Stacey Jones Chilliwack

Stacey Jones Chilliwack

Whether they are empowering women, teaching technology skills, or connecting entrepreneurs, many forward-thinking companies are discovering that the key to sustainable social investing is creating programs with shared value for businesses and communities.

Gap Inc., Cisco Systems, and Off the Grid shared the benefits of aligning their social responsibility and business goals in an October panel discussion, “Transforming Lives – Just Business As Usual,”  hosted by the Stanford Center of Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS). Finding a way to earn business returns on social programs helps to further fund social programs, which in turn makes them more sustainable.

“We’ve moved away from the traditional philanthropic approach where we might write a check to a nonprofit and allow them to do what they want,” says Kathy Mulvany, Senior Director of Corporate Affairs at Cisco. “We take a much more involved approach now.”

The technology company’s Networking Academy program has been operating since 1997, teaching information technology (IT) skills to 4.75 million students in over 165 countries. Cisco provides free, online curriculum and assessments through a cloud-based platform, and instructor professional development. Communities provide the classrooms, lab equipment, and teachers.

The social goal of the program is to ensure opportunities for everyone to participate in a global networked economy, says Mulvany. On the business side, the Networking Academy creates a pipeline of skilled labor for Cisco, its partners and suppliers, and local industries. “If we want to expand in markets around the world, we need to ensure that there are people and individuals that understand how to use our technology, maintain our technology, and therefore want to buy our technology,” Mulvany says.

The program also helps create healthy markets for Cisco’s products and services when students open their own small businesses and become customers. A Facebook page for the community, reaching more than 600,000 students and graduates, also enables them to support each other, reducing the number of help calls to Cisco’s Networking Academy support center.

Seven years ago, Gap Inc. took a similar approach to philanthropy when the clothing company launched its P.A.C.E. (Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement) program to invest in women by educating female garment workers. About 80% of garment workers worldwide are women, as well as about 70% of Gap Inc.’s own employees.

On the social side, women learn basic life skills such as communication, problem solving, and financial literacy, which help them advance in the workplace and in their personal lives, says Dotti Hatcher, Executive Director, P.A.C.E. Global Initiatives. Women also reinvest their gains into their families and communities. On the business side, Gap Inc.’s factory partners see higher retention and greater productivity in the workplace.

“First and foremost, our goal is to change women’s lives and help unleash their potential in the workplace and in their personal lives,” Hatcher says. “But by providing opportunities for others involved in the program to benefit – the factories that make our clothes – we can help ensure that they remain invested and the program thrives.”

San Francisco’s Off The Grid takes a slightly different approach to social investment by connecting business and community interests. The organization creates weekly markets for about 200 small food truck businesses in 24 local communities, says founder Matt Cohen.

Communities benefit from access to unique food offerings at reasonable prices and having gathering places where neighbors can connect, he says. The weekly markets can also drive foot traffic to local businesses.

At the same time, businesses benefit from an affordable fixed pricing structure that’s about 10-12% of their gross revenues, which means they don’t have to compromise on food quality, says Cohen. A traditional street festival or fair might charge up to 30% of revenues, he says.

The food trucks also employ about 1,000 workers and create opportunities for many minority and women-owned businesses, Cohen says. Since it started in 2010, Off The Grid has doubled in size, and hopes to expand throughout Northern California next year.

Looking forward, Gap Inc. also plans to expand P.A.C.E. from 22 vendors to a minimum of 40 vendors by 2015, says Hatcher. The program is also spreading beyond factories and into communities in India, Cambodia and more through its NGO partners, and has completed a new learning module on women’s safety and security to be rolled out to all areas. “Our intent in developing the program was to positively impact the lives of as many women as we can,” says Hatcher. P.A.C.E. has already reached more than 23,000 women.

Hatcher goes further to say, “Critical to the initial development of the program was the identification of the key indicators we use to measure to show that impact.”  Recent program evaluations by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) have shown a 49% increase in self esteem and a 150% increase in self efficacy (the ability to accomplish goals and tasks) from women participating in the study.

Of the many indicators the evaluations measure, these are the two that are most meaningful to Hatcher, in her words: “Through Gap Inc.’s P.A.C.E. program women develop a belief in self, they find their voice and that can never be taken away.”