Business for Purpose Network Weekly Announcement
January 3, 2021
1. Understanding the need to “Reimagine Your Corporate Volunteer Program” by Beth Bengston in the HBR, December 19, 2020 online edition.
Summary. Meaningful volunteer opportunities are an often overlooked part of a company’s purpose and employee development. Too often, organizations try to establish employee volunteer programs as a sort of add on in their spare time. But there is another way to think about volunteering and the time has never been better to reimagine this part of corporate life since businesses are actively and publicly expanding their role in society. This new approach to volunteering involves identifying a nonprofit where your employees can lend their skills and expertise over a designated period of time or on a series of connected events. No matter your industry, your employee’s skills are valuable and in need at nonprofits. For some nonprofits, access to your talent and their skills can be just as — or more important — than dollars.
2. New program — Value Balancing Alliance to launch in Canada is February in partnership with Social Value Canada.
The Value Balancing Alliance e.V is a non-profit organization with the ambition to change the way company performance is measured and valued. The alliance’s objective is to create a global impact measurement standard for disclosing positive and negative impacts of corporate activity and to provide guidance on how these impacts can be integrated into business steering. As strategic partner of both the Capitals Coalition and Social Value International, Social Value Canada looks forward to support the Canadian VBA launch in February 2021. Gather more information here.
3. Can’t get enough of the WE Charity story? Bloomberg goes deep. Pour yourself a cup of tea and dive deep into this read.
“The Kielburger brothers courted celebrities, became voluntourism pioneers, and built a Davos-friendly model of philanthrocapitalism. Then a Canadian Covid-relief deal got people asking questions.”
4. Sustainable Business Models need to focus on Waste argues Dr. Tima Bansal of the Network for Business Sustainability (NBS) at the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario.
The Triple Bottom Line is not the answer. Many managers think that the triple bottom line is the answer to sustainability. It’s not. The triple bottom line measures financial, social and environmental impacts. By looking at all three impacts, managers often take comfort that their company is on the right path. But the triple bottom line tells firms what to measure, not how to manage. Because each bottom line is measured separately, each stands independent of the others. Therefore, companies don’t need to change their business model.
5. How does Canada compare with others on the Social Progress Index? Check this out and see how and where we need to do good better
Strengths and weaknesses are relative to 15 countries of similar GDP PPP per capita:
