Environmental, Social & Governance Briefs

Are your social impact measurement efforts providing useful results? If not, it might be time to up your game. Moody's reinvented its CSR approach to mirror the company’s global footprint, be authentic to its culture, and align with its businesses. In doing so, the company engaged the Impact Genome Project to assess the Moody’s Foundation’s grant portfolio for alignment with its focus areas.

With government regulation lagging, technological outcomes depend on how businesses develop and apply them. It’s important that companies fill that gap by complementing their digital transformation journey with a governance arrangement that drives ethics and builds trust.

Are nonprofits—a crucial economic sector—getting the support they need to flourish? According to Independent Sector, there are over 1.6 million tax exempt nonprofit organizations in the United States—the third largest workforce in the country behind retail and manufacturing. Yet, the nonprofit sector is critically understaffed, under-capitalized, and overwhelmed. It needs support to fulfill its vital mission.

Do you have a firm grasp of the outcomes your societal investments are achieving, or are you still counting inputs and outputs? New research from The Conference Board, in collaboration with the Impact Genome Project and supported by Moody's, uses standardized metrics to measure social outcomes, enabling companies to more effectively report and benchmark the performance of their societal investments. Being able to compare social outcomes helps companies make smarter societal investments.

How does one of India's largest conglomerates, operating around the world, take care of citizens in its immediate community? The Aditya Birla Group has developed a model village in the neighborhood surrounding its Ultra Tech Cement Works Plant in Kotputli, providing vital facilities and infrastructure to residents, including education for women and children, a medical clinic, a farming program, and clean, fresh water.

Are you giving your grantees the right attention to help them succeed long term? To advance effective philanthropy, grantmakers must be as concerned with the entire grantee workforce as they are with grantee leadership. That means looking at the nonprofit through a workforce rather than a leadership lens and building relationships across the organization through surveys, site visits, and one-on-one conversations.

Companies conduct materiality assessment to identify, refine and assess potential environmental, social and governance issues which are sufficiently important that they should inform corporate sustainability strategy and reporting. The Conference Board surveyed 50 senior sustainability executives to examine the current trends of materiality practices.

Is the philanthropy industry on its way to solving its diversity and inclusion problem? New research from the Women's Philanthropy institute identifies ways that donors differ across race and ways they appear to behave in a relatively similar fashion, pointing to the fact that philanthropy is growing more aware of its diversity and funders and nonprofits would do well to find ways to maximize engagement with donors of all backgrounds.

What do you think of when you hear "Los Angeles"? For many, it's Hollywood, beaches, and palm trees. But the booming metropolis faces a large homeless population, is on the frontline of the immigration issue, and has a troubled school district and aging infrastructure. Companies can help solve some of these issues by collaborating with the local government and nonprofits delivering innovative solutions.

Key trends related to the corporate disclosure of environmental and social practices—encompassing, among others, atmospheric emissions, water consumption, biodiversity policies, labor standards, human rights practices, and charitable and political contributions.