Environmental, Social & Governance Briefs

This year, more than 100,000 volunteers will celebrate service during Comcast Cares Day by participating in volunteer projects all over the world. Making a positive impact in the communities where Comcast NBCUniversal employees live and work is a value the company embraces all year long. Businesses can ensure that the impact of service days like these lasts well beyond one day by linking their service projects to city priorities and ongoing initiatives.

Nonprofits are like teenagers—they have difficult years, but with the right support, they can thrive and achieve great things in “adulthood.” The international nonprofit I co-founded, mothers2mothers (m2m), is now 16 years old, an awkward age for nonprofits, at least in the eyes of many donors. m2m employs HIV-positive women as community health workers.

The elimination of perpetual dual class shares in IPOs is a solution without a real problem to solve. Of the 19 companies that utilized dual class shares in their IPOs in 2015 perhaps 50 percent used a perpetual structure.

For years, “more” and “better” have been the shorthand goals of the volunteerism movement. Inspiring more people to volunteer and finding opportunities for that support to be of the most value to communities and causes has been the mission. During National Volunteer Week (April 15-21), we celebrate the impact of volunteer service here in the U.S., and the power of changemakers to come together to tackle tough challenges and build stronger, more vibrant communities.

Socially responsible investors have become a bigger part of a company’s ownership. Large funds, such as Vanguard, BlackRock, pension funds and others are exerting their influence for better ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) performance. Various nonprofits are also flexing their muscles. Will the increased scrutiny lead to more proposals on charitable contributions?

When I explain to people what I do for work, they are often surprised and caught off guard. You would assume that my work isn’t great “party conversation,” but I find that people like to talk about human rights and protecting childhood. As the director of private sector engagement for ECPAT-USA, I work with companies to understand how human traffickers (with a focus on child sex traffickers) may use their infrastructure to exploit people.

Despite the rise of corporate sustainability, few CEOs discuss these initiatives with shareholders. But that is changing. Companies and shareholders are beginning to use the term Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) to represent the more focused area of the overlap between financials and environmental/social issues, resulting in risk mitigation.

Without a sustainable revenue model to support a compelling mission, nonprofits’ funding will dry out. Sadly, many nonprofits today face this dilemma. Gina Gibney, artistic director and CEO of Gibney Dance, based in Lower Manhattan, has a story that has a number of valuable lessons for foundations and the nonprofits in which they invest.

In today’s remote business world, video conference calls and internal business Skype networks have become as common as landline phones in American corporate offices. But, does having such technology mean corporate management and boards should replace in-person annual shareholder meetings with virtual ones? Or should hybrid (in-person/virtual) meetings be adopted?