Dear Friend,

We’ve all heard the saying, “The only constant in life is change.” and that dynamic is certainly true in the field of corporate social impact.

At this year’s Engage for Good (Virtual) Conference, we asked a panel of experts what their predictions were for the year ahead.

Scott Beaudoin EVP, Social Purpose & Sustainability at Brodeur Partners, was a featured panelist and shared his perspectives about how this field has morphed and evolved over the past two decades.

“This industry has changed so rapidly. When I first started in this field, social good initiatives were unrelated to the company’s core business – very transactional – rather than really advancing societal change. Today it’s so different – companies are approaching social good in a more strategic way. They recognize that aligning these projects with their business models and goals will improve their competitive advantage.”

Beaudoin says in the past CSR was on the outer edge of business and today it’s really at the core.

“As a consultant 23 years ago, I only really worked with marketing and PR teams and community relations or foundation teams. My primary contacts today are the C-suite, doing lot of work with investor relations executives who are struggling to figure all this out. The investment community is playing a huge role today.”

Additional differences that Beaudoin highlighted:

• Material issues versus pet causes of CEOs
• ESG instead of CSR
• B2B, not just B2C engagement
• Stakeholder engagement beyond a one-way PR/Communications discussion

To hear Beaudoin share more thoughts about the evolution of the social impact space including a mini case study and his advice for nonprofit corporate development professionals, see his full remarks here.

Sincerely,

David Hessekiel
President
Engage for Good

P.S. Long-term Communications Director (and good friend) Megan Strand’s last day at Engage for Good was June 30th. Please join me in wishing her well in her next venture, whatever that may be!