Corporate Volunteers to Tackle SDGs through IMPACT 2030
By Jeff Hoffman, Program Director, The Conference Board Global Social Investing Council
When the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were launched in 2000, business was not at the table. This time, however, as the United Nations (UN) develops its post-2015 development agenda—centered around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—planning has been more inclusive and companies have a stronger voice.
Achieving the ambitious 2030 goals will require a broad set of actors. In response a group from business, nonprofits and the UN launched IMPACT 2030, a global, private sector-led initiative to advance the practice and impact of corporate volunteering. The Conference Board’s Global Social Investing Council received a presentation on IMPACT 2030 at its May meeting.
IMPACT 2030’s mission and objectives are to:
- Promote awareness of the SDGs to employees and showcase how their volunteer actions will aid the achievement of the goals
- Create and facilitate avenues for cross-sector and cross-industry cooperation between companies and stakeholders to initiate joint commitments and actions
- Work with existing resources to develop methodologies and frameworks through which to measure the impact of volunteer commitments of our member companies and the collective results of the IMPACT 2030 network on the development agenda
- Create and maintain global representation of IMPACT 2030 through the multi-sector Regional Voice Network, providing a platform to focus efforts on a country and region-wide basis.
IMPACT 2030 is about “aligning company-level strategic human capital volunteering commitments directly to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), spurring social innovation, driving employee engagement, providing new avenues to develop employee skills, and ensuring all employee volunteer actions are recognized for their contributions.” The group has a strong focus on “facilitating mutually beneficial relationships with multi-sector partners, leveraging economies of scale, and increasing the significant role corporate volunteering plays as a positive vehicle for business involvement in local communities.”
Many companies are already working on alignment of their current volunteer programs. IBM, for example, has taken the 17 goals and mapped where they have resources to deploy in their global locations with where those resources are needed. Other companies are selecting one or more of the goals that they think they have the expertise to help tackle, or in some cases are issues that could be critical to their businesses going forward. It’s not too early for businesses of all sizes to assess what they can do to help with the SDGs.
For IMPACT 2030 partnership information, email [email protected] and a member of the IMPACT 2030 Executive Committee will contact you with details.
About the author:
Jeff Hoffman
Program Director
The Conference Board Global Social Investing Council
Jeff Hoffman is an accomplished corporate executive who has served on the global stage in the areas of corporate social responsibility, philanthropy, human resources, operations, special projects and events. Through board and commission leadership roles, he has a distinguished history working with non-profit, civic and government agencies on strategic direction and innovative programs. Jeff is president of Jeff Hoffman & Associates, a global corporate citizenship, philanthropy and civic engagement firm that enables businesses, organizations and individuals re-imagine a world full of hope, promise and opportunity. He also serves as Program Director for The Conference Board Global Social Investing Council.
