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• What are Corporate Social Investors (CSIs)?
• What is the EVPA Corporate Initiative?
• Events
• Publications & Tools
• Latest News

If you're a corporate social investor looking for guidance on how to achieve social impact by strategically leveraging corporate resources, contact Isabelle Schiltz, Corporate Initiative Community Project Manager: ischiltz@evpa.ngo.

What are Corporate Social Investors (CSIs)?

• They support social purpose organisations (e.g. social enterprises, charities) with financial and non-financial support.
• They are investors for impact related to a company: a corporate foundation, corporate impact fund, corporate impact incubator, accelerator, a social business

Take a look at our two success stories of Trafigura Foundation and C&A Foundation (now Laudes Foundation) and find out more about how CSIs pursue innovative venture philanthropy practices to create social impact.

What is the EVPA Corporate Initiative?

The Corporate Initiative (CI) connects close to 100 European Corporate Social Investors in search for the most effective ways to advance their social impact by strategically leveraging corporate resources.

Our vision is to have a well-functioning space of Corporate Social Investors, in which CSIs have the necessary expertise, guidance, network and recognition to contribute to real long-term social change, directly through their own operations or indirectly by influencing the operations of the related company.

On top of the regular EVPA membership benefits, EVPA Corporate Initiative members also get the following tailored benefits:

• 1 free ticket for C Summit – Europe’s biggest corporate philanthropy and social investing summit.
• Priority speaking slot for C Summit.
• Access to workshops and events specifically organised for Corporate Social Investors.
• Priority to co-create research and publications on corporate social investing: participate in expert groups and/or in case studies.
• Get a chance to tell the world what you do and be featured in our corporate success stories.
• New - Optional: Call with the Corporate Initiative research team (60 minutes) for an introduction to our CI guidance materials / benchmarking / Individual Assessment Call / indepth discussion:
  • Employee engagement
  • Strategic alignment
  • Collective Corporate Impact Strategies (i.e. how a corporate foundation and a corporate impact fund optimise their impact strategies? When and how to set up a corporate impact fund?...)
  • Impact integrity

Events

The Corporate Initiative organises events on a regular basis to create a stronger network of CSIs. Corporate Initiative members receive 1 free ticket (+ any additional ticket at discounted rate) for both the C Summit and Connect4Change.

The C Summit

The C Summit is the European Corporate Philanthropy & Social Investing annual summit, connecting around 200 practitioners and experts from the field. 15-16 November 2021, Porto, Portugal

Connect4Change

Connect4Change is the annual gathering for senior leaders of Corporate Social Investors to share experiences, challenges, best practices and failures under Chatham House rules. Members only. “What this EVPA gathering offers me is a peer-to-peer approach on a level that I cannot find anywhere else. That is the place where we can under Chatham House rules exchange wonderful ideas, brainstorm on relevant issues. That is why I’m here. This brought quite a lot of interesting and promising insights to me” — Stefan Huber Fux, Director of Swiss Re Foundation

Publications & Tools

The Corporate Initiative conducts pioneering research on the latest corporate social investing trends to help practitioners improve their practices. Our research builds on the collective expertise and knowledge of our members and experts in the field.

Impact Integrity

Being an impact-driven organisation linked to a company is not easy. How can corporate foundations and impact investors deal with the inherent tensions that this relationship brings, and safeguard their impact integrity? Our research will help you assess whether the impact integrity of your organisation might be at risk and what you can do about it. To access the infographic, click here.

Collective Corporate Impact Strategies

Take a look at how companies with multiple CSIs can pursue collective impact strategies to broaden the scope of their social impact, scale the impact of a particular investee or deepen the impact on particular communities. To access the leaflet and case studies, click here.

Social Impact through Strategic Alignment

EVPA has developed the first typology explaining the various ways Corporate Social Investors can align with their related company to enhance their social impact. Click here to access it Read "The Rise of the Corporate Social Investor" published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) based on EVPA's research here.

Social Impact through Employee Engagement

Our two toolkits on employee engagement will help you in designing impact-driven corporate volunteering and giving programmes. To access the toolkits, click here. To know which is your highest potential role in employee engagement programmes, take the quiz

Corporate Social Impact Strategies

New Paths for Collaborative Growth Report available here.

Latest News

• A journey from awareness to safeguarding the societal mission of the Corporate Social Investor: Being an impact-driven organisation linked to a company is not easy. How can corporate foundations and impact investors deal with the inherent tensions that this relationship brings, and safeguard their impact integrity? Put yourself in the shoes of a corporate social investor and find out how to assess risks to your impact integrity in this EVPA article in Alliance Magazine.
• Strategic alignment can be risky – but 'impact integrity' is possible: Close relationships between corporate social investors and their companies can strengthen impact for both sides. But as in any relationship, it is important to keep the right balance between shared dreams and independence. When tensions do arise, close communication and outside experts can help, EVPA's Nicolas Malmendier writes in Pioneers Post.
• A ‘winning coalition’ for healthcare entrepreneurs: From supermarket check-ups in Nicaragua to mini-pharmacies in east Africa, pioneering social enterprises want to change the world by making healthcare accessible to all. Pioneers Post in partnership with EVPA explores how support from the Philips Foundation – backed by 130-year-old healthcare technology company Philips – is key to their success.
• The corporate strategies that can bring societal progress: How to maximise your impact in size, scope and depth? Through strategic collaboration between for-profit companies and their impact-driven foundations, impact funds or social businesses, argue EVPA’s Alessia Gianoncelli and Sophie Faujour in this Devex opinion piece.
• Listen to me: pioneering hearing care in Chad: A close-up look at how Écoute-moi! brings audiological care to Chad, changing the lives of children with hearing loss, who otherwise would not have access to any support. Thanks to the support of Hear the World Foundation, founded by Sonova Group, the project is an example of how corporate philanthropy can enable companies to have a far-reaching positive impact in their field.
• "A new era of corporate impact": an article by EVPA in Alliance Magazine on how companies and corporate social investors can deepen, scale or broaden their collective impact.
• "Since the pandemic, many businesses have accelerated their strategies towards greater social purpose": an article by Sophie Faujour on Business Fights Poverty on how Corporate Social Investing can help scale your efforts and transform your practices into more sustainable and inclusive business.
  
• Listen to the Business Fights Poverty Podcast: Sophie Faujour from EVPA talks about corporate social investment and how it provides opportunities for businesses to try and test new ideas, and deliver long term social impact.

Interested in joining our initiative? Take a look at our membership offer and benefits here.