The Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s report issued in August, 2020 documented the following:

• In the first half of the year, more than $11.9 billion was awarded for COVID-19 globally

• Corporations accounted for nearly two-thirds of funding

• Gifts by high-net-worth individuals accounted for at least $1.6 billion

Recent media stories indicate the giving trend has continued in the second half of 2020. Though we don’t have final figures for the year yet, gifts such as McKenzie Scott’s totaling over $4 billion in December will surely raise the bar for what was already a remarkable philanthropic outpouring.

Companies engaged in ESG reporting often disclose their operational greenhouse gas emissions and measures they are taking to reduce those emissions. While emissions represent one type of climate-related risk, there are other angles that companies, including many of our clients, are beginning to examine.

As investors increasingly push to assess companies’ Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance, our publicly traded clients and potential clients often ask us how they can improve their investor rating scores. This question is more complicated than it seems. We spent some time over the past few months analyzing trends and distilling our thoughts to provide some simple guidance to companies just starting off on their ESG journeys which we published in our recent white paper.

During this time of social distancing, some of us have had a little extra space in our lives to dig into new topics related to our field, try a new workout regimen via Zoom, or participate in one of many of the webinars popping into our email inboxes.  Last week I attended the Yale Business Sustainability Summit which was held to mark the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day on April 22.  A couple of hundred individuals gathered on a “live” webinar hosted by Yale Professors Dan Esty and Jeff Sonnefeld.  CEOs and business experts from across the globe discussed the evolving role of business in addressing society’s sustainability challenges, including the current pandemic.

Recently, I conducted two workshops with San Diego Grantmakers’ Corporate Philanthropy Group.  The participants, including employees from Illumina, Qualcomm, Deloitte & Touche, Intuit, and Sempra Energy, identified their challenge: how to better communicate the value and impact of their companies’ corporate giving and corporate citizenship efforts to various audiences, both internal and external.  I strongly believe that effective communication begins with good strategy. So we started there. 

You have probably heard the buzz as science-based targets (SBTs) and context-based targets (CBTs) have made their way into the world of corporate sustainability. These approaches to goal-setting have gained momentum as companies evolve and strengthen their corporate social responsibility (CSR) or sustainability commitments. Afterall, businesses are doggedly results-oriented when it comes to their financial goals, so why shouldn’t they set CSR goals and targets that use clear data so they can have the best chance of making an impact.