Eric Nee
Managing Editor
Stanford Social Innovation Review

June 12, 2012--Collective impact—the idea that organizations from different sectors of society need to join together to tackle pressing social problems—captured people’s imagination as soon as the concept first appeared in print in the winter 2011 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review. One and one-half years later the idea continues to gather momentum.

Earlier this week I attended several events—the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) 2012 Corporate Philanthropy Summit in New York City, the White House Council for Community Solutions meeting in Washington, D.C., and a roundtable on collective impact hosted by SSIR also in Washington, D.C.—where collective impact was front and center in the discussions.

In New York City more than 200 executives in charge of corporate philanthropy at many of the word’s largest corporations (including General Electric, Credit Suisse, McDonald’s, Total S.A., and IBM) gathered for two days of discussions. One of the sessions, “Making Multi-Sector Collaborations Work: Lessons from the White House Council for Community Solutions,” focused on the role that business can play in fostering collective impact solutions.

 

 

 

Cammie Erickson
Associate, Partnership Development
BSR

June 12, 2012--At last week’s Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) 2012 Corporate Philanthropy Summit in New York, I had the opportunity to attend the “Increasing Impact, Enhancing Value: A Practitioner’s Guide to Leading Corporate Philanthropy” breakout session. As moderator of the session, Kimberly H. Young, Director of Corporate Services at the Council on Foundations (COF) presented findings from the COF’s recently released report, (of the same name) “Increasing Impact, Enhancing Value: A Practitioner’s Guide to Leading Corporate Philanthropy”.

The research that COF conducted for this report painted a picture of the corporate philanthropy field as one that was bifurcated, in limbo, and in need of transformation. Intended to spark change in the field, this report presents recommendations to help corporate philanthropy leaders redefine their roles and create a more strategic and catalytic approach to corporate giving.

In the session, the speakers weighed in on the five main recommendations presented in the report:

1) Create a new narrative for corporate philanthropy as an investment in society.
2) Develop an inclusive “operating system” for philanthropic investment.
3) Professionalize the field.
4) Improve collaboration, communication, and knowledge sharing.
5) Mobilize “field level” leadership behind this agenda.

Harnessing Corporate Philanthropy to Educate the World's Poor
On International Corporate Philanthropy Day, CECP partnered with the United Nations on a program focused on Millennium Development Goal -2, “Promoting Universal Education for All.” Following on this event, we wanted to share with you a guest blog post focusing on a recent report by the Center for Universal Education at Brookings, which specifically examines the role of corporate philanthropy in addressing educational needs in developing countries.

 

 

Justin W. van Fleet
Ph.D. Candidate and Fellow, International Education Policy, University of Maryland
Guest Contributor, CECP Blog

Author of Brookings Report: A Global Education Challenge: Harnessing Corporate Philanthropy to Educate the World’s Poor

April 5, 2011 -- Despite the undeniable benefits of education for society, the educational needs around the world remain strikingly great, particularly in the poorest countries. The global community pledged to enroll all children in school by 2015 but thus far, has fallen short.  And UNESCO estimates that over $16 billion would be needed in external resources to achieve this goal.  With estimates showing American companies giving over $7 billion annually to support global health, no data existed on corporate philanthropic efforts to support education in the developing world, until now.