Environmental, Social & Governance Briefs

If you were the founder or CEO of a start-up company or later-stage firm, would you be willing to pledge 1 percent of your equity to charity? Building a purpose-based company from the beginning can be difficult without cash or profit, but pledging 1 percent of your equity is a quick and easy way to get started. Pledge 1% is a global on-line movement that encourages and empowers companies of all sizes and stages to do just that.

Good practice risk oversight due diligence guidance clearly says boards should ask about the effectiveness of risk management processes. Evidence suggests many boards have not been. Why not?

As companies file their 2018 taxes, several corporate philanthropic leaders have contacted the Council on Foundations with concerns surrounding the new excise tax. As part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Section 4960 of the bill imposes a 21 percent excise tax on highly-paid executives of nonprofit organizations.

Are you using technology effectively to engage employees in community programs? A partnership between Georgia Power and Purposity is showing how disruptive technology can be used to boost the long-held practice of community engagement.

During the last month, The Conference Board ESG Center released five pieces of research that cover corporate board practices among Russell 3000 and S&P 500 companies, business media perspectives on the director’s job description, the idea of extending ethical business principles to digitalization, how ESG raters miss rating governance and how standardized social outcomes can measure the impact of societal investments.

One year after activist shareholders won 65 board seats in a record-breaking first quarter on the way to 160 for all of 2018, corporate directors continue to lose seats at a pretty good clip in 2019. And institutional investors are leading the way.

Is a lack of benchmarking capabilities hampering you from pursuing continuous improvement and innovation in your social impact measurement? With a corporate culture that values data and benchmarking, The Allstate Foundation was lacking a data-driven social impact measurement framework that aggregated metrics across its entire portfolio. The Impact Genome Project helped the organization update its metrics and devise an outcomes-based social impact measurement and reporting strategy.

This Q&A with Ralph Ward discusses the job of the corporate director from his perspective as a business media and corporate governance executive. He gives his views on such topics as who owns tone at the top and directors’ ideal characteristics.

This Q&A with Jeff Cunningham discusses the job of the corporate director from his perspective as a business media and corporate governance executive. He touches upon topics such as transparency of information discussed in board meetings and the importance of diversity in the boardroom.