, has long been on the radar of environmental NGOs and forward-looking investors due to its destructive practices.
The Way We Think About Carbon Markets Is About to Change
Cross-Posted from The Next Economy. What has been sorely needed is an agreed-upon international framework that broadly establishes who can sell carbon credits; who can buy them and for what purpose; and what constitutes a quality carbon credit. COP26 took a major step towards such a framework.
McDonald’s Working to Increase Demographic Representation of Franchisees
Cross-Posted from Organizational Change. Effort aims to help underrepresented applicants become McDonald’s franchisees by removing socio-economic barriers — in part through a $250M commitment to alternative financing — to attract more franchisees who reflect the composition of the communities it serves.
Purpose & the Stakeholder Factor: 10 Trends for 2021 and Beyond
To capture the top trends of 2021, Porter Novelli reviewed and analyzed a year’s worth of Purpose-driven and stakeholder news, activities, campaigns and announcements to deliver the latest in stakeholder intelligence. Here are our 10 need-to-know trends for today and tomorrow.
Cotton Laundering Shows Risk of Business as Usual with China
Cross-Posted from Supply Chain. China’s importance to global supply chains as a key source of raw materials and labor puts brands at high risk of inadvertently supporting forced labor. Right now, the focus is on the garment industry; but other industries should pay close attention and ensure they are closely monitoring their entire supply chains.
Shaking Up Boardrooms and Society: The World’s First Purpose Governance Playbook
Cross-Posted from Organizational Change. ‘The New Purpose Governance Framework’ is the first comprehensive set of purpose-governance guidelines in the world, which charts the path for boards to up their game in approving and governing their organization’s purpose.
Synergizing ESG Data Collection Improves Reporting, Performance
Cross-Posted from Marketing and Comms. Nasdaq OneReport helps companies position themselves for current and future ESG-related work — whether regulatory or voluntary — to help align overall goals and outcomes across organizational departments and roles.
Conscientious Consumption: The SB 2021 Holiday Gift Guide
With no end in sight to the pandemic and its many ripple effects, we can all use a little bit of brightness in our lives! So, here are some of the many companies, platforms and products aligned with a more intentional approach to consumption, that we’d be happy to support anytime.
