Wednesday, October 18
Day 2 Activities
Breakfast
Plenary Sessions
Moderator: Aldustus Jordan, Vanguard
Panelists: Melissa Partridge, Loomis, Sayles & Company; Robert Simmons, Micron; Jerome Tennille, The Uplift Agency; Amy Chapman, Capital One
In this session, panelists will discuss the current demographic makeup for the CSR field, barriers to entry for various industry workforces, centering equity in the conversation, as well as tactics and examples CSR professionals can use and infuse in their practices, their partnerships, and signature programs to create a more diverse talent pipeline for our organizations and the future of social impact.
Moderator: Monique Carswell, Walmart
Panelists: Anita Whitehead & Maureen Davenport, KPMG; Andrea Riehl, Best Buy; Hugh Cherne, Best Buy & Barbara Mahnen, Bank of America;
In this session, we will look at different examples of how organizations have found ways to collaborate cross-functionally to maximize impact in the areas of corporate reputation and purpose (including DEI, CSR, ESG, and Sustainability). Session panelists will explore their journeys to now, challenges they’ve encountered, tips for overcoming, and the “case” for integration.
Break
CSR Marketplace Live Learning Labs
Speaker: Brittany Hill, Accelerist
Now is the time for impact professionals to evolve their strategies if they want to keep up with the changing landscape of Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Impact. With new reporting requirements, shifts in employee and consumer engagement with purpose, and impact becoming core to company culture, it’s hard to know just where to begin.
Speakers: Jessie Kraft, CAF America; Devin Mathias, Center for Disaster Philanthropy
This session will explore strategies for designing an effective disaster relief and crisis grantmaking program. Participants will discuss the development of a disaster philanthropy strategy and important considerations for ensuring their partners on the ground are prepared and ready to support their communities during a time of crisis, from both domestic and international lenses, and the different considerations for working with US charities vs. foreign organizations.
Speaker: Jewell Willett, YourCause from Blackbaud & Jennifer Lind from Vizient, Inc.
CSR and ESG programs are often some of the first areas of a business to recognize or be asked to evaluate program evolution based on new policy and social drivers. How can companies continue to deliver on their program pillars while assessing necessary changes due to these impacts? In this session, attendees will discover how their organization can evaluate opportunities for changes to their program pillars, build a decision-making process, engage and speak to key stakeholders, and ultimately respond or implement change.
Speakers: Lauren McCarthy, Bonterra; Alex Dailerian, Comcast
Today’s workforce increasingly prioritizes working for companies that cultivate a strong sense of purpose and an inclusive culture. As a result, leading businesses have implemented corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs that reinforce a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are often the key vehicle to a DEIB-centric culture. During this session, attendees will learn why your organization should invest in ERGs and how to implement a scalable program.
Speaker: Sona Khosla & Susan Keith Bleekman, Benevity
Corporate purpose programs look different in 2023. There’s polarization in the workplace; a heightened desire for DEI; skepticism around ESG reporting; and an emerging trend of “quiet giving” – all within the context of increasing stakeholder expectations and the need to deliver bottom line results during difficult economic times. This presentation highlights the top trends shaping the future of corporate purpose and how companies are leaning into them to achieve both business and social impact.
Speaker: Rich Maiore, Rocket Social Impact
Companies face a growing challenge telling their CSR & ESG story in an increasingly crowded, cynical, and changing marketplace. This new reality requires CSR communicators to re-think their approach to messages, content, and ways to reach and engage employees, consumers, and other stakeholders. This interactive session will cover a range of trends and new ideas to leave participants informed and inspired to raise awareness and engagement for their company’s CSR & ESG efforts.
Refreshments & Exhibits
Learning Labs
Speaker: Hemang Desai, SAP; Maura Fulton, Pyxera Global
Learn how a CSR initiative can drive long-term impact for society, and meaningfully benefit your employees and company through insights, best practices, and actionable takeaways from SAP’s award-winning Social Sabbatical program.
Speaker: John Brothers, T. Rowe Price
There’s a perception that unrestricted funding is an automatic qualifier to being a trust-based funder yet there’s a distinction between the two. In this session, John Brothers of the T. Rowe Price Foundation unpacks the difference between unrestricted funding deployed in a trust-based way and what it looks like when it’s not. Explore case studies from funders who have shifted from project-specific to majority unrestricted funding and those who have embedded trust-based values within semi-restricted grants to be mindful and responsive to grantee needs and long term success.
Speaker: Erica Henderson, GSK
This session will help attendees to begin to think about ways they can drive the importance of charitable investments through metric capturing with leadership teams, by evaluating how and why programs are funded, and discussing shared outcomes and alignment to business objectives.
Participants will be broken into smaller focus groups and run through the 5 Why’s exercise for charitable investments. Participants will be able to think about what ways they can measure the programs they support and demonstrate the impact to Leadership.
Speakers: Rahman Khan, Charter Communications
Recently the need for CSR teams to prove their impact, both internally and externally, and align to the business has become essential to maintaining and growing resources. During the pandemic, Charter Communications/Spectrum launched a $30M initiative to improve local communities, while growing their resources. Hear the action steps they took to gain internal buy-in and work cross-functionally to build resiliency for the business and partnerships for their programs.
Speaker: Janelle St. Omer, Realized Worth
To embrace the moment and propel purpose, organizations must dare to face society’s pressing issues head-on and recognize the role social impact programs and professionals play in addressing them. We have to make the direct connection between the current state of corporate volunteering, the moment we find ourselves in society, and the power of genuine purpose in the lives of our employees. This session will make that connection and invite participants to take home practical, tactical steps for optimizing their programs immediately through pertinent research, inspiring storytelling, and audience engagement.
Speakers: Jerome Tenille and Corinne Graper, The Uplift Agency and Helen-Marie Seibel, BMO
In this session, you will discover practical tools and frameworks to design a signature social impact program. You’ll walk through the framework and step-by-step process BMO Bank and The Uplift Agency used to build BMOs signature program including how to identify key stakeholders, research methods to engage stakeholders, collect credible data and gather insights, narrowing your list of potential social or environmental issues, and gaining buy-in and overcoming roadblocks.
Lunch
Member Groups and Topical Discussions
The community created in peer learning environments is a hallmark of the ACCP experience. In the afternoon of the second day of Conference, you’ll have the opportunity to engage with your peers in a shared community or topic of your choosing from the options listed below:
- Emerging Leaders
- Executive Network
- CSR Small Teams
- Foundations & Grantmaking
- Topical Discussion: Volunteerism
- Topical Discussion: The Politicization of ESG and DEI
If you are interested in engaging in a group you don’t see listed or would like to learn more, please contact Hillary Roviaro. Please note: this opportunity is only open to corporate social impact practitioners.
Break
Fireside Chats
As a Director in Boeing Global Engagement (BGE) at The Boeing Company, Stephen Harris is at the intersection of aerospace innovation and social impact. At the helm of Boeing’s corporate citizenship organization, Stephen masterminds strategic implementations and backend business responsibilities. Stephen came into social impact work after working directly in the aerospace field. Stephen began his career in engineering and prior to joining BGE, designed aircraft flight programs for military aircraft for nearly a decade. Learn how his over 20 years of experience in multiple fields has shaped his vision of social impact at Boeing, and how he continues to find inspiration for the future.
As a high-energy, motivated ESG storyteller and high five enthusiast, Elizabeth Okey has dedicated more than 15 years to social impact, business and stakeholder engagement, and communications. At Wintrust, she specializes in ESG communications, brand positioning, employee engagement and community relations. Elizabeth began her career in the Chicago non-profit sector, specializing in program development, corporate stewardship, fundraising and community engagement and went on to work for a global PR firm consulting corporate clients on social impact initiatives. As someone with a vast knowledge of ESG, hear how she has seen this shape social impact at her company, how she continues to grow and learn and what she sees for social impact in the future.
Victor is more than just an experienced philanthropy and employee engagement professional with a track record of building strategic and mutually-beneficial impact partnerships and programs. He is also an authentic storyteller who activates employees and organizations to do good by combining passion and strategy, most recently at Okta where he leads their social impact strategy. Prior to his time at Okta, Victor worked in Community Impact for CSAA Insurance Group, after having spent some time fundraising for nonprofits. As a creative thinker, Victor is excited to share more about his career journey, including what he’s learned about building partnerships, telling stories and growing in his work.
Spark Sessions
Speakers: Nima Farshchi and Stephanie Cantor, CSVC at UMD
The Center for Social Value Creation (CSVC) at University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School for Business recently published their report “The State of Environmental and Social Value Creation”, summarizing how companies are driving ESVC in North America. This Spark Session will feature CSVC as they present back-to-back key initiative trends of 93 companies across nine industries: Consumer Goods and Retail, Energy, Healthcare, Technology, Financial Service, Automobile, Hospitality, Telecom, and Entertainment, and the role educational institutions can play in this journey.
Speakers: Paige LaCour, William Blair; Jennifer Bronner, Cox Enterprises & Christine Jereb, Comcast
Employee engagement can take many forms, from wellbeing initiatives to volunteerism to employee resources groups and more. Encouraging participation while presenting opportunities that are meaningful, not only for the employee but also the community, can be challenging and may require different tactics and approaches that fit your employees’ motivators and your own social impact priorities. In this Spark Session, three companies will discuss their efforts to increase involvement from their employees. Aligned with Project UP, Comcast’s comprehensive initiative to advance digital equity, Team UP is the latest chapter in the company’s long history of service and local engagement. Hear how Cox is leveraging their 34 by 34 social impact goal, to help 34 million people live more prosperous lives by 2034 and to unify and excite their workforce towards collective impact. William Blair’s differentiated, employee-inspired model empowers colleagues to drive the impact of charitable contributions and democratizes philanthropy rather than centralizing it.
Refreshments & Exhibits
Workshops
Speaker: Tené Traylor, Urban Institute and Kristen Scheyder, Citi Foundation
Nonprofits are experts in their communities; yet funder and output-centered models and inequitable grantmaking practices limit organizations’ ability to drive change. Citi Foundation and Urban Institute will highlight Community Progress Makers, an initiative that enables community-based organizations to grow their impact. We will detail complementing flexible support with capacity-building and examine a case study on embedding racial equity, learning communities, and feedback loops into the grantmaking process to accelerate positive social impact and encourage equitable investment.
Speaker: Matt Turner, Otis Worldwide
Delivering impact on a global scale requires total organizational collaboration. When building a signature social impact program across business functions, and even borders, creating a flexible “freedom within a framework” allows for local customization while maintaining the quality of outcomes for all team members and is essential to delivering lasting, sustainable impact.
Speaker: Kyson Bunthuwong, Philanthropy Together
Giving Circles bring groups of people together to pool their money and decide where to make a collective gift. They leverage the wisdom, talents, resources, and voices in a collective. This is people-powered philanthropy — giving that is values-aligned and centers our communities and people. During this interactive workshop, Philanthropy Together will share tips and best practices to bring this powerful tool to your organization.
Speakers: Leah Brody, Changing Our World; Ashly Ligouri, Xcel Energy
In this session, Changing our World partners with Xcel Energy to discuss Xcel’s recent efforts to embark on a measurement journey to better capture and communicate the impact of its Focus Area Grant program. They’ll discuss the challenges faced in the previous approach and the current efforts to create a more effective measurement system, including metrics and tools used to measure, processes for analyzing and collecting data, and the communications tactics employed to share results with stakeholders. This session is ideal for those new to social impact measurement and will provide tried and true tips to get started.
Speaker: Fanny Laguna, Sage Foundation; Stacey Queroli, S&P Global; Kate Mayer, Securian Financial
Changes to the business are happening constantly, requiring CSR teams to quickly learn how to analyze, scale, pivot, and communicate about existing programs, while preserving company culture & goals. S&P Global underwent a massive merger of not just two businesses but two social impact approaches, Securian Financial reimagined its annual giving campaign to support retention strategies for its now hybrid workforce, and the team at Sage Foundation designed a scalable skills-based volunteer program for their company. Hear the journeys and tips of these social impact teams leading employee programs through times of change.
Speakers: Mariela Poleo, Simón Bolívar Foundation at CITGO and Sarah Groninger, Global Giving
The journey toward more equitable corporate giving starts with seeking new perspectives. In this session, attendees will learn how putting nonprofit partners at the center, listening, sharing power, and eliminating barriers allows social impact work to be transformed. Participants will see this applied through the story of when the Simón Bolívar Foundation supported Venezuelan nonprofits with grantmaking and capacity building to design a program to address their needs.
Break
Closing General Session – Heart of an Activist, Mind of a Strategist
In this talk Jamira will examine how millennials and GenZ are forcing businesses, communities, non-profits, and governments to do more. She will share some of the exciting innovations that utilize technology, data, and collaboration to create real social impact in our communities. With the heart of an activist and the mind of a strategist, Jamira works to center the voices of those who are most affected by our broken systems. Attendees will leave with strategies to effectively tap the full potential of the workforce, incorporate participatory practices, and develop innovative approaches to drive social impact further.
