Most of us think of the holidays as the “giving” season – this is true both at home with our loved ones and in our businesses.
Your business has no doubt identified opportunities to give back this season through charitable donations or volunteering in your local community. This type of corporate giving around the holidays falls under the banner of charitable giving, corporate philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, or community involvement. And it’s wonderful for companies to give back to the communities that support them and to people in need!
But what about the rest of the year? What about corporate social purpose?
Social purpose is different from philanthropy and charitable giving – and it encompasses much more than the terms “corporate social responsibility” and “community investment” evoke.
Social purpose is a commitment to social good that is woven into the fabric of a corporate culture. It’s defined by being:
- Focused
- Relevant to your business purpose
- Aligned with business objectives
- Measurable (both with regard to community and business impact)
- Engaging for stakeholders
Businesses with a strong social purpose make intentional decisions day-to-day that support their social and environmental accountabilities, and encode these purpose-driven practices into their processes so the company is aligned from the front-line to the C-suite.
The Business Case for Social Purpose
Shifting Demographics
The social purpose imperative is supported by the current socio-cultural and demographic shift in the business marketplace.
Today, baby boomers are retiring at a rate of 10,000 per day and leaving behind a huge hole in organizational knowledge and leadership. Meanwhile, more than 30% of workers are millennials – and this number will go up to 75% by 2025!
Studies consistently reveal that millennials, the incoming demographic, have high expectations for the actions of business when it comes to social purpose and accountability. They want to purchase from and work for companies that uphold these same values.
For example, a 2016 Cone Communications study reveals:
- 75% of millennials would take a pay cut to work for a socially responsible company
- 76% of millennials consider a company’s social and environmental commitments before deciding where to work
- 64% of millennials won’t take a job if a potential employer doesn’t have strong corporate responsibility practices
If businesses want to attract and retain the rising talent of the millennials who will soon dominate the workplace, it’s time to think about social purpose now.
Marketplace Performance
Companies that are committed to greater good objectives (rather than simply creating wealth) see superior returns. Customers, employees, partners, communities, and shareholders recognize – and indeed, have started to demand – more social responsibility from the organizations they engage with.
I recommend reading “Firms of Endearment” by Rajendra S. Sisodia, David B. Wolfe, and Jagdish N. Sheth for an in-depth look into this subject. In their analysis of 30 humanistic companies, they found that these businesses returned 1,026% for investors over 10 years, compared with 122% for the S&P 500.
This is why more and more companies are embracing social purpose and making a concerted effort to weave it into their corporate culture, processes, and practices.
Consider Your Company’s Social Purpose in the Coming Year
It’s not enough to just talk about social purpose – 2018 is the time for every business owner, CEO, and entrepreneur to take a hard look at their business and determine 1) what their social purpose is, and 2) how to embed that social purpose until it becomes an unassailable component of how they achieve their goals.
As social purpose becomes more indivisible with how your company operates and generates wealth, it will become more transformative – both within your company and in the world at large.
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