Published June 5, 2025.
In our rapidly changing environment, CEOs face a critical choice: to unify people and build resilient businesses or risk division and erode corporate trust. The early era of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with its sweeping statements and broad, often unsustainable commitments is over. Today, corporate purpose must be strategic, business-aligned and outcomes-oriented. At Benevity, we believe that when purpose, business goals and values are authentically aligned and executed across the enterprise, it becomes a measurable, sustainable and scalable impact.
Purpose as a Business Imperative
Business purpose is a company’s reason for being, a lens for strategic decisions. It underpins the decisions that drive value for customers, markets, and growth. Corporate purpose goes beyond, creating value to society, impacting people, communities and the planet. Successful, growth-oriented companies today integrate both, creating true, measurable enterprise value through meaningful impact.
“Purpose is no longer just about stating your 'why'; it’s about uniting people in a shared goal and becoming the reason employees and customers choose you,” says Chris Maloof, CEO of Benevity. “When purpose, business goals and values align, it transforms into true enterprise impact.”
Investments in purpose programs like granting, workplace giving, volunteering and employee mobilization drives positive business performance and societal impact. Programs and company-sponsored opportunities like these allow employees to engage more, bringing mission and vision values to life in your company, community and the world.
Purpose as a Multiplier of Performance
The proof is in the data, which consistently shows that high-purpose companies thrive. According to Deloitte, during the pandemic, they saw 4x higher valuations compared to low-purpose companies. That same Deloitte study shows that purpose-led companies experience 40% higher retention and 30% higher innovation levels. Longer term results are evident in Jump Associates’ Payback on Purpose study that shows over a 20-year period, purpose-driven companies achieve 5x CAGR over S&P 500 averages.
It’s not just the topline business results that benefit from a strategic CSR approach. Alignment with purpose can be directly connected to loyalty, from both customers and employees, and can heavily influence the bottom line. Now more than ever this dynamic is at play and in some cases is having an outsize impact on business results.
"The evidence is clear: purpose is absolutely a multiplier of performance," Chris Maloof emphasizes. Quoting studies from Atlassian and Harris Poll, he continues, "75% of Millennials & Gen Z would leave a company that doesn’t align with their values, and 82% of consumers will switch brands if their values don't align."
Purpose Improves Employee Outcomes
As Gallup has noted in the latest State of the Global Workplace report, with global employee engagement falling to just 21%, lost productivity is costing billions and purpose programs can make a difference. A 2023 Ares Management study showed that employees who volunteer at work are more satisfied with their job and company culture. They are also 2x more likely to recommend their organization to job seekers.
“Volunteering has a positive correlation with well-being and belonging,” notes Maloof, citing the Industrial Relations Journal. “Research from Benevity Impact Labs shows that newer employees who engage in corporate purpose programs are 52% less likely to leave, and insights from Cisco’s purpose programs note that those who engage also see higher bonuses, promotion rates, and peer recognition."
Enterprise Impact: A Simple Definition
Enterprise impact can be achieved when a company embeds purpose across philanthropy, sustainability, talent, product, service and brand to create measurable outcomes. It drives community and societal benefits alongside business outcomes like innovation, growth, retention and trust.
The 2025 Benevity State of Corporate Purpose report shows a strong commitment to enterprise impact, with 88% of leaders saying their impact strategies are future-proofing their business when it comes to talent acquisition and retention, customers and regulatory readiness.
“For CEOs, it’s crucial to understand where and how enterprise impact drives value for your business,” says Maloof. “It’s about weaving purpose into how a company operates to drive performance — better products/services, engaging broader audiences and attracting top talent."
Outcomes-Oriented Approach
Purpose and impact are inextricably tied to outcomes. These are more than just statements; they are the actions that yield tangible results. Quantifying enterprise impact and connecting it to business results is essential.
This is evident in a 2020 Strength of Purpose study that found that global consumers are four to six times more likely to trust, buy, champion and protect those companies with a strong purpose over those with a weaker one. That trust translates into both purchasing power and referral power during times of change.
Integration and measurement of impact and connecting it to business performance takes a strategic approach coupled with both resources and technology. Efficient measurement of purpose outcomes requires a holistic view and can best be achieved through an Enterprise Impact Platform thathelps organizations align, manage and track social impact programs, delivering critical data reporting on both impact and business performance.
In times of geopolitical tension and significant social change, a company’s investment in culture and purpose can pay off significantly. These are the moments when showing up authentically matters, aligning company values, attracting and retaining talent, retaining and serving customers and solving real-world problems. It’s more than a statement, it’s a strategic framework. Purpose and performance are not at odds — they work together to propel a sustainable future. CEOs who embrace this and invest in strategic corporate purpose as an enterprise-wide strategy are poised to lead more successfully through change.
