The business case for CSR is clear. Companies with strong purpose statements and demonstrable impact results see more loyal employees and customers, spend less on recruiting and training staff, and improve their ESG ratings and investor confidence. In a recent report from the Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP), they note that companies with a corporate purpose statement saw 58% more revenue growth than their peers and 63% higher returns on invested capital in 2023.
This is how the world’s most successful and influential companies earn trust, create good in the world and drive measurable results for their business. And we see the results every day on the Benevity platform.
Enterprise companies driving performance with purpose
Purpose programs are a key lever in building brand reputation, engaging employees and serving communities, all of which become factors when assessing and forecasting a company’s financial performance. According to data from the Zeno Group, customers are four times more likely to purchase from a company with a strong purpose and six times more likely to defend the company against criticism.
Benevity clients use their purpose programs to support company goals like client acquisition, brand reputation, talent retention and regulatory compliance.
Spectrum
Spectrum is a telecommunications company that provides internet, television and mobile service to millions of customers across the United States. Their impact program includes three areas of focus: key human services, small business support and digital inclusion, which actively aligns their goals with other departments across the organization. They have funded digital education programs, provided job training and renovations to community centers across the United States and instituted employee-nominated grants to support the causes that their people care about.
Their impact work has benefited the community and company in a number of ways:
- Marketing: Content from Spectrum’s community initiatives has been used in national campaigns and as web content to reinforce the company’s commitment to purpose.
- Government relations: Positive community moments build the company’s reputation among policymakers and government officials.
- HR: Prospective and current employees see the value of the impact program and the difference it is making in the world.
Ciena
Ciena, a telecommunications and cloud services leader, uses their Ciena Cares program as a major factor in the company’s employee attraction and retention and a key driver of the company’s positive attention and reputation. Since launching their program with Benevity, Ciena has seen a 194% increase in employee participation, an 83% employee engagement score and 256% growth in social media engagement.
Some of the features of Ciena’s purpose program include:
- Employee lifecycle integration: Ciena’s People and Culture team is closely in step with the purpose program, introducing it to prospective talent early in the recruitment and onboarding process.
- Leadership as allies: Leaders don’t just sign off on initiatives — they actively participate in them and receive follow-up in the form of data-driven storytelling.
- Customer engagement: Ciena invites their customers to volunteer alongside their employees, strengthening the relationships of the company and their customers beyond just products and services.
Scaling impact with local relevance
One of the tenets of a strong corporate purpose program is making a relevant, local impact while having the ability to scale when the moment calls for it. This can help global workforces feel connected to corporate purpose no matter where they are situated and instill trust in a company that they are able to make a difference when and where it is needed.
Morningstar
Morningstar is an investment product company with a dispersed workforce of 12,000 employees across 30 countries, which presents complications when trying to align employees towards a collective purpose. The company knows that every community has vastly different needs, and addressing them all takes effort. Here’s what they did:
- Elect local ambassadors: Morningstar selected 60 team captains across all of the countries in which they operate to provide local oversight and context to each community and initiative they take part in.
- Offer employee-led giving: Organizations supported by the company’s program are selected by the employees themselves, who are situated within those communities and have the context to understand where the greatest need is.
- Use executives to amplify: Morningstar leveraged their executive leadership team to drive engagement during key campaigns, specifically Global Volunteer Week and Global Giving Drive.
- Make it easy: Morningstar’s programs allowed people to participate in local currencies across 15 different markets, with tax-effective giving in seven markets.
The program generated over 23,000 volunteer hours and $850,000 in donations.
USAA
There are always creative ways to scale when traditional growth metrics aren’t the best path. When USAA — an insurance, banking and retirement company focused on military families — decided their CSR program needed a new perspective, they created the “A Million Good Things” program, and one of the key decisions they made was to broaden their definition of doing good beyond traditional metrics like donations and volunteer acts.
- Inclusivity: USAA rewarded employees for positive everyday micro-actions, such as conserving energy or donating items to shelters, making participation accessible to everyone.
- Timing: Rather than waiting for the end-of-year Giving Season, USAA launched the campaign early, keeping it active for nearly a full year to build and sustain momentum.
- Setting an outcome goal: By declaring their intention of a million acts of goodness, the company was able to put together a realistic plan of how, when and where their activities could support their goal.
Turn your purpose into your business advantage
CSR is imperative to how companies create sustained impact and drive business success. Through creative program design, more inclusive principles and more audacious goals, any company can have an impact program that truly makes a difference on both communities and bottom lines.
Ready to turn your industry insights into a core business advantage? See how the Benevity Enterprise Impact Platform can help you design, manage, scale and measure your impact.
