The State ofCorporate Purpose 2022
Purpose Is Changing the Way We Do Business

A Benevity Impact Labs ReportTable of contents
Purpose is changing the way we do business3

The story of 2021: A movement toward sustained impact

4

Top 5 trends in corporate purpose:5

1. In times of need, businesses are stepping up

6

2. At the root of the Great Resignation is
the Great Search for Purpose

93. Employee-led action on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging ischanging corporate culture from the bottom up and the inside out

13

4. The future of corporate philanthropy
is stakeholder philanthropy

16

5. ESG is how shareholders understand purpose

18

Purpose-driven business is our path to a better tomorrow

Benevity Impact Labs | The State of Corporate Purpose 2022

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2

Purpose Is Changing the
Way We Do Business
The dramatic events of the past few years have changed us.
Since our world was first turned upside down in 2020, we’veseen a huge tilt toward corporations and their stakeholders
taking action beyond their backyards, rallying around criticalissues that matter for the global good.

In 2022, corporate purpose is
no longer a nice-to-have — it’sbusiness critical.

The takeaway?

If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that more than everthere’s a collective need for connection to something bigger
than ourselves. Amidst the Great Resignation, and the searchfor higher-quality jobs with more flexibility, autonomy andbetter pay, employees are also seeking purpose, meaning
and impact in every part of their lives — including at work.
Customers want their brands to care as much as they do.
And companies are responding to the demand to act onsocial, environmental and cultural imperatives. They’re
becoming central figures in creating community, catalyzing
positive action and meeting the moment in times that matter.

Benevity’s data and insights from our community of more than
850 companies with 20 million employees and hundreds ofmillions of customers reveal five top trends shaping the futureof corporate purpose in 2022:

Purpose, connection, action and impact
coupled with stakeholder engagement are
the ways we will do business — today and in
the years to come.

In 2021, Benevity’s community did more good than they did
before and during the pandemic. What started as a crisis
response in 2020 has become a sustained movement, in manycases supporting not just the urgent and immediate need, but
getting at the underlying issues that contributed to the crisis in
the first place.

Benevity Impact Labs | The State of Corporate Purpose 2022

1. In times of need, businesses are stepping up
2. At the root of the Great Resignation is theGreat Search for Purpose
3. Employee-led action on diversity, equity, inclusion andbelonging is changing corporate culture from thebottom up and the inside out
4. The future of corporate philanthropy
is stakeholder philanthropy
5. ESG is how shareholders understand purpose

Chief Impact Officer, Benevity

3

The Story of 2021:

We kept on giving

We volunteered more

A Movement Toward
Sustained Impact

2020 was an unusual year, so it’s not surprising that we saw
double-digit growth with a 13% year-over-year increase inaverage annual donation dollars per donor compared with2019. In 2021, donation amounts settled back a bit, but we still
saw a bump in the baseline compared to pre-pandemic levels
with donations per donor, including corporate matches, growing
2% from 2019. This represents a small but notable increase indonation amounts outside of an anomalous year.

Volunteering saw significant growth in 2021 as manyorganizations bounced back from closures and disruptions
caused by COVID-19 and volunteers gladly resumed theircommunity commitments.

As we looked for ways to make a difference coming out of thepainful events of 2020, record-high levels of donations weremaintained. Each of us dipped into our wallets to donate just alittle bit more than we did before the pandemic struck. We also
donated more often, reflecting a desire to positively change
society in a more sustained way.

850
333,000
8.9m$2.3b
108,500
218,500

Average annual donation trends

At least part of the growth can be attributed to more companies
responding to the desire of today’s workforce to experience
more purpose at work by launching employee volunteering
programs with virtual components, empowering employees
to participate from anywhere, any time, and tracking andrewarding participation in their programs.

8,880,777
purpose-driven
companies
positive actions
taken

total volunteer
hours tracked
Donation frequency increased in 2021
by 9% compared to 2020

volunteer hours
trackedgrants worth$2.95bcausessupported

Benevity Impact Labs | The State of Corporate Purpose 2022

28%

total number ofindividual volunteers

growthfrom 2020

total causes withvolunteer time tracked
We saw significant fluctuations in donation frequency in thepast three years. Unsurprisingly, with disruptions caused by
COVID-19 and remote work, frequency in 2020 dropped from
13.7 to 9.7. However, 2021 saw a 9% increase in donation
frequency over 2020, representing a slow but positive step
toward recovery.

growthfrom 2020

467,354
59,220in
donations

28%

23.5%
growthfrom 2020

80%

total % of companies withvolunteering programs

4

Top Five
Trends in
Corporate
PurposeBenevity Impact Labs | The State of Corporate Purpose 2022

1

In times of need,businesses are stepping up

2

At the root of the Great Resignation is
the Great Search for Purpose

3

Employee-led action on diversity, equity,
inclusion and belonging is changing corporate
culture from the bottom up and the inside out

4

The future of corporate philanthropy
is stakeholder philanthropy

5

ESG is how shareholders
understand purpose51

In Times of Need,Businesses Are
Stepping Up

DATA

Grants to community improvement
and capacity building

Top cause categories* receiving
corporate grants from 2019 to 2021

Grants made to the cause category of Community Improvement
and Capacity Building climbed four spots from 2019 to 2021.

TREND

From defining moments to grassroots investments
In 2021, companies shifted the way they made social
investments. In their quest for purpose and a heightened
focus on making a meaningful impact on some of society’s
most pressing social issues, they showed stakeholders thatthey could be trusted to do the right thing.
In 2020, in the face of urgent moments such as the height of
the Black Lives Matter movement, there was a great deal of
corporate granting to causes addressing timely needs related
to social and racial inequities. But in 2021, in the wake of thaturgent response, we saw more grants given to local community
organizations that are working at the grassroots level toaddress the underlying issues at the root of those inequities
and injustices.

Benevity Impact Labs | The State of Corporate Purpose 2022

Grants to civil rights, social action and advocacy
As a cause category, Civil Rights, Social Action and Advocacy
remained in the top 20 but dropped back from 11th in 2020 to16th in 2021.

National Center for Charitable Statistics: National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) Codes*

6

Trend #1: In Times of Need, Businesses Are Stepping Up

TREND

Companies and their people still stepped up in a crisis

COVID-19 crisis in India

Anti-Asian racism

Even as community-based causes received increased corporate
support in 2021, we continued to see people mobilize quickly
in response to emergencies, giving them an important role toplay in ameliorating the lives of others during some of the mostdifficult times of the year.

Top 10 causes supported via donations by companies
and their people
Afghan sociopolitical crisis

Vaccine equity

57

$9m

112,600

unique vaccine
equity causes
supported

total donatedto vaccine equity
causesvolunteer hours
tracked for vaccine
equity causes

Dolby supports those closest to the Ukraine crisis
When Ukraine was invaded in February 2022, Dolby Laboratories quickly sprang into action to support their team in Poland and seek their guidance on
how best to respond. They activated with a global donation matching campaign supporting the humanitarian crisis and provided corporate grants toseveral organizations nominated by Poland’s Dolby Cares leaders. Polish employees activated quickly and continue to step up in many ways including
hosting refugee families, triaging at train stations and refurbishing laptops for families hosting children. The company provided extra days off and astipend to help them purchase extra supplies and necessities. Since Dolby allows volunteer hour tracking for acts of kindness, employees received
volunteer rewards for their time, allowing them to further amplify their impact.

Benevity Impact Labs | The State of Corporate Purpose 2022

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Trend #1: In Times of Need, Businesses Are Stepping Up

ACTIONHow companies can address enduring issues
With more awareness of the impact that can come from a
corporate culture that empowers social action, companies arewisely moving toward broader, more consistent support for thecauses that matter most to their employees, their customers
and their communities. Here are a few ways to create a genuine
culture that engages your stakeholders in purpose while
delivering meaningful impact:

Commit to long-term grants based on trust and partnership. Grant programs, regardless of size, are becoming increasingly
collaborative and are resulting in more unrestricted support for grantees with less administrative burden and moreconversation between companies and nonprofits. In this way, they’re providing more opportunity to maximize impact based on
the insights, needs and expertise of each partner — especially nonprofits working on the front lines to serve their communities.
Make more investments in smaller, community-based grants. Small investments in community-oriented causes can haveoutsized social impact for grassroots nonprofits and their beneficiaries while at the same time boosting your profile as a
purpose-driven brand in the communities you operate in. Garner input from your employees (including affinity and employee
resource groups), customers and communities on which organizations you can support.
Run donation matching campaigns. Incentivize employees, customers and the public by matching donations to causes of
their choosing regularly, or run campaigns with higher matching rates during specific time periods or in response to events.
Reward volunteers for their skills, time and kindness. Offer volunteer rewards for various types of volunteering, whether
it’s in support of a nonprofit or simply an act of kindness. This shows your people that you value all the ways they give ofthemselves to make the world a better place.
Support Goodness year-round. Give people the tools to learn and take action any time of year, while also amplifying yoursupport during key awareness dates that matter to them, whether it’s International Women’s Day, Pride, Indigenous Peoples’
Day or something else.
Give people a voice. Empower people to support the causes that matter to them alongside the causes that matter to you as acompany; this demonstrates that the causes your stakeholders care about are just as important to you as what you care about
as a company.
Source and publish educational content. Tap partners or employees to create content that you can share with your company
to help people grasp the depth of the issues. Pair informative materials with suggested actions they can take at work or athome. This will leave your people with both the information and the inspiration to do something to make a difference.

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2

At the Root of the Great Resignation
Is the Great Search for Purpose

TREND

DATA

1 in 8A brave new purpose-driven world:
employees urge companies to take action
Whether it’s boomers retiring early, low-wage workers seeking
better workplace conditions, the disproportionate burden
placed on women to be the primary family caregiver, or people
looking for more purpose and autonomy in their lives, there are
a number of factors contributing to what is now known as theGreat Resignation. While many people associate this trend withthe emergence of COVID-19, the truth is it has been growing
steadily for a decade.1
And the data shows that today’s workers, particularly Millennials
and Gen Z, prefer brands that allow them to have a positive
impact — whether it’s the brands they support with their buying
habits,2 or the places they choose to work.3 In other words,
they have new criteria for who they do business with, and theirprioritization of values hit a tipping point in late 2021. With
employee retention and engagement becoming more urgent
concerns than ever before, companies are adapting theirthinking to prioritize what’s important to their people.

seats will likely be
empty by the end of 2022 —up from 1 in 10 last year440%

of employees are more likely
to quit their jobs if social andracial justice is not prioritized5

70%

would be more likely torecommend their employer
if it prioritized social justice6

A 100-person company that provides
an average salary of $50,000 could haveturnover and replacement costs ofapproximately $660,000 to $2.6 million peryear, depending on their retention rate.7

TREND

Companies are redefining how they engage theirpeople in social action
The message that companies need to take action andhelp their employees do the same is loud and clear. But
the pandemic complicated the issue by forcing companies
to adopt hybrid working models with less face-to-faceinteraction between employees, teams and leadership andthe communities they serve. This made empathy, connection,
engagement and retention even more difficult. Companies who
were able to quickly adapt their purpose programs, in the formof virtual volunteering and recognizing other positive actions,saw the benefits.
DATA

When in-person volunteering dipped as a result of
COVID-19 closures, virtual volunteering emerged —and remained relevant.

Growth in virtual volunteering

Note: Volunteer hours include hours tracked for volunteer opportunities only.

The Great Resignation Didn’t Start with the Pandemic, Harvard Business Review, March 23, 2022 2The State of Consumer Spending: Gen Z Shoppers Demand Sustainable Retail, First Insight, Inc., December 2019 3The Double Top Line: What Gen Z
expects from brands—and 2 ways they’ll pay for purpose, Agility PR Solutions, June 9, 2021 4The Job Market Is Going Crazy And It’s Going To Get Worse. How Do We Recruit?, Josh Bersin, Insights on Corporate Talent, Learning, and HR Technology,
Nov. 22, 2021 5,6New Employee Data Reveals the Gap Between Ambition and Action in How Companies Address Racial Justice and Equity, Benevity, Inc., June 17, 2021 7This Fixable Problem Costs U.S. Businesses $1 Trillion, Gallup, Inc., March 13, 20191

Benevity Impact Labs | The State of Corporate Purpose 2022

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Trend #2: At the Root of the Great Resignation Is the Great Search for Purpose

DATA

Companies are also including volunteer acts of kindness in theirprograms — a way for people to give time and support without
it being tied to a specific nonprofit, but instead for the benefit ofindividuals or communities directly. Examples include picking
up litter on a beach or in a park, buying groceries for anelderly neighbor, or participating in learning opportunities atcompany-hosted events like panel talks on issues aroundinclusion and impact.

40%
81%

Starbucks’ vision is to empower each of their employees — who
Starbucks calls “partners” — to be a Community Champion. The
company offers many ways to make a positive impact, including
donating unused food nightly as part of their stores' FoodSharefood donation program, planning and participating in community
service events, hosting donation drives in-store and nominatingof companies who offer volunteering
allowed volunteer acts of kindness
in 2021 — up from 78% in 2020

participating in over 2,900 community events and giving more

growth in companies promoting
learning and positive action
growth in the number of opportunities
for positive action available in company
programs in 2021

Companies have also found new ways to connect witha distributed workforce.

25%

Starbucks empowers community championsof volunteer hours tracked in 2021
were volunteer acts of kindness

Positive actions, alongside learning opportunities, are being
used by companies to empower their people to do good.

66%
98%

DATA

growth in companies using the Benevity
mobile app to share opportunities with
their employees

Benevity Impact Labs | The State of Corporate Purpose 2022

nonprofits for grants. In the company’s fiscal year 2021, morethan 18,000 partners globally engaged as Community Champions,than 45,000 volunteer hours to local nonprofit organizations. In
the U.S. and Canada, Starbucks matches up to $1,000 annuallyfor both full-time and part-time partners’ eligible contributions to

GivingTuesday packed a punch forcompanies and their people in 2021

88%
of companies participatedin GivingTuesday$112.6min donations, matching
and grants

103%
from 2020

nonprofits, which resulted in Starbucks donating over $1million toover 2,000 nonprofits.

165,69346%474,20817%

volunteer hours logged

TREND

More companies celebrate GivingTuesday
Most giving takes place between September and December
each year, with particular focus in recent years on
GivingTuesday, a global awareness day meant to counteract
the consumerism of Cyber Monday. In 2021, Benevity saw
massive growth in the number of companies getting involved inthis global movement — engaging their employees, nonprofit
partners, customers and the public in their campaigns. This led
to almost double the amount of donations made on this single
day compared to in 2020!

total Acts of Goodness*from 2020

from 2020

43,396

causes supported*An Act of Goodness is a metric designed to capture a wide breadth of actions in corporate programs, including and beyond traditional giving andvolunteering, and it accounts for the ways that Benevity clients and their people encourage, approach and engage in Goodness.

10Trend #2: At the Root of the Great Resignation Is the Great Search for Purpose

TREND

DATA

Doing good feels good: how purpose improves mental
health and social connection
The last few years have brought conversations about mental
health to the forefront in the workplace, as people were
faced with social isolation, juggling work and caregiving
responsibilities, and a barrage of other crises that affected oursense of well-being. As a result, companies found new ways toinvest in the mental health of their employees and are seeing
the direct benefit of creating a supportive culture that truly
values the power of Goodness.
Studies have shown that when people do good, the pleasure
center of the brain lights up and releases oxytocin — thepowerful hormone that is known for creating bonds between
people, teams, companies, families, and even babies and pets!
This phenomenon also explains why volunteers and givers tend
to report better health as well as reduced anxiety, stress anddepression.
8

50%
$50b
$6b
500,000
88%

increase in oxytocin from donating
money to strangers or taking
positive actions, resulting in better
health and more social connection
annual economic cost of poor
mental health in the workplace9
annual indirect cost of lost
productivity due to poor
mental health10
number of workers per week unable
to work due to poor mental health11of companies investing more inmental health in 2021 than in theprevious year12

A commitment to the mental health of employees can savecompanies money and help them retain a healthier, moreengaged workforce. And promoting a culture of Goodness
can make the world better — one person and one small
act at a time.

Benevity Impact Labs | The State of Corporate Purpose 2022

The Neuroscience of Corporate Goodness and Employee Engagement, Benevity, Inc., Dec. 12, 2017 9,10,11The ROI in workplace mental health programs: Good for people, goodfor business, Deloitte Insights, Nov. 4, 2019 12 2021 Employee Wellness Industry Trends Report, Wellable Labs, Jan. 4, 2021

8

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Trend #2: At the Root of the Great Resignation Is the Great Search for Purpose

ACTIONHow to build culture in a hybrid world
The swift shift to hybrid working put a lot of pressure oncompanies to pivot their operations and adapt their cultural
norms to the new digital reality. What we learned as time went
on is that the companies who kept their employees engaged bybuilding meaningful connections, providing them with a senseof purpose and creating a culture where they could feel a part ofsomething bigger than themselves (and their day-to-day work)
were better able to engage and retain their talent, despite thelack of in-person experiences.
Here’s what we learned about the steps companies can take toengage people in purpose in a hybrid world:

Build connectivity through communications. Leverage all of your platforms to reach out to your people — nomatter where they are — to ensure they feel connected to the culture and to each other, whether that’s throughemployee communications, intranets, social networks, apps, or team meetings and leaders. The biggest reason
people don’t engage is because they don’t know there are opportunities to do so!
Engage employees in purpose virtually. Build an inclusive purpose program by providing your people with theopportunity to participate in virtual options or ways that they can participate in their own neighborhoods on theirown time, like in runs, walks, cleanups or acts of kindness.
Focus on employee experience, learning and skills-building. Embed volunteer opportunities in employee
onboarding and host learning sessions that count toward volunteer time throughout the year.
Empower your people to support their own passions. Create grassroots movements by allowing employees toshare their own giving or volunteering opportunities, and let them add their own matching dollars to fundraising
initiatives, too.
Rethink the definition of volunteering. Remove barriers by expanding the definition of volunteering to include
learning, acts of kindness and virtual opportunities, while enabling your people to champion the causes they careabout by letting them lead initiatives and events.

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3

Employee-Led Action on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
and Belonging Is Changing Corporate Culture
From the Bottom Up and the Inside Out

TREND

The rise of affinity groups
In 2021, affinity and employee resource groups (ERGs) driven bypassionate employees proved to be one of the most powerfulways to foster a more diverse, inclusive workplace and help
employees feel a real sense of belonging and purpose at work.
A successful group not only gives people space to bethemselves, but it can bring new ways of looking at issues,
create connections and drive innovation. It can also act asa critical resource for companies looking for insights intoexperience gaps, employee dissatisfaction and systemic bias
or barriers.
Members can act as trusted advisors for both employees andemployers by building communities, creating secure spaces,
promoting understanding and championing a culture thatstrives for positive change — inside the company and out in theworld. These high-trust relationships are a foundation uponwhich corporate culture can grow and flourish.
And in an increasingly competitive talent market, marked byburnout and fears of productivity loss, the sense of belonging
that can be fostered by affinity groups and ERGs has a powerful
impact on recruiting and retention efforts — especially as
remote work can make our social ties a little bit more tenuousand difficult.

DATA

Chinese for Affirmative Action and Asian Americans Advancing
Justice saw significant growth in support in 2021, as did The
Trevor Project, a leading LGBTQ+ organization.

Top social justice causes in 2021

DATA

The benefits of belonging

50%
75%
70%

reduction in
turnover risk13
decrease inemployee sickdays1456%
50%

increase injob performance15
of employees
would stay at acompany because
it offered ERGs16

of U.S. respondents who were 18 to 24 years oldreported they would be more likely to apply for arole at a company with ERGs17

TREND

Causes focused on diversity and social justice risein the ranks
In the year or so following the Black Lives Matter movement
becoming more prominent, 2021 showed us that companies
and their people continue to support social and racial justicecauses at higher levels than ever before. While several of thosecauses who earned a swell of support in 2020 remained in the
top 10 social justice causes in 2021, they were joined in 2021 by
Asian-affirming and LGBTQ+ causes as well.
*Black Lives Matter fiscal sponsor starting July 2020

Benevity Impact Labs | The State of Corporate Purpose 2022

13,14,15

The Value of Belonging at Work, Harvard Business Review, Dec. 16, 2019 16,17What Black Employee Resource Groups Need Right Now, Harvard Business Review, June 29, 202013

Trend #3: Employee-Led Action on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Is Changing Corporate Culture From the Bottom Up and the Inside Out

DATASocial and racial justice causes averaged 3.3% of total giving from January 2019 to April 2020. After adramatic spike during the Black Lives Matter movement, the average of total giving to these causes settled
at 5.2% from September 2020 to December 2021, resulting in a 58% increase in the baseline of giving tothese causes.

Although many companies expressed their support for anti-racism
movements in the second half of 2020 and into 2021, Benevity datashows there is still often a gap between statements and action.

80%

Benevity Impact Labs | The State of Corporate Purpose 2022of employees believe it is the responsibilityof company leadership to take action in
addressing racial justice and equity18

77%

of employees believe it is important forcompanies to allow difficult conversations
around race and social issues to occur atwork1926%

say that company leadership had done little
to nothing to actively address these issues in
the past year20

New Employee Data Reveals the Gap Between Ambition and Action in How Companies Address Racial Justice and Equity, Benevity, Inc., June 17, 2021

18,19,20

14

Trend #3: Employee-Led Action on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Is Changing Corporate Culture From the Bottom Up and the Inside Out

ACTIONHow companies can act as DEIB catalysts
Companies are at the center of the conversation about diversity,
equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) and are increasingly
engaging their people in learning how to tackle enduring socialand racial inequity. While there may be some gaps between
statements and actions, we know that every gap represents
an opportunity.
Here are a few key principles that will help companies of all sizes
succeed in harnessing the power of their employees and theiraffinity and employee resource groups (ERGs) to deliver impact.

Invest in affinity groups and ERGs. Show your employees you care about what matters to them by creating an environment
in which they’re empowered to gather, plan events, learn together and take action on issues within and outside of thecompany.
Pair your ERG initiatives with your corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. Just as you might have volunteer
champions or local ambassadors for your CSR programs, extend those networks to include affinity groups and ERGs, who
are tapped into employee communities that are seeking belonging and wish to take action. Work together on events orcommunications and enable your ERGs to promote giving back to the causes that matter to them.
Back up your talk with action. Complement every internal and external commitment with an actionable Goodness
opportunity or a grant that proves that you are not just talking but taking action. Even better, engage your people in choosing
or influencing those opportunities and grants to increase the sense of co-creation and ownership of strategy and outcomes.
Consult ERGs on your granting. Affinity groups and ERGs tend to bring together passionate subject matter experts on specificcauses and issues. Consult with these leaders to better understand the issues facing their communities and seek their input onprospective grantees.
Elevate ERG leaders as spokespeople. Provide your engaged group of leaders with the opportunity to become spokespeople
and empower them to promote DEIB themes in their communities. This will boost your employer brand internally andexternally and show your people you truly value their voice.
Celebrate your successes. Take the time to acknowledge employee activities, actions and expertise, and celebrate their workwith donations to organizations of their choice to help make their impact go further.

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4

The Future of Corporate Philanthropy
Is Stakeholder Philanthropy

ACTIONHow to build trust and engage stakeholders

TREND

Evolving toward stakeholder philanthropy
The future of philanthropy is going to be democratized andwill require the engagement of more stakeholders than everbefore, including nonprofits, employees, customers, affinity
groups, ERGs, community boards and even those who benefit
from the efforts of all the above. Participatory grantmaking is
the way of the future. It brings in the voice of more stakeholders
to determine funding areas and approaches, identify partnerorganizations and make lasting change.

DATA

Transparency and engagement in corporate
giving decisions drives positive consumer andemployee actions

73%
78%

of consumers are likely to shop at or support
an organization that seeks their input into
where the organization givesof employees are likely to work for an
organization that provides transparency into
how they allocate their charitable donations

Engage your internal audiences. Talk to your ERGs, CSR
leaders and team members with lived experiences, and invite
them to be part of your funding decisions and processes.
Engage with external audiences. Consult with members ofyour community, including boards, coalitions and nonprofits,
to help set your giving priorities.
Use your DEIB lens. Apply the same strategy and practices
to your relationships with nonprofits that you do with youremployees, ERGs and CSR teams. Make sure you have an
equitable approach to how you make decisions and issue
grants — remove bias wherever you can and increase theaccessibility of your applications and forms.
Offer skills-based volunteering alongside grants. Giveyour people the opportunity to engage with the causes you’refunding, building even deeper ties between your company andthe grant recipients.
Run matching campaigns for your grantees. Increaseawareness and engagement with your grantees by offering
special matching rates to employees or customers for theseorganizations, or by running campaigns that incentivize
awareness and engagement with these important causes.

Note: All stats from Benevity report The Future of Corporate Giving: Stakeholder Philanthropy.

Benevity Impact Labs | The State of Corporate Purpose 2022

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Trend #4: The Future of Corporate Philanthropy Is Stakeholder Philanthropy

TREND

Seeding social enterprises

Zuora’s unrestricted grants
Zuora takes unrestricted granting to heart. In fact, theirapplication form states, “We want organizations to use ourunrestricted funding to support their most critical needs, which
include operating expenses and overhead.” Instead of quizzing
nonprofits about their results, their application process involves
learning more about the organization and its goals. They actively
seek feedback on the application process — how long it takes andhow draining it is on the organization’s resources. These are just a
few ways they show that they trust their partners.

Just as corporate funders are helping to address social
problems through charitable activities like grants and giving,they’re also using business itself as a solution. While this used
to be a progressive strategy employed by a small portion ofcompanies, more corporations are providing seed capital forsocial enterprises: companies whose goal is to achieve social,
cultural, community economic or environmental outcomes,
while also pursuing profits. This trend is helping to create alarger ecosystem of impact-oriented businesses and further
breaking down silos between the concepts of for-profit andnonprofit with for-purpose being the new way in which manyorganizations operate.

ACTIONHow to build entrepreneurial relationships

The Future of Corporate Giving:
Stakeholder Philanthropy
A new era of community investment is here.

Read the Report

Fund beyond philanthropy. Look for opportunities — orcreate a fund — to provide seed capital for social enterprisesthat will improve your communities and the causes you andyour people care about and are led by communities who canbenefit from economic empowerment.
Plan for long-term impact and value. Make investmentswith an eye on the future and a deep commitment to genuinechange — not just quick wins or positive public relations
stories. The change you make will outlast any PR campaign.
Amplify the social enterprises you support. Use youraudience reach and marketing resources to help your social
enterprises tell their purpose-driven stories so they’re more
likely to garner awareness and traction.

Benevity Impact Labs | The State of Corporate Purpose 2022

17

5

ESG Is How Shareholders Understand Purpose

TREND

The desire to see purpose in action is not new for
employees and consumers, but it’s surely attracted
the attention of investors. Environmental, social andgovernance (ESG) policies and strategies have taken on
increasing importance for shareholders and boards. Just
look at the marked rise in ESG searches in the last five years.

ESG drives bottom-line results for companies

At the same time, recognition is growing that ESG needs
to go beyond reporting, compliance and risk mitigation
strategies if it is to live up to its ideals. It has to beengagement-driven and enroll employees, customers andother stakeholders in authentic, meaningful ways that boost
impact and trust.

ESG leaders can realize the following benefits:21

10%-20%4x
5%-10%
10%-20%ESG has now proven to be a major value driver on its own —it will only remain so if we stay steadfastly committed to thepower of doing well by doing good.

ESG searches 2017-2022*
100

75

additional growth, top-line
growth, and portfolio shift
increase in employee
productivity
cost
reduction
valuation
uplift50

25*Google Trends
Interest over time
Numbers represent search interest relative to the highest point on the chart for the given region and time. A
value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular. A score of 0means there was not enough data for this term.

2017

2018

Benevity Impact Labs | The State of Corporate Purpose 2022

2019

2020

2021

2022

Data provided by McKinsey & Company. Typical ranges based on assessments of ESG and financial
performance and expert interviews. Estimates may vary based on company and sector.

21

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Trend #5: ESG Is How Shareholders Understand Purpose

TREND

The Year of the “S”
Most companies have had the opportunity to mature on the“E” and “G” of ESG, with the “S” lagging behind in many cases.
The pandemic, the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements,and myriad other trends and crises over the last few years
have caused companies to prioritize social impact alongsideenvironmental and governance practices. A strong corporate
purpose program has become a foundational tool in thisevolved thinking about the “S.”ACTIONHow to operationalize ESG

Keep the E and S linked. For your ESG strategy to be effective, keep in mind that the scope of E and S is broad andthere is overlap. Important issues like climate change and Indigenous rights are examples of ESG priorities thatintersect and shouldn’t be siloed.
Listen to your stakeholders. Effective ESG strategies are shaped by everyone that contributes to your culture —not just your board members. Solicit employee input on topics like DEIB and tie your ESG strategies back to yourcompany’s purpose program.
Focus on transparency, accountability and action. Not only must companies be transparent with and accountable
for their social and environmental commitments, they need to back them up with authentic, empowered action sotheir stakeholders can participate and trust that the company means it.
Show your impact. As expectations grow, so does the desire to see the tangible results of your ESG initiatives.
There are numerous reporting frameworks with no one way to tell your story effectively; but, reporting back to yourstakeholders (including your employees!) and storytelling will inspire belief in what you’re doing and encourage morecompanies like yours to join you on the journey in building the movement of purpose-driven business.

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Purpose-Driven Business Is
Our Path to a Better Tomorrow
As the world changed right in front of our eyes over the last couple of years, we witnessed companies and their people
rally together to create the Goodness we so sorely needed. And we see even more proof today of something we’velong suspected — that corporate purpose is done best when it’s democratized. When voices from every communityand every walk of life are included and considered.
Because companies who act with purpose can do things that few other institutions can. They inspire and amplify
grassroots movements. They act as catalysts of change and create a sense of connection. They give us hope. They
foster a sense of belonging among their employees that helps people feel better about their work. They drive tangible
business outcomes for investors, customers and employees alike. And they change the world one person and one
company at a time.
As we emerge from a global pandemic into a world of purpose, 2021 showed us that the best is yet to come.

Benevity Impact Labs | The State of Corporate Purpose 202220

Benevity, a certified B Corporation, is a leader in global corporate purpose software, providing the only integrated suiteof community investment and employee, customer and nonprofit engagement solutions. Recognized as one of Fortune’s
Impact 20, Benevity offers cloud solutions that power purpose for many iconic brands in ways that better attract, retainand engage today’s diverse workforce, embed social action into their customer experiences and positively impact theircommunities. With software that is available in 22 languages, Benevity has processed more than $8 billion in donations
and 43 million hours of volunteering time to support 326,000 nonprofits worldwide. The company’s solutions have also
facilitated 530,000 positive actions and awarded 1.2 million grants worth $12 billion.
For more information, visit benevity.com.