CECP’s Global Exchange Launches Initiative Seeking to Uncover Trends in Corporate Social Investments Around the World

NEW YORK, February 13, 2019 /3BL Media/ – To build on the growing body of global corporate social investment research, CECP: The CEO Force for Good announced the launch of a multinational inquiry into shared themes and trends in corporate social investments around the world.

CECP’s Global Exchange seeks to unite country-based, mission-driven corporate social investment organizations to advance the corporate sector as a force for good around the world. Participating organizations – each referred to as a Global Exchange Country Partner in their respective country – collective represent over 54% of the world’s population and 67% of the world’s GDP. They include Admical in France, Beyond Philanthropy in Germany, CECP in the USA, Cemefi in Mexico, Comunitas in Brazil, The Conference Board of Canada in Canada, CSRone Reporting in Taiwan, CSR Turkey in Turkey, Dynamo Academy in Italy, Fundación SERES in Spain, Trialogue in South Africa, Korea Productivity Center in South Korea, Russia Donors Forum in Russia,  Samhita in India, SynTao in Mainland China and Hong Kong, and, United Nations Global Compact Network Malaysia in Malaysia.

CECP is a coalition of 250 of the world’s largest companies that represent more than $6.6 trillion in revenues, $21.2 billion in social investment, 14 million employees, and $15 trillion in assets under management. With the Global Exchange advancing its global research agenda in 2019, the network is poised to develop an innovative body of knowledge built on market-specific expertise, enhanced collaboration, and competitive advantage.

The initiative features four components, including the recently launched the Global Exchange 2019 Questionnaire, developed to help identify shared characteristics and test the reach of trends in social investment across countries. Several of the questions have been designed with enabling the Global Exchange to compare results and identify year-over-year trends in areas like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), shared value, and private sector partnerships. The questionnaire will be supplemented by secondary research from other publicly available reports to further develop insights from respondent companies and their respective countries.

The three other pieces of this research agenda include insights from Global Exchange partners’ market-specific research; analysis of international conference agendas to understand the overlapping themes across countries, and a regular series of “Pulse Surveys” on a short list of hot topics distributed by Global Exchange Country Partners to their companies.

“The Global Exchange and CECP is excited to launch this project in partnership with our Country Partners around the world,” said Laura Galindo, Global Exchange Senior Associate, CECP. “The initiative is a one-of-a-kind project with the depth of cross-country collaboration and representation of how large companies are a force for good.”

The research will culminate in an in-depth analysis of insights and benchmarking produced by CECP on global trends sourced from the Project’s components. CECP will publish the results in its industry-leading report, Giving in Numbers, as well as in Investing in Society, CECP’s bi-annual collection of insights. Global Exchange Country Partners will use the results to advance the network’s mission and vision, as well as lever the findings as a practical resource for best practices. Companies will be able to use the resulting insights to inform their global-local social investment strategies and use the benchmarking data to compare their company’s progress.

“Around the world we are seeing a growing commitment from companies to work towards the common good, but with that comes the need to understand the global trends and issues related to this changing role of companies in society,” said Sylvaine Parriaux, General Delegate, Admical.“ Admical welcomes the launch of this new study constructed with the members of the Global Exchange network. We look forward to the resulting rich insights that will provide better understanding and coordination of the different actors in the global philanthropic sector.”

“For us as a German based advisory firm, CECP’s Global Exchange is a great opportunity to share our experience and get inspired by examples of corporate social investments from all over the world,” said Anne-Sophie Oehrlein, Consultant, Beyond Philanthropy. “We are excited to see how this project will enrich insights and bring them to a broader audience, and thus highlight the role of companies as a force for good.”

 “The Global Exchange network is a strategic collaboration and an asset to our organization. In SERES, over 140 CEOs are committed to social impact which allows us to understand the importance of responsible leadership in these complex times,” said Lucila García, Executive Director, Fundación SERES. “This multi-country research project will accelerate our understanding of the global challenges and speed up the progress towards understanding private sector’s social impact.”

“As companies go beyond the focus on bottom lines to become ambassadors of social change through CSR and sustainability, we hope that this project will help define standards of excellence in CSR investment across the globe,” said Priya Naik, CEO and Founder, Samhita. “Just as India has a lot to learn from the world in social impact, I believe that the world has a lot to learn from India. It will create a close-knit global community of companies doing good and unite us in the mission to create positive and progressive change.”

“Trialogue has championed corporate responsibility issues in South Africa for more than two decades and now looks forward to sharing and drawing insight from this project to enhance international benchmarking,” said Nick Rockey, Managing Director, Trialogue. “This initiative will undoubtedly have a significant impact on giving practice at a country and company level.”

Companies with over US$1 billion in annual revenue are invited to be part of this research initiative. If your company is interested in helping advance this global research agenda, please contact CECP to receive a link to the survey.

Global Exchange Country Partners work individually with some of the world’s largest companies to support their societal engagement efforts, offering cultural learnings and context, expert data-driven insights on country-specific social impact efforts, and opportunities to deepen corporate programs in regions around the world. Please contact Laura Galindo (lgalindo@cecp.co) for more information.

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ABOUT CECP: THE CEO FORCE FOR GOOD

CECP is a CEO-led coalition that believes that a company’s social strategy — how it engages with key stakeholders including employees, communities, investors, and customers —determines company success. Founded in 1999 by actor and philanthropist Paul Newman and other business leaders to create a better world through business, CECP has grown to a movement of more than 200 of the world’s largest companies that represent $11.3 trillion in revenues, $23.8 billion in societal investment, 17.4 million employees, and $15 trillion in assets under management. CECP helps companies transform their social strategy by providing customized connections and networking, counsel and support, benchmarking and trends, and awareness building and recognition.