It’s been busy at Cause Consulting filled with client projects, teaching and learning, and continuing to celebrate our 20 years of impact. We’re excited to share some recent activities and insights with you.
Mark Feldman and Nikki Korn Lead Workshop at ACCP Conference
As always, we left the Association for Corporate Citizenship Professionals Annual Conference feeling energized and inspired by the incredible leaders advancing this critical work.
Mark Feldman and Nikki Korn led a workshop on ways to refresh social impact strategies. Their recommendations included using impact modeling to measure outcomes rather than outputs, emphasizing the importance of having a signature program, creating a defined theory of change, and applying measurement practices to better articulate and humanize the work.
We also had the privilege of celebrating Carolyn Berkowitz as she embarks on her next adventures. Thank you, Carolyn, for your fearless leadership in advancing our field and for your invaluable partnership over the years!
Feldman Urges Leaders to Plan for Future Societal Issues
Mark Feldman shared his thoughts on how companies and leaders should address pressing societal issues, crises, and controversies in David Hessekiel’s recent article in Forbes.
David gathered an exceptional group of agency leaders to share insights on this critical topic, including Mollye Rhea, Phillip Haid, Andrew Bleeker, and the team at Engage for Good.
Welcome Elle Nichols to the Team!
Join us in welcoming Elle Nichols to Cause Consulting from Dove brands at Unilever. She is a purpose-driven leader with vast experience leveraging business and nonprofit partnerships to address critical issues impacting underserved communities and the planet. Elle brings her brand management and communications expertise to designing signature programs that impact lives, elevate brands, and advance organizational priorities. Learn more about Elle.
Cause Consulting on the Road
Our team has been on the road a lot over the past few months reconnecting with colleagues, teaching, and learning from other experts in the field. Perhaps our paths crossed at the Boston Business Journal Corporate Citizenship Awards, the ACCP Annual Conference in San Diego, or Boston Medical Center’s EQTY 2024 Summit.
We hope to see you at an event, conference, or celebration in the coming months!
New Season of Made in America Highlights Ohio Entrepreneurs
We’ve enjoyed learning all about the incredible journeys of Ohio entrepreneurs in GoDaddy’s fifth season of their award-winning series, Made in America.
This season follows Darren and Theresa Carter as they navigated the challenges of building Carter’s BBQ from the ground up; and Lisa Brickey and Vonda Rogers, whose passion for retro goods led them to build Gray Bush Vintage Market into a thriving online and brick-and-mortar business
With support from the Economic and Community Development Institute and Empower by GoDaddy, these entrepreneurs overcame obstacles, created community connections, and built thriving small businesses. Watch the new season.
An Insight Series by Cause Consulting
Navigating Intensity: Tips for Social Impact Leaders
Have you noticed how intense business, social impact, and the literal climate are this Fall? Are you facing more critics than ever; more pressure to prove impact; more asks to do more with less resources; more horrific humanitarian and climate situations to respond to, and, on top of all of this, more urgency to listen and tread lightly during a heated, critical election? Read Nikki Korn’s blog on how we can keep perspective, maintain positivity, stay energized, and drive toward great results.
Applying an Olympic Mindset to Social Impact Work
The Paris Olympics may be long over, but we continue to be inspired by the incredible stories of strength, perseverance, commitment and unity displayed by all the athletes involved. Read Nikki Korn’s blog to learn how CSR and ESG professionals can apply lessons learned from Olympians to advance social impact efforts.
A Mindset for Social Impact: The Community Without Walls
Nikki Korn is urging leaders to think differently about their approach to social impact. The “Community Without Walls” mindset is all about taking on challenges that face society with a proactive, empathetic, and thoughtful approach. In this blog, Nikki shares how businesses can leverage strategies for effective problem-solving and holistic support to address health, economic, and environmental challenges.
5 Essential Actions to Advance the “S” in ESG
How should we address the ‘S’ in ESG practice? Great progress has been made in environmental and governance arenas, however for many companies approaches to advance the “S” and both internally and externally continue to remain immature and incomplete. In Mark’s blog, you will discover 5 keys to connect and maximize your social impact work.
Social Impact Storytelling: A Powerful Tool for Change
In the fast-paced world of corporate social impact, our stories are more than just updates—they’re powerful tools for change. Read Aaron Johnson’s blog to discover how storytelling can drive action, engagement and amplify your impact, even in the face of resource constraints. You can dive further into strategies for engaging stakeholders in your communications and storytelling in Aaron’s second blog of the series.
Courageous Together Flashback
Celebrating 16 Years of Brewing the American Dream
In 2008, we co-created and launched Brewing the American Dream with Samuel Adams, using the brand’s unique approach to support entrepreneurs in the food, beverage, and hospitality industry. The program helps create jobs and provides loans to small businesses that might otherwise lack access to traditional capital.
We were inspired to hear Jim Koch, co-founder of the Boston Beer Company, sit down with Fox Business to share the company’s signature social impact’s origin story. Watch the video here.
We’re so proud of this incredible program, which over 16 years, has provided over $100M in loans to small businesses and provided coaching to more than 15,000 entrepreneurs.