To Boldly Go to the Next New Frontier, Look Down

We support the recent Noble Research Institute announcement. To date, General Mills has invested almost $3 million to support soil health research and practices. Together with The Nature Conservancy, Soil Health Partnership, Soil Health Institute and other industry leaders, we are striving to implement practices on more than 50 percent of U.S. farmland.

Bechtel Build 100 Blog | Summary of the 2017 Bechtel Sustainability Report

Bechtel summarizes their 2017 Sustainability Report.

Benchmarking Reporting: GRI’s New Service Reveals Trends and Opportunities

GRI’s new Benchmarking Service helps you to understand how your reporting compares to what your peers are doing in your industry, country and region, and is a useful tool to showcase the ROI of sustainability reporting.

Urgent Needs for 2018

Aligning the capital markets more directly with the urgent needs we face as a society to halt environmental destruction and reverse decades of worsening inequality must be our priority for 2018. Alignment needs to occur at every level, across the global markets. Despite the tremendous efforts behind the Paris Climate Accord, formalization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and a long history of other efforts to change the course of climate change and inequality, we are not making nearly the progress needed. The 1,700 signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, which represent $70 trillion of assets and a wave of press about environmental, social and governance-oriented investing, have not gotten us on track.

These Brands Are Starting Movements (And Your Brand Can Too)

Delivering on brand relevance also requires welcoming more and different voices to the table, using our collective wisdom to solve problems together and rallying consumers and employees to take action with us as brands. When net trust in global corporations is less than zero, it is understandable that brands may feel overwhelmed and afraid to go it alone. That is why thoughtful partnerships can empower brands to tackle meaningful issues without feeling like they are straining credibility or speaking out of turn.

Consumers Want Brands to Put a Stake in the Ground on Issues That Matter

More than ever before, consumers want brands to put a stake in the ground. It is not simply about reacting to today’s news cycle, but rather knowing where you stand and standing strong when issues arise.

As traditional corporate philanthropy efforts have ceased to capture the love and loyalty of consumers, it is time to rethink old models of CSR and consider how your brand’s purpose can translate to more meaningful and culturally relevant efforts that excite and engage consumers.

Define Your North Star: Brand Purpose Beyond Products

The new opportunity for brands is not only marketing incremental product benefits, but embodying a higher purpose that serves your consumers’ aspirations for a good life by directly addressing the barriers to it.

As capitalism shifts to unite profits and purpose, most brands know how to design a great product or a reliable service. Yet many struggle when their company’s deeper mission has become muddy or even irrelevant. Brand purpose lives at the intersection of a company’s authentic reason for being and the unmet human needs that it can uniquely fulfill in the marketplace and the world. Revealing this harmonic is the key to defining your north star.

Start with Empathy: Design a Brand with People at the Center

To stay relevant in a world of limited resources and mounting concerns, brands cannot simply show up and sell more stuff. Like never before, consumers expect brands to make their lives better. Doing so means understanding consumers’ struggles, needs and aspirations and addressing the issues that matter to them in meaningful ways.

A fundamental design principle in divided times is to start with empathy and listen to what people are feeling and what they desire for their lives. Empathy is fundamentally about respect. When was the last time you truly listened? When people feel ignored, or when their basic human needs are not being met, it is time for brands to start listening.

VIDEO | Aflac Releases Its 2017 Survey on Corporate Social Responsibility

Last week, Aflac Chief Brand and Communications Officer Catherine Blades, and Reputation Institution Chief Research Officer Stephen Hahn Griffiths, discussed the findings of Aflac’s 2017 Survey on Corporate Social Responsibility with 31 television and radio stations across the country. This annual, scientific survey collects the thoughts and expectations of 1,000 consumers and investors regarding business ethics and responsibility.

A Canadian Opportunity: Companies Predict Community Investment Budgets Will Increase in 2018

Canada's leading corporations widely recognize the business opportunity in putting their brands and resources behind worthy causes, and many plan to increase their community investments, according to a new study issued by Imagine Canada and LBG (London Benchmarking Group) Canada.

Latest Campaigns

  1. KeyBank's Community Investment
    In states where Key has a presence, there are approximately 1.7 million low- to moderate-income (LMI) households. Many LMI individuals don’t have bank...
  2. Community Impact
    Advancing our communities worldwide through philanthropic investments, partnerships, and employee volunteerism.
  3. Collaboration and Partnership
    Cascale shares updates on its strategic partnerships with industry stakeholders geared toward shifting the industry into one that gives back more than...
  4. Social Progress
    Social engagement has always been an integral part of our sense of responsibility as a company. We care and we act to do our part to improve the...
  5. Nutrition and Health
    Focus on preventing and treating malnutrition across life stages. Highlights include early detection, community-based treatment (e.g., MUAC screening...
  6. Collective Action
    Cascale shares updates on its efforts and initiatives geared toward activating its ecosystem to develop and scale solutions that drive collective...
  7. Kingfisher Around the World
    The SCS Kingfisher certification mark is showing up on an increasing number of products around the world. It differentiates companies that are making...
  8. Mary Kay Ash Foundation: Creating a Safer, Healthier World for Women
    In the U.S. and around the world, Mary Kay remains steadfast in its commitment to ending the cycle of domestic violence and finding cures for cancers...
  9. Aflac Stories
    Get a closer look at the people, products and stories that make Aflac the company we know today.
  10. Key Supports Affordable Housing
    KeyBank Community Development Lending and Investment helps fulfill Key’s purpose to help clients and communities thrive by financing projects that...