When NationSwell surveyed corporate social impact and sustainability executives in July 2023, nearly 7 out of 10 said they’re anticipating a challenging year in 2024. Since then, we’ve witnessed an intensifying wave of anti-DEIB activism, read the dire warnings conveyed in the UNFCCC’s first Global Stocktake, and felt the surge of collective anxiety around the coming elections in the U.S. and around the world. At the same time, powerful examples of collective action, new and transformational technologies, and the continued resolve of purpose-driven leaders demand our attention and urge optimism into the picture.
At NationSwell, we too are resolved. We are resolved to support our membership community, partners, and concerned public in advancing progress on the issues that we believe matter most in the year ahead.
To ground our collective efforts, we have prepared this 2024 look ahead with four goals in mind:
- To orient organizations, leaders, and their teams to the issues and trends that we see mattering most in 2024, supported by detailed evidence
- To provide line of sight into the predictions and forecasts of experts steeped in those issues
- To support scenario planning around a range of inevitabilities and possibilities
- To voice our calls to action for the field and for ourselves
Our look ahead focuses on 6 major topics that NationSwell anticipates being central to the work of purpose-driven leaders and organizations in 2024:
- Artificial intelligence
- Climate progress
- Democracy and civic engagement
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging (DEIB) and economic opportunity
- The employee-employer compact
- The social impact and sustainability profession
