The Conference Board has launched an expanded initiative to track and benchmark societal investments, and their resulting impact, extending the organization’s 75 years of leadership in corporate citizenship research.

The Corporate Societal Investment Survey will correlate societal investment data with the social impact areas benchmarked in The Conference Board’s new social outcomes research. Results will be included in a comprehensive database that will help companies make smarter societal investment decisions, improve partnerships with nonprofits, and ultimately enhance social impact.  

The new annual survey is open for participation at www.conference-board.org/societalinvestmentsurvey. The survey is open to corporate citizenship professionals at companies globally and corporate foundations of all sizes, until the end of March. The results of the survey will be published in 2019 and will aggregate and segment survey data by multiple dimensions, including geography, business sector, company size and the social area benefitting from investments.

“The depth of knowledge and experience developed over the decades by The Conference Board in the field of corporate citizenship is unparalleled,” said Sophia Muirhead, The Conference Board Marketing and Communications Center Leader and Executive Sponsor. “Our long history positions our Institute on Corporate Citizenship & Philanthropy as a premier thought leader for companies that are committed to social causes and seek to maximize their social impact and to align their societal investments with their business strategy. Corporate giving benchmarking has always been the centerpiece of our offerings in the field, and we are thrilled to bring to our members a renewed and expanded update focusing on value creation for both society and business.”

When published, the report will be the latest addition to The Conference Board’s Corporate Intelligence suite, a proprietary portfolio of benchmarking databases across a wide range of business practices—including board composition and diversity, executive and director compensation, CEO succession, sustainability and communications (the portfolio is accessible at https://www.conference-board.org/intelligence/). In the corporate citizenship and philanthropy area, the portfolio already includes Business Contributions to the Arts, an annual review of corporate philanthropy supporting artistic endeavors.

“The Conference Board Institute on Corporate Citizenship and Philanthropy is committed to changing the paradigm and advancing the debate on what truly matters in corporate philanthropy and other company societal investments,” said Jeff Hoffman, The Conference Board Corporate Citizenship and Philanthropy Institute Leader.  “The report will provide insights for companies to develop corporate citizenship programs that are truly positioned to add value.”