Social Impact: The Moments that Defined the Decade
By Kara Gustafson • 17-Jan-2020
To understand today’s expectations of authenticity, stakeholder engagement and purpose-driven leadership, consider their rapid evolution over the last ten years. To my thinking, it was the moments below that defined social impact in the past decade.
It was these moments in part that moved us past siloed corporate philanthropy, to today's integrated business imperatives around impact, culture, brand transparency, sustainability and delivering on a triple bottom line.
Let's quickly look back at how we got here...
2009
As the decade dawns, President Obama elevates the status of women and girls by appointing the first-ever Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues and creating the White House Council on Women and Girls. This, coupled with a new body of global development research and significant corporate investments (such as Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women), starts to shift the dialogue, creating a new economic case for investing in women and girls.
2010
In August 2010 Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett launch The Giving Pledge, a public pledge by the world’s wealthiest individuals to give back the majority of their wealth to address society’s most pressing problems. Launched initially with 40 people, The Giving Pledge today includes 204 pledge signatories across 23 countries.
In 2010, as the country emerges from the economic recession, both the Obama Administration and the private sector prioritize fostering small business growth and job creation. Entrepreneurship emerges as a new leading category of philanthropic investments and corporate commitments. According to Babson’s 20th Annual GEM report, 2018 saw a high level of global entrepreneurial activity (though access to capital for women remained a barrier).
2012
Facebook’s IPO in May 2012 marks the arrival of society-transforming technologies into the public sphere. Technology, whether in the form of social media, automation or machine learning, became ubiquitous over the last decade. This centrality and visibility created a new set of acute social challenges to be identified, debated and addressed.
Giving Tuesday launches in December 2012 as a collaboration between 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation as a way to harness the new power of social media to inspire year-end giving. In 2019, Giving Tuesday saw its biggest year with nearly $2B raised online and offline.
2013
Responsible investing, which involves environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors being integrated into investment processes and decision-making, has grown to encompass trillions of dollars of assets under management. While ESG was conceptualized in 2005, the growth of ESG investing accelerates greatly in 2013 and 2014, driven in part by the first studies that show good corporate sustainability performance and good financial results exhibit a correlation.
2014
The Ice Bucket Challenge goes viral on social media in June 2014. This is perhaps the single-most successful social media fundraising and awareness campaign to date, bringing global attention to ALS. The Challenge raises $115M for the ALS Foundation propelling new research and discovery.
2015
Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, pens a powerful op-ed on the urgent need to address inequality in June 2015. One of the defining macro trends of the past decade has been an acute perception of income inequality in advanced economies. On one hand, extreme poverty has been demonstrably lessened since 1990, driven by the strong growth of developing nations. However, inequality within advanced countries (including the percentage of income and wealth going to the top percent of households) has visibly risen over the past several decades as well, fueling a challenge to the narrative of shared prosperity.
In June 2015 the historic Supreme Court ruling requiring that all states recognize marriages between same-sex couples prompts major advancements for LGBTQ equality. Notably, even ahead of the ruling, many companies had taken an early supportive stance on LGBTQ equality, as they had anticipated benefits to culture, employee engagement and talent retention. Today, these advancements are at risk.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative launches in December 2015 with Giving Pledge signatories, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg. CZI is founded with a bold vision to accelerate the rate of social progress by applying technology to solve global challenges. CZI differentiates its approach by using a mix of grantmaking, impact investing, policy, and engineering to advance its initiatives in Science, Education and Justice & Opportunity.
2016
January 2016 sees the UN launch its newly formulated Sustainable Development Goals, which are meant to supersede the original and only partially-realized Millennium Development Goals. Many companies today align their initiatives around the UN’s 17 interconnected SDGs, which set out to tackle extreme poverty, protect the planet, and ensure health and prosperity for all by 2030. How far will we progress in achieving this set of goals over the next decade?
Throughout 2016 the Obama Administration prioritizes several pressing social issues by entering the Paris Climate Agreement, hosting the first-ever White House United State of Women Summit and convening a group of private sector leaders to make new commitments at the Leaders’ Summit on the Global Refugees Crisis.
2017
January 21, 2017: The Women’s March becomes the largest single-day protest in U.S. history. Globally, nearly 4 million people in 653 marches around the world take to the streets to protect women’s equality and civil rights.
October 2017: The #MeToo Movement gains prominence with Jodi Kantor, Meghan Twohey and Ronan Farrow’s crucial reporting, along with several high-profile actors breaking their silence on the sexual harassment they faced in the film and entertainment industries.
2018
In his annual letter to CEOs, Larry Fink calls for purpose. This bold statement ripples through companies and the broader philanthropic and social impact community, and marks the beginning of the seismic shift we’ve seen in the discussion of private sector responsibility over the last two years.
October 2018: Starbucks shuts down every single store in order for employees to participate in racial-bias training. A 2018 Catalyst Report shows that Diversity & Inclusion matters deeply for companies in order to attract and retain talent, and maximize innovation. Leaders today see this is a top priority for employees.
November 2018: Bloomberg Philanthropies commits $50 million to the Opioid Epidemic in the U.S. The CDC reported in 2017 there were more than 70,000 drug overdose deaths, with more than 47,000 from opioids. These numbers revealed a public health crisis requiring coordinated and sustained investment.
2019
July 2019: the U.S. Women’s Soccer team tackles Equal Pay as they win their fourth Women’s World Cup. Prior to the championship, a gender discrimination lawsuit was filed demanding equal pay to their male counterparts.
August 2019: the Business Roundtable comes out with a statement that redefines the purpose of a corporation beyond shareholders, and a new prioritization of employee and consumer stakeholders to promote “an economy that serves all Americans.” Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, one of the boldest voices on this topic, declares, “capitalism is dead.”
September 2019: 17-year-old climate activist, Greta Thunberg, delivers a forceful speech at the UN, calling upon world leaders to act swiftly on climate change. Her young voice calls us all to action.
October 2019: Melinda Gates commits $1 billion through Pivotal Ventures to “expand the power and influence of women in the marketplace.”
November 2019: The National Philanthropic Trust releases its 2019 Report showing that Donor Advised Funds have grown for nine consecutive years, with the number of DAFs in the US tripling.
The philanthropic and social impact sectors changed significantly over the last ten years. Charitable giving in the US increased from $288B in 2010 to $427B in 2018 (per Giving USA). Public-private partnerships expanded and evolved into bigger and bolder commitments that harnessed the collective strengths of the public, private and non-profit sectors. And as the decade drew to a close we witnessed a number of potential watershed moments driven by technology, generational tides and the political climate.
In many regards the defining moments of the past decade reached a culmination in the heightened cultural dialogue of 2019. Now at the dawn of the twenties, employees and consumers alike demand that companies act with larger purpose and demonstrable commitment to a broad set of stakeholders. These high expectations represents a profound opportunity to lead and shape the decade to come.