YakShaving

At this year’s Net Impact conference right here in Chicago, I learned a ton and met a multitude of interesting people.

I got to catch panels about Social entrepreneurship, Corporate Social Responsiblity, and Business and Technology for social good at the Professional Summit.

I will be posting some highlights and notes from the conference since I am supposed to digitize my notes for NetImpact.

Some interesting tidbits:
Bobbi Stillen, Chief Foundation officer of Gap Inc. talked about Gap’s stance on CSR and went into detail about (Product) RED.
She said CSR is changing form at GAP:

• Business influence on social sector is at all time high (philanthropy at all time high too)
• CSR More strategic than ever– Employees want to be associated with a cause or mission, not just selling t-shirts
• Increasingly global -- companies are responsible to all the communities they touch, including those in the developing world where factories are.
• Encourages collaboration between companies — one of the few areas in which foundation officers can call each other and ask “What are you doing in the CSR space?”. (Gap called Home Depot)
• Making headlines — new business models (product RED, MFI, etc).

Things that need to change in CSR:

* Currently, only 5% of total philanthropy is corporate giving. 76% is from individuals, 12% from private foundations.

* Corporate volunteerism is extremely low– Very few companies volunteer more than 1 hour per year (I found this shocking).

Challenges/Opportunities foundations face:
* Complexity of issues (Increasingly global, companies reach vast numbers of people and communities)

* Staying focused (Leverage core competencies– look in your target markets)

* Measuring results (Bring level of analytical rigor to performance of CSR other than $ donated)

* Driving innovation (e.g. Play-pump in Africa)

* Creating sustainability (what happens when the sizzle from Product RED goes away? How will these projects sustain themselves?)

Gap has addressed their challenges in some interesting ways. They realized that teens are their primary markets. They wanted to group their CSR initiative by raising awareness amongst teens about global issues like AIDS in Africa.

Gap acknowledged that employees are 4 TIMES more loyal to a company they feel is pursuing some higher mission than selling their products. (I love this theme, Andy Lock of Herman Miller said it too)..
Bobbi referenced a study that showed 92% of MBAs at top-tier schools are more likely to work for a company with an active CSR program– but here’s the kicker, folks: They’re willing to do it for 14% LESS PAY. Gap took this a step further and suggest that loyal employees leads to loyal customers. 90% of teens choose more socially responsible products based on brand.

Since Gap Inc has 5 brands under its umbrella, the foundation tries to take a back seat and let its brands take the “credit” for their CSR efforts.
Bobbi went into detail about the Youth Signature program, a training program in Delhi/Bangalore, and efforts in Lesotho (where 33% of apparel workers are HIV+!!)
Product RED tenets

• Create DESIRE: Gap wanted to create a remarkable product– not make the customer feel like they are compromising to “save the world”.
• Tap into mainstream: Gap already has a fantastic market of teens and young adults buying their clothes. There are people who already understand the importance of providing assistance for AIDS relief in Africa, but tapping into the mainstream consumer is essential, and a responsiblity of the company (American consumer culture won’t get it any other way…)
• Leverages entire value chain

* There’s this awesome vid clip of Don Cheadle saying “Can a t-shirt change the world?…… This one can.”

* Dr Richard Feacham of the Global Fund is really excited about the Project RED idea– He thinks its the future of philanthropy.

* The founder of Gap, Donald Fisher, emphatically stated “This is the way we’ll do business…”

The “New Philanthropy”
virtue –> desire

fragmented –> focused

reactive –> leading

charity –> social investment

Finally, Bobbi briefly mentioned a relationship with Credit Suisse to measure the business ROI of Project RED, with hopes to expand the project in the future.