Social Justice

We've seen a big trend this year with leading CSR programs shifting their approach to doing good by putting their people at the center—and they're driving more employee engagement and social impact as a result. How are they doing it? Watch our webinar, "Doing Good Looks Different in 2018".

Americans drink a LOT of coffee — more than 400 million cups each day. Meanwhile, more and more people across the globe are drinking coffee as consumption grows in China, India, and beyond. This has led to the development of a vast commodity market worth $200 billion each year — one that will at least double by 2050, according to World Coffee Research. So, it may come as a surprise that amidst this prosperity, coffee farmers are facing a crisis that threatens their basic livelihoods.

Taking a knee made Nike stand up.

As brand activism becomes commonplace – even expected – it’s an optimal moment to unpack the factors that spur companies to stand up for something that matters.

Enter Nike and Colin Kaepernick, with a contentious new campaign and profound tagline: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” As swooshes burn, #boycottnike takes over social feeds, memes proliferate, and thought pieces ignite conversation, one might wonder: Why, Nike, why?

As the first to address the unique needs of the affordable housing sector, Enterprise Community Partners Inc. (Enterprise) and the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) have partnered to scale programs for healthy, sustainable development into Enterprise’s Green Communities Criteria.

Unless you haven’t signed onto social media, looked at any major news site or stood by a water cooler in the past three days, chances are, you’ve heard of Nike’s new 30th anniversary campaign for “Just Do It.” As well as the face of the campaign, Colin Kaepernick, and the controversy surrounding that decision.

Benevity saw a big boost in giving to immigrants’ rights organizations following the news about family separations at the U.S. border. Donations to RAICES skyrocketed, as the organization moved from place #13,433 in May to the #2 recipient of funds disbursedon the Benevity platform in June.

A group of the world’s leading engineering and construction companies have launched the Building Responsibly Worker Welfare Principles to promote the rights and welfare of workers across the industry.

Service Unites 2018, powered by Points of Light, convened nearly 2,000 nonprofit, government, business and civic leaders from 38 countries to gain and share the knowledge, resources and connections needed to galvanize the power of people to create change globally. During the three-day Atlanta event, Points of Light recognized four inspiring changemakers by presenting them with Daily Point of Light Awards, a prestigious honor started by President George H.W. Bush during his presidency. Points of Light also announced the 2018 honorees of The Civic 50, a recognition of the 50 most community-minded companies in the United States.

In this episode of the Champions for Social Good podcast, Rachel Hutchisson, vice president of Corporate Citizenship and Philanthropy at Blackbaud, speaks with Susan McPherson, founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, about how organizations can effectively leverage social media activism to advance a cause.

Susan explains the best uses for hashtag campaigns and why social media activism sometimes doesn’t work, and details the steps to creating successful and sustainable social campaigns. Susan also talks about why hashtag activism has been a powerful tool for empowering women and girls. Finally, Susan and Rachel discuss some successful hashtag campaigns led by nonprofits and companies and what made them work so well, and what organizations need to do to successfully engage Gen Z.