The Social Impact Show

In today's episode, you'll learn where the corporate social responsibility industry is headed. We explore how world events shape CSR and social impact as well as trends on how businesses will integrate CSR into the future.

This is part 2 of our series on the Future of CSR. Listen to Part 1 in the previous episode

Timestamp of our discussion:

1:07 - Where is social impact headed?

4:38 - Social Impact Role: More strategic than ever before

6:27 - Social impact professionals come from a diverse background

9:58 - Where is business adoption of social impact headed? Especially with small to medium-sized businesses?

In today's episode, you'll learn how corporate social responsibility profession has changed and what's shaping its future. We discuss its history, what the profession looks like today and how the role will continue to evolve in the the future.

Timestamp of our discussion:
0:52 - History of the corporate social responsibility professional 3:56 - When did CSR become a profession
5:36 - What does the profession look like today?
8:37 - How is the role being categorized and defined today?
11:38 - When will social impact professionals be represented in the C-Suite?
14:04 - Perils of CSR reporting to a CEO
15:28 - How to get started or become a CSR professional today? 18:48 - Where will CSR be headed towards in the next 5-10 years?

In this episode, you'll learn how social impact and environmental sustainability can work together. We chat with Michael Wong, Environmental Sustainability Manager with Ferguson, and explore everything about GHG emissions as well as how to start and scale an environment and sustainability program in your business.   00:53 - What should we understand about GHG emissions?

3:20 - Is there standard reporting for GHG emissions?

4:23 - What is net-zero, and how is it connected to ESG?

6:35 - How can social impact professionals impact environmental and sustainability efforts in their organization?

9:41 - Successful examples of environmental and sustainability programs   11:07 - How to start a sustainability program at a smaller company?   12:06 - As a social impact pro, how would you start building a sustainability program?   13:36 - How to scale your sustainability programs

In today's episode, you'll learn why social impact data is important for donors when selecting which charities to give to. We chat with Heather King, Vice President of Evidence and Implementation and Chief Ontologist at Impact Genome, and explore how donor decisions actually change when provided with data. Finally, we discuss how to standardize social impact data   Timestamp of our discussion: 1:04 - How donors decide on which charities to give to?

4:14 - Why impact data is important for donor decision-making

6:22 - What the Impact Genome's study shows about donors

10:43 - Giving decisions of donors with and without impact data?

14:07 - Next steps in collecting impact data for donors.

In this episode, you'll learn about the skilled worker shortage across North America and how social impact can help find solutions.   We chat with Melissa Hazelwood from Ferguson, and explore the current and future impacts of the skilled worker shortage, how career perceptions have changed and what's currently being done to address these shortages.    Timestamp of our discussion:

0:46 - What is the skilled worker shortage across North America?   2:16 - What type of positions are there a shortage of?   5:05 - Is there more recognition today of different career streams other than the traditional path through college degrees?   6:20 - Has the perception of pay and compensation changed?   7:06 - What are the impacts of skilled worker shortage today and into the future?   8:33 - How has the pandemic impacted the shortage?   10:05 - What's currently being done to alleviate the skilled worker's shortage?   11:58 - Transitions from other careers to skilled trade   13:33 - How can social impact and social impact professionals help with a solution in addressing skilled work shortage?   14:26 - How has Ferguson supported skilled trade?

In this episode, you'll learn about the "S" in ESG and why it needs clear reporting standards to measure its impact in a business. We explore the importance of social impact data, discuss the Impact Genome Registry and what benefits it provides to companies and social impact professionals.

1:04 - "Centre for Impact Sciences and Impact Genome Project" 6:25 - "What does the "S" in ESG really mean?"

10:11 - Is the current reporting standard for the "S" in ESG too basic?

11:55 - What is social impact data and why is it important?

15:10 - "Benefits of the Impact Genome Registry"

20:20 - How does the Registry work?

21:30 - How can this registry help social impact pros build their programs?

22:59 - Is the goal of the Impact Genome Registry to be the standard reporting tool for the "S" in ESG?

In this episode, you'll learn how to start and get buy-in for your employee resource group in the workplace. We chat with business resource group (BRG) leaders from Thermo Fisher and explore how their BRG's operate, attract new members, maintain engagement and what skills they gained from being a part of and managing their respective BRGs. We also discuss how to grow a community and examples of allyship with other groups in the workplace.

What we discussed:

0:00 - Introduction

1:23 - Areas of focus for your Business Resource Group 

6:01 - Getting buy-in, approval and support for BRG activities

8:20 - Is proving ROI a factor in maintaining buy-in?

11:40 - How do you promote your BRG and attract new members?

13:46 - Community Building

17:42 - How do you keep your members engaged?

26:07 - Successful examples of allyship with your BRG?

In this episode, you'll learn about employee resource groups (ERG) and an in-depth look at how they operate in a major business, Thermo Fisher.

We chat with the leads of Thermo Fisher's Business Resource Groups (BRG) and explore the how to start an ERG, growing memberships, benefits of joining and why these groups are important to increasing employee engagement and fostering community within a business.

Timestamp of our discussion:

5:44 - What is an ERG?

13:27 - How to start a BRG at Thermofisher?

14:55 - Getting involved in the BRG and what reason for joining?

22:27 - Benefits being a part of an employee resource group

27:15 - What relationships have you gained?

31:42 - What are some successes or activities resonating with members?

38:18 - Current BRG initiatives at Thermo Fisher

42:25 - How to prioritize BRG initiatives

47:06 - How BRG's align with Thermo Fisher's DE&I efforts?

In this episode, you'll learn how to build a social impact measurement framework and different ways to measure social impact. We chat with Nicole McPhail and Emily Hazell from Darwin Pivot, and explore social impact indicators and how to use data to assess your social impact programs.

Timestamp of our discussion:

0:47 - How to build a social impact measurement framework?

5:36 - What are social impact indicators?

8:36 - What are different ways to measure social impact?

11:34 - How do you know if your program is succeeding?

In this episode, you'll learn how to measure social impact including developing a measurement strategy, how to collect data, and measurement tools to consider.

We chat with Nicole McPhail and Emily Hazell from Darwin Pivot and explore how to analyze and use social impact data, what metrics to consider and how to make program decisions from the data. 

Timestamp of our discussion:

1:00 - How do we collect social impact data?

3:24 - What is qualitative and quantitative social impact data?

5:25 - How would you calculate the impact of social impact?

7:18 - Now I have my data...what do I do with it?

12:55 - What measurement tools to consider

18:06 - What if you don't have any qualitative data? Can you use anecedotal feedback?