Tag Archives: social impact

Good-Business Topics I Care About

Here are some of the areas that compel me (in some cases because my understanding is terribly weak–I’m talking to you, Measurement) that I will focus on this year: Measurement Impact (the object of measurement) is the reason I write this blog. Although I grasp the framework of measurement and evaluation, I want to better understand […]

In 3 Words: How to Build a Purpose-Driven Business

To polish up a year’s worth of learnings from working with and writing about purpose-driven companies, I’ve summed up 42 principles in exactly three words each. Three words–easy to understand, easy to share. This list partially represents the 155 blogs I’ve written this year, but it’s nowhere near complete. Add your triplets in the comments […]

To Tap Cause Marketing’s Huge Potential, Do Less Of It

This piece was originally written for and published on Reach Students. If 94% of Millennials condone cause marketing why do only 53% report buying a product that benefits a cause in the past year?  The first finding is compelling, the second certainly is not, particularly given that in many stores you’d have to struggle not to buy […]

Want To Open a Nonprofit Store? 10 Guidelines You–and Nordstrom’s–Should Follow

Scandal in-the-making, customer-pleaser, tax write-off, nonprofit cash cow or game-changer?  Which hyphenated phrase will best describe Nordstrom’s new concept store, which will donate all net profits to charity? I was interviewed recently by American Public Media’s Marketplace on the Nordstrom concept store, set to open in Soho next fall, and on the growing appeal of […]

Can Coke Teach Nonprofits How to Deliver More Social Impact?

Coke, it’s everywhere. It’s in communities without electricity, running water or proper nutrition. Why? Because it’s an innovator in distribution, consumer analysis and marketing. What can the social impact sector (nonprofits, social enterprises, the public sector) learn from Coke that will allow us to save more lives?  Melinda French Gates asked this question during a TEDxChange […]

Retail Philanthropy Is In High Demand: 4 Steps To Doing It Right

Neither nationwide purse-tightening nor cries of Slactivism! Greenwashing! and Fad! have shaken cause marketing. Eighty-three percent of consumers “want more of the products, services and retailers they use to benefit causes,” according to Cone Inc.’s 2010 Cause Evaluation Study. But how do you do cause-related marketing (or cause branding) right? Pick a cause you care about. […]

6 Tools and 4 Words To Measure Your Company’s Social ROI

What gets measured gets valued (as well as improved upon).  Tracking and evaluating the social return on investment (SROI) is today’s Plastics. It’s the future of sustainability–nay–the future of business. Period. While stakeholder demand for sustainability and the impact of companies’ actions grows, evaluation methodologies and criteria still resemble the Wild West.  There’s no standard metric and […]