As social impact organisations stir our conscience, where does your organisation stand?
Social Impact Report: Analysing the trends and companies reshaping the role of enterprise in society, with expert insights from Boyden's Global Social Impact Practice Members
The organisations highlighted here are trailblazers ‘doing well by doing good,’ focusing on impact and creating greater alignment between profit, people and planet.
Not only are they well recognised brands, they have distinctive business models and interesting histories that laid strong foundations for evolutionary change through to today. Led by visionaries determined to have an impact, they act as portals for development aid and silent philanthropy, creating community webs around the globe in a real-world illustration of viral power.
"These organizations – spanning both leading brands and influential nonprofits – are pioneering a path where mission aligns with market momentum. By demonstrating how impact-driven strategies build lasting brand value and community trust, they offer powerful case studies for for-profit companies aiming for sustainable growth that benefits shareholders and society alike."
Established the independent adidas Foundation to achieve impact specifically relating to people, planet and relief
Subaru of America
Defining itself as‘More Than a Car Company®’
The Coca-Cola Company
Pursuing‘people-first digital transformation’in a learning culture
Adidas
German multinational
Turnover 2023: $21 billion
Employees: 59,000
Established the independent adidas Foundation to achieve impact specifically relating to people, planet and relief
When Bjørn Gulden became CEO of Adidas in 2023 in his first town hall meeting he gave all 60,000 employees his personal telephone number in the belief that “employees should have access to leadership,” insisting that to earn respect and build trust, you have to listen first. He said, “You see from the things you get directly to yourself what is important for people”.
In March 2024, adidas announced the establishment of the adidas Foundation “to consolidate and amplify the company’s commitment to making a meaningful impact on the communities it serves” focusing on three core pillars: people, planet and relief.
People-led programmes will emphasise anti-discrimination, sport for development and inclusive access to sports for all.
Planet-led programmes will concentrate on preserving physical spaces for sport and promoting sustainable practices in sport.
Relief-led programmes will enable the Foundation to respond to the evolving needs of partners and the global communities they serve during crises.
The adidas Foundation is an independent entity, supervised by a Board of Directors, primarily independent experts acting as the sole shareholder of the adidas Foundation.
adidas is a partner with SOS Children’s Villages. This has grown into one of the largest non-governmental organisations dedicated to supporting children without families in the world. SOS Children’s Villages works to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals “with the greatest impact for children and young people without parental care or at risk of losing it”.
Adidas Parley is a collection of clothing and footwear from a collaboration between Adidas and Parley for the Oceans, an organisation that addresses environmental/ocean threats from plastic pollution. For nearly 10 years the collaboration “has driven eco-innovation at all levels of the supply chain and created a global oceans movement through the power of sport”.
A subsidiary of Subaru Corporation of Japan
Turnover (worldwide) 2023: $31 billion
Employees (America): 6,900
Defining itself as‘More Than a Car Company®’
Subaru was again ranked number two overall on Forbes’ best brands for social impact 2024 and the number one brand in automotive
Subaru’s activities that make it ‘more than a car company’ include ‘Share the Love’ events supporting charitable organisations, funding non-profits in communities across America and a zero-landfill production plant. Examples are:
Subaru Loves Learning Initiative: partnership with AdoptAClassroom.org, donates resources to understaffed classrooms, helped over ½ million children in 2023. 25th anniversary of partnership in 2024
Subaru Loves to Care: has donated more to the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Society than any other automotive company, has given over 10,000 patient care kits and 51,000 blankets
Subaru Loves the Earth: largest financial donator to the National Earth Foundation, began the ‘Don’t Feed the Landfills’ Initiative
Subaru Share the Love: for every new vehicle sold or leased from Subaru of America, $250 is given to the customer’s choice of charity from among the ASPCA, Make-A-Wish®, Meals on Wheels America or National Park Foundation
Since the inception of the partnership between ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and Subaru in 2008, the ASPCA has received over $38 million in critical, life-saving funds, which has helped impact the rescue, transport, well-being and adoption of more than 134,000 animals across the United States
Gear for Good initiative: Subaru retailers donated $8,000+ soccer equipment to deprived areas of Philadelphia in 2023
In the 2023 Subaru of America Corporate Impact Report, Sheila Galluci-Davis, Subaru Senior VP-General Counsel, Legal, Corporate Responsibility and Philanthropy says, “At Subaru, we speak a lot about our Subaru family. That is genuine and heartfelt”
From 2003-2023, Subaru of America (SOA) and SOA Foundation have donated $320 million to causes the Subaru family cares about, and employees logged over 100,000 volunteer hours
Jeff Walters, President and COO and Tadashi Yoshida, Chairman and CEO: “Our mission goes beyond just selling cars. It means coming together as a winning team to treat all with respect, create quality products, put safety first, invest in our communities, and create a rewarding place to work”.
American multinational
Operating income 2023: $11.6 billion
Employees: 79,100
Pursuing‘people-first digital transformation’in a learning culture
The onward march of Gen AI and digital transformation has led to widespread concern around the potential loss of careers and jobs. Research by the McKinsey Global Institute estimates one in every 16 workers will need to transition to new roles by 2030 to meet demand for digital skills.
To get ahead on this, The Coca-Cola Company established a digital academy to upskill team leaders and managers across its business operations, in a people-first story of digital transformation. Digital skills training was then rolled out to 4,000 employees across the organisation.
Gigy Philip, Transformation Director, Coca-Cola Company, explains, “The broad range of digital technologies that we’re seeking to adopt as part of the transformation will fundamentally change the way we work. So, a significant number of existing roles will require new knowledge and new skills”
The decision to launch a digital academy was driven not only by talent shortages, but also by reskilling, contributing to the learning culture leaders wanted to develop in the organisation. It also bridges a skills gap, most notably for data scientists.
The digital academy is designed to build foundational knowledge and skills on core digital, analytics and agile topics to support success in a digital world for all 3,000 employees across the commercial product supply chain.
At the end of the learning journeys, Coca-Cola had run over 7,000 training events and completed over 60,000 hours of training.
Iain McLaughlin, VP Commercial Product Supply, Coca-Cola Company says, “It’s the single biggest investment we’ve ever made in training... we have a phenomenally engaged team in consumer product supply that is a really huge asset to the business... we see the investment in the digital academy as being instrumental in building the skills of the team”.
Providing opportunity to young people through computing initiatives in Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States
ActionAid International
‘All children should have an equal chance to thrive’
Aga Khan Foundation
Foundation USA: $65 million
Aga Khan Development Network: 96,000 paid staff
‘Building a future where we all thrive together’
The Aga Khan Foundation is a private, not-for-profit international development agency, founded in 1967 by Shah Karim Al Hussaini, Aga Khan IV, the 49th Hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. It has impact in over 30 countries.
“The search for justice and security, the struggle for equality of opportunity, the quest for tolerance and harmony, the pursuit of human dignity – these are moral
imperatives which we must work towards and think about on a daily basis,” His Highness The Aga Khan.
The Foundation employs 96,000 people, reaches 2 million learners each year, provides care to more than 14 million people annually and financial services to over 50 million people.
It has annual revenues of around US$4 billion, from development agencies, private foundations and corporations, as well as the Aga Khan. An endowment contributes towards operating costs.
The Foundation tackles the root causes of poverty, including:
Launch of the AgroVida programme to improve nutrition and food security for 125,000 people in Northern Mozambique.
US$10 million partnership with KfW development bank in Pakistan to boost entrepreneurship and create 2,500 jobs.
The Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), headquartered in Frankfurt, is an international organisation that works with partners in developing countries to identify projects/programmes which promote sustainable development. It was formed in 1948 as part of the Marshall Plan.
Raspberry Pi Ltd (commercial subsidiary) market cap 2024: £760 million / $1 billion
Providing opportunity to young people through computing initiatives in Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States
The organisation has an interesting business model. Originally set up as a UK-based charity, Raspberry Pi Ltd was incorporated in 2012 as the commercial subsidiary of Raspberry Pi Foundation and wholly owned by the charity (and therefore its source of funding).
In June 2024, Raspberry Pi Ltd listed on the London Stock Exchange as Raspberry Pi Holdings Plc. It has a market cap of over $1bn / £760 million.
Raspberry Pi’s mission is to enable young people to realise their full potential through the power of computing and digital technologies.
The Founder and CEO of Raspberry Pi, Dr Eben Upton CBE, has a background as a physicist, an engineer, a computer scientist, a Chief Tech Officer, an academic at Cambridge University and was a member of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Business Council.
Ben Durbin, Head of Impact, says: “My team delivers evaluations on a wide range of programmes that includes Code Clubs in India, vocational training for refugees in Kenya, curriculum resource used by teachers in England, activities for youth groups in the US, and a competition in Europe that gives young people the opportunity to run their computer programs on the international space station”
The organisation has sold over 60 million low-cost, high-performance, general-purpose Raspberry Pi computers to the enthusiasts and educators at the heart of the Raspberry Pi movement.
Income 2023: $260 million
Employees and volunteers: 3,000
‘All children should have an equal chance to thrive’
ActionAid is an international NGO founded in the UK 1972, active in 45 countries with a head office in South Africa. Its country offices work with communities on a range of development issues.
In 2023 ActionAid’s total income was over €240 million / $260 million.
Its roots were in access to private funding for child-focused community investment, starting with 88 initial supporters sponsoring 88 individual children.
It is now a global community connecting sponsors to children, developing a special relationship with them and their community. Sponsorship funds food, education, clean water and healthcare.
ActionAid is also a voice for the vulnerable, those in crisis and emergency and is an advocate for women worldwide.
ActionAid UK is distinctive in having three female interim co-CEOs who, upon their appointment together commented, "We are committed to sharing power and decision-making within ActionAid UK, and our intention is that a feminist leadership structure will support our goal to achieve the greatest impact possible for women and girls by shifting our resources and power to their organisations and movements worldwide”.
A major campaigner for climate justice, Teresa Anderson, Global Lead for Climate Justice for ActionAid International says, “Climate finance is not only about making climate action fair, it’s about making climate action possible. The financial system needs to be totally transformed to help countries drowning in climate-induced debt, to stop it fuelling our planet’s destruction, and to put us on track to survive the climate crisis”.
“In today’s world, corporate responsibility is no longer optional but an imperative. These trailblazers demonstrate that doing good is not only ethical but strategically sound. By aligning their business model with societal and environmental goals, they prove that impact and innovation can—and should—thrive together.
Whether for-profit or not, these companies offer a roadmap for those seeking to grow responsibly while making a meaningful difference, illustrating how aligning purpose with profit creates enduring value, building resilience, loyalty, and a sustainable future.”
