This May, YourCause hosted our 2nd annual Social Impact Summit in London, bringing together CSR, ESG and employee engagement leaders from top organisations for a day of engaging discussion, sharing best practices, and creating connections. In fact, when asked what attendees wanted out of the day, this is what we heard: 

Inspiration. Energy. Connections. Innovation. Collaborative impact.

Driving Change 

The keynote speaker, Celia Hodson, delivered on inspiration. With an invigorating speech to start the day, the multi-award-winning social entrepreneur shared her story of creating the amazing Hey Girls social enterprise with the aim of eliminating period poverty in the UK. Through their buy one, donate one model, Hey Girls has donated over 30 million period products to people in need. “Why isn’t every product in your office from a socially minded business?”, Celia asked, speaking on her work with corporations on this mission and prompting leaders to think beyond the scope of traditional CSR programmes. 

Celia also emphasized the power of the individual in driving meaningful change. Through ‘social intrapreneurship’, employees can engage in social innovation and push for initiatives within their organization. She also urged employees and leaders to embrace the tough conversations that may come along with such impactful work, leaving us with the question “What is your purpose and how are you living your core values?” 

Mastering Social Impact Data and Reporting 

Beyond outputs, it was mentioned that tracking behavioural and situational change resulting from an intervention, such as health improvements or greater financial wellbeing, can be a stronger demonstration of SROI (social return on investment), although it can be an arduous task. Above all, CSR practitioners unanimously agreed that, while quantitative data is crucial, storytelling is the key to truly capturing the hearts and minds of stakeholders.

Partnerships and Trust-based Philanthropy  

One big topic of conversation on the day that emerged from our next panel session on Social Impact Partnerships was ‘trust-based philanthropy’. Trust-based philanthropy is an approach that addresses the inherent power imbalances between funders, nonprofits, and the communities they serve. 

Micah Gurard-Levin, Director of Community Impact at Liberty Global, dived into the benefits of unrestricted grants for his team and how it enables them to trust charities to allocate funding as per their expertise and needs, while maintaining the appropriate involvement and oversight by regularly checking in with partners on their progress. Micah also mentioned that involving senior leadership in these partnership formation and check-in conversations was a fantastic way to communicate the sincerity of their commitment to these charitable programmes.  

Another panellist, Susan Sanderson, Head of Responsible Business at Unum UK, emphasized the importance of aligning charity partnerships to company values and overall mission. In particular, the size of the charity was a critical factor to ensure the value of a corporation’s donations is significant enough relative to the scope of the charity’s impact. With the broader conversation around finding the right fit, we heard “Don’t run before you walk.” Having an open and agile experimentation mentality, by trying pilot programmes before committing to a long-term partnership, for instance, can help avoid long-term issues.  

Yet, the best laid plans can still go awry. Speaking on the unfortunate possibility of having to offboard charity partners, Andrew Izzet Lee, Group CSR Manager at Mott Macdonald, shared the wisdom of continuing to offer some degree of support while transitioning and being transparent with the charity about the programme’s new direction. Despite the distress that may come with a loss of corporate funding, charities still appreciate knowing that their cause is still being supported, even if it is through another charitable organization.   

Serving Nonprofits through Grantmaking 

Grantmaking is a prominent part of many corporate responsibility programmes. Following the partnership panel, we hosted a fireside chat with Ben Hemington, Group Head of ESG at IG Group. Often, as was once the case with IG Group, Ben described, grantmaking arms within a business have the money, energy, and ambition, but not the processes or systems in place to carry out their desired impact.  

Having recently implemented the YourCause GrantsConnect platform to address this issue and streamline their grant application and approval flow, IG Group were now able to balance having a centralised decision-making process for grants without making it prescriptive to employees on what they support. While employee engagement is sometimes relegated to volunteering, individual donation, or fundraising initiatives within CSR programmes, accepting employee nominations and forming committees are great ways to get the workforce involved in grantmaking decisions. 

Even in the initial stages, setting up a grants programme, or a corporate foundation, can take a lot of work, and some convincing for senior leadership. Ben accentuated the need to understand the expectations of each stakeholder and dispel myths about why offering grant funding is important. While not every company will generate greater business or win over clients through grantmaking, there are real benefits from empowering the community, as well as attracting and retaining the next generation of talent.  

Redefining Employee Engagement 

For our final panel, we were joined by Sanjay Lobo, CEO of OnHand, an on-demand impact platform (featured on Dragons’ Den!). Discussions encompassed the new age of volunteerism, exploring the post-pandemic trend of in-person volunteering coming back to the forefront, and how even remote workers were craving in-person activities. This posed an interesting question on how to balance virtual and in-person opportunities to drive engagement and cater to employees with diverse preferences. In the case of a virtual mentorship programme, the suggestions were to incorporate in-person introductions or check-ins with classes, wherever possible, to truly immerse employees in the impact that they were making.  

One of Sanjay’s top insights from OnHand’s success in engaging employees was to leverage gamification, such as leaderboards and badges, to drive participation and competition. Additionally, OnHand had observed that set-day, fixed events sometimes had lower uptake compared to the more flexible option of micro-volunteering, in smaller 5–10-minute increments, or acts of informal volunteering, like buying groceries for neighbours. Overall, it was clear that the experience of volunteering is powerful and plays a significant role in building employee retention and brand value for businesses, on top of the incredible impact on local communities. 

This event on social impact and CSR left participants inspired, motivated, and armed with practical insights to make a tangible difference in their respective fields. We hope the lessons learned will guide businesses and individuals towards purpose-driven action, collaborative partnerships, data-driven decision-making, and transformative employee engagement. By embracing these principles, social impact programmes can drive meaningful positive change. 

Interested in more social impact thought leadership? 

bbcon, hosted by Blackbaud, brings together the Blackbaud community annually to share, learn, inspire, and innovate. Join us virtually on October 22nd-24th (or in person in Denver, Colorado) for three days of unmatched networking, the latest in innovation and industry trends, and inspiring keynotes about social good.