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Staying the course | Purposeful Connections

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Like many of you, I spent the past few weeks on the road. It felt good to be back in person with the leading minds in purpose, sustainability, ESG, and philanthropy. While I will continue to enjoy opportunities to speak virtually, there is nothing like being together in a room - the energy is far more palpable, and the side conversations are illuminating. At Sustainable Brands and 3BL Forum: Brands Taking Stands, I heard a similar question: Will the current inflationary environment force companies to pull back on purpose and ESG efforts? According to analysts, the answer is no. In a recent letter from Alan Murray, the Fortune CEO stated, "I continue to fail in my effort to find companies backing off of their ESG commitments." A newly-released index from Honeywell backs this up, with companies citing "attaining sustainability goals" as a top concern, ahead of financial performance.


P&G is going all-in on Black-owned media. Marc Pritchard, the CPG giant's chief brand officer, announced that P&G "intends to be the No. 1 spender in Black-owned media and take steps to significantly expand the ecosystem." This comes at a time when half of the company's U.S. sales growth stems from Black, Hispanic, and Asian consumers. As part of this commitment, Pritchard outlined seven habits for growing multicultural audiences: change mindset, inclusive research, diverse media reach, representation in ads, relevance in ads, resonance in media programming, and accelerate investment in Black-owned media.

Digitally-mature nonprofits--organizations that leverage data to drive decision making--have stronger relationships with their stakeholders, are more effective at achieving goals, and have more motivated employees. This is the core finding of the Salesforce.org Nonprofit Trends Report, released last week to help more nonprofits move their missions forward. The global report is based on insights from more than 1,600 nonprofit leaders from seven countries.

This eight-year trend is one women in corporate America would prefer not to see continue: "For every 100 men who are promoted from an entry level to manager, only 87 women score a promotion, and that number declines to 82 for women of color." Rather than sit around and wait for their day, women are leaving companies in greater numbers as they seek out opportunity and equity. This is reflected in new data from McKinsey and LeanIn.org, which found that for every director-level woman who is promoted, two women directors leave.

Purpose Collaborative member 3 Sided Cube was approached by UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency) to develop technology solutions that improved the wellbeing of refugees and encouraged more private-sector donations. The solution, a react native app called Connecting Worlds, consists of multi-language content targeted at multi-countries. Since the safety of refugees is paramount to UNHCR, the app is focused on security, with an intermediary API to ensure content adheres to the UNHCR Community standards and that communication is translated accurately. UNHCR has seen more than 150 connections on the platform, which is predicted to grow as it is rolled out to other countries in the future.

Fast Company's annual Brands That Matter list celebrates “a company’s connection with its audience through cultural relevance, social impact, and clear, authentic communication." Among this year’s 144 honorees are CCOP clients Aflac for its Close thee Gap initiative and moving short film, The Park Bench; Quest Diagnostics for its Quest for Health Equity Initiative; Salesforce.org for transforming how the nonprofit and education sectors create and scale their impact; and WSP for reshaping our built world, sustainably.

Curious about what else our team is reading, watching, and listening to this week?



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