Mission-Led Businesses

 

A Socialbox.biz blog post update by Jenni (March 2018)

Were seeing an amazing new trend on the horizon of the business landscape!

Corporations all over the United Kingdom and beyond are declaring themselves as mission and purpose-led businesses,which means they have made a long-term commitment to positively impact their community through their operations and profit distribution. Businesses make up one of the greatest driving forces in our culture, so this shift toward more socially responsible behaviour has the potential to create monumental progress in solving major societal issues. 

At Socialbox.biz we welcome any such efforts and we wrote in our previous posts  about our hope for businesses in general to take stock of where they are and whether a drive for profits is really and truly the main goal and motivator.

The Cabinet Office review

In May 2016, the Cabinet Office in London sent out a blanket request for information about mission-led businesses that would help better understand the motivations, challenges, and successes of mission-led businesses.  Many of the questions in the survey asked for suggestions in quantifying the social impact of these organizations, and practical steps that can be taken to encourage other companies and entrepreneurs to take the leap into the mission-led world.

Report findings and recommendations

In December 2016, an independent panel led by Nigel Wilson, the Chief Executive of Legal & General, reviewed the information submitted about mission-led businesses to make some recommendations for the future. At that point, mission-led businesses were estimated to make up 4.2% of the economy, with the number growing daily.

The independent panel made some recommendations for the corporate community as a whole, including making a larger investment into corporate social impact programs.

They also recommend regular commercial companies partner with mission-led ventures when possible to promote their future success. Finally, the panel called on the academic community to include mission-led business activities in their curriculum to inspire new leaders to strengthen this sector of the economy.

So whats next?

If you run or work for a company which you think could benefit from stronger mission-led operations and practical social impact, SocialBox.biz consultants can help. Your company may have current language in their corporate governance policy which needs to be strengthened, or may need help finding practical methods to implement and execute social strategy. There are some simple ways we can recommend to support ongoing efforts, as opposed to one-time charitable gifts which have limited impact.

For information on our consulting services or to participate in one of our social impact initiatives, please use our Contact form: https://www.socialbox.biz/contact-us/

At Socialbox, our mission is to empower vulnerable populations to achieve lifelong career success through digital inclusion. To support that mission, we offer technology and corporate governance consulting services to UK corporations. Our work with these corporations includes use of technology and technological innovation, so we can redistribute unneeded laptop computers on behalf of our clients boosting their social impact. We distribute laptops to the homeless, refugees, and other disadvantaged groups, and then host free computer classes for these individuals on topics like open source software and resume building. We aim to have these services delivered by formerly disadvantaged people encouraging participating firms to provide employment to formerly homeless people.

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