The State of Corporate Purpose 2026: The Year Purpose Survived the Pressure Test
Speakers
Sona Khosla
.png)
Eva Taylor
Why attend
Why watch
The last year put corporate purpose to the test. As programs came under increased scrutiny, companies quietly changed how they talked about their commitments publicly, AI brought unprecedented anxiety and opportunity, and new pressures landed on nonprofits already stretched thin. And yet impact professionals like you rose to the occasion.
The Benevity Impact Labs new report, the State of Corporate Purpose 2026, uncovers uncomfortable realities about the ways corporate purpose spent the year on defense. With data from over 400 organizations around the globe, including the world's largest brands and 165 nonprofits, it reveals how companies absorbed the shockwaves of 2025 — and how they are recalibrating for what comes next.
Join Sona Khosla, Chief Impact Officer at Benevity, and Eva Taylor, Director of Impact Labs at Benevity, as they unpack five trends shaping the future of corporate purpose and what they mean for your strategy right now.
Watch now to learn:
- How political pressure shaped corporate purpose strategy in 2025: The political and regulatory environment directly influenced strategy for nearly three quarters of companies. While impact professionals fought to keep the work alive, the pressure didn't disappear — for many, it transferred downstream to the nonprofits.
- About the quiet revolution in corporate purpose — and what the data actually shows. Headlines suggest companies are retreating from purpose work. The data says otherwise: 94% of CEOs remain privately supportive of their company's purpose programs, and 78% of companies continued that work unchanged.
- Why trust is the new north star: Corporate reputation and trust is now the number one reason companies invest in purpose. But as communications budgets outpace nonprofit funding, the gap between telling a good story and being a true partner has never been more important to close.
- Why AI adoption in corporate purpose is marked by high hopes and hesitancy: Companies broadly believe AI will reduce burden for nonprofits — but very few say it's core to their impact strategy. Concerns about bias and exclusion are driving appropriate hesitation. The through line: let AI handle the matching, and let humans handle the meaning.
- Why volunteering is ripe for reimagination: Volunteerism hit record highs in 2025, but a gap remains between corporate goals and nonprofit needs. The opportunity is to move beyond participation metrics and toward skills-based engagement that builds the critical human skills AI can't replicate — closing the nonprofit capacity gap while future-proofing your workforce.
.png)
