Resource Type: đź”’ Member-only

Q2 2026 Social Impact Trends

Q2 2026 Social Impact Trends

NationSwell’s quarterly trend spotter provides impact professionals with visibility into the most noteworthy, timely, and material shifts in the field. For Q2 of 2026, our report explores the following five trends:

  1. Leaders wading through a uniquely opaque environment
  2. High number of CEO transitions ushers in new era of heightened expectations
  3. Worker backlash to AI transformation is real, and spreading
  4. Philanthropy is under pressure to evolve faster 
  5. Child and family wellbeing gaining much needed attention, and some traction
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Measuring the ROI of Employee Impact Programs

Measuring the ROI of Employee Impact Programs

Employee-oriented programs are a core part of most corporate impact strategies, including volunteerism, pro bono projects, and employee giving. This resource provides a framework to help leaders and organizations determine the business value of corporate impact strategies, as part of a larger ROI narrative and business case. The resource shares a conceptual ROI model, based on the underlying logic that employee participation leads to talent outcomes, which leads to business outcomes, and ultimately, to financial value. The guidance discusses various measurement approaches, framed as levels of measurement, and provides guidance for program-specific measurement. 

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Impact Kit: Employee Engagement

Impact Kit: Employee Engagement

NationSwell Impact Kits are designed to quickly immerse leaders in highly relevant, actionable, and curated supports for their work in evergreen practice areas. This Impact Kit is focused on employee engagement.

Employees fuel the energy, commitment, and advocacy required to advance meaningful change—especially amid evolving landscapes, limited capacity, and increasing pressure to demonstrate value. When employees feel connected, empowered, and invested in, their engagement enables organizations to:

  • Strengthen culture and alignment across teams,
  • Unlock new energy, ideas, and influence, 
  • Amplify reach through ambassadorship, and
  • Achieve more sustainable, measurable impact over time.

This resource is designed to equip leaders with timely insights and emerging practices from across the NationSwell community, key resources to support your work and share with colleagues and partners, and new ideas for how to engage further with NationSwell in support of your goals.

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Impact Kit: Collective Action

Impact Kit: Collective Action

NationSwell Impact Kits are designed to quickly immerse leaders in highly relevant, actionable, and curated supports for their work in evergreen practice areas. This Impact Kit is focused on collective action.

Collective action drives impact that no single organization can achieve alone. Organizations that invest in building partnerships, aligning incentives, and leveraging shared resources are better positioned to create lasting change with their communities. When done well, collective action enables leaders to:

  • Mobilize diverse stakeholders toward shared goals,
  • Amplify the reach and effectiveness of programs and initiatives,
  • Address systemic challenges with sustainable solutions,
  • Build trust, capacity, and resilience across communities, and
  • Translate collaboration into measurable impact that endures over time.

This resource is designed to equip leaders with timely insights and emerging practices from across the NationSwell community, key resources to support your work and share with colleagues and partners, and new ideas for how to engage further with NationSwell in support of your goals.

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Impact Kit: Workforce Innovation

Impact Kit: Workforce Innovation

NationSwell Impact Kits are designed to quickly immerse leaders in highly relevant, actionable, and curated supports for their work in evergreen practice areas. This Impact Kit is focused on workforce innovation.

Workforce innovation unlocks opportunity—fueling stronger businesses, equitable communities, and a future-ready economy. When done well, workforce innovation enables leaders to:

  • Anticipate and adapt to shifts,
  • Build more equitable pathways to quality jobs and advancement,
  • Strengthen employee wellbeing, engagement, and retention,
  • Align business growth with positive community outcomes, and
  • Cultivate a culture of continuous learning and inclusion that endures.

This resource is designed to equip leaders with timely insights and emerging practices from across the NationSwell community, key resources to support your work and share with colleagues and partners, and new ideas for how to engage further with NationSwell in support of your goals. 

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Impact Kit: Strategy Development

Impact Kit: Strategy Development

NationSwell Impact Kits are designed to quickly immerse leaders in highly relevant, actionable, and curated supports for their work in evergreen practice areas. This Impact Kit focuses on strategy development. 

A good strategy is the foundation of effective impact work. It buffers against the headwinds of shifting expectations, constrained resources, and heightened scrutiny. And when clear, compelling, and adaptive, a strategy enables leaders to:

  • Prioritize judiciously, 
  • Align and hold critical stakeholders accountable for action, 
  • Unlock resources and influence, and 
  • Drive measurable results over time.

This resource is designed to equip leaders with timely insights and emerging practices from across the NationSwell community, key resources to support your work and share with colleagues and partners, and new ideas for how to engage further with NationSwell in support of your goals.

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A Comprehensive Approach to the 1% Tax Floor

A Comprehensive Approach to the 1% Tax Floor

The introduction of the 1% floor on corporate charitable deductions, imposed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R.1) for tax years beginning December 31, 2025, has created a range of new considerations for companies to weigh in determining their corporate philanthropy strategy. 

To support NationSwell members in navigating this shift, we interviewed a Head of Corporate Impact at a Fortune 500 company who has made several critical moves to set up their resources and programs for long-term sustainability. 

The following resource outlines the steps taken over the course of approximately three months, each of which required close cross-enterprise collaboration. The processes and decisions described are intended to help leaders frame their own approaches, but should be considered within each organization’s own financial, legal, and tax context.

The steps outlined are:

  • Step 1: Align internally on the policy landscape
  • Step 2: Calculate the incremental tax impact to the business
  • Step 3: Fund philanthropy budget with tax-efficient capital
  • Step 4: Reclassify some philanthropy as ordinary business expense
  • Step 5: Take a multi-year view on philanthropic tax strategy
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Making the Case for Investment in Impact

Making the Case for Investment in Impact

This resource is intended to guide corporate social impact leaders in securing and growing their organization’s investment in their work. The case-making points and data included focus on the importance of social investments to key stakeholders: employees and customers.

The resource prepares impact leaders for budgetary conversations with context on the landscape, data, and talking points. We also provide tools for securing investment by aligning with business objectives, exploring measurement approaches for calculating ROI, and anticipating changes brought on by ongoing uncertainty.

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Corporate Social Impact Team Design

Corporate Social Impact Team Design

This resource is meant to help leaders look at their own organizations to consider: what’s working, may be changing, and could be next for your impact team design. It provides a practical, anonymized compilation of organizational charts serving as a foundation for shared learning and strategic reflection on:

  • the current landscape of impact team design,
  • the size and complexity of structures by industry, 
  • the functional areas of teams in relation to the broader company, 
  • reporting lines to the chief suite

This resource will continue to evolve as more models are shared. Email us at [email protected] if you would like your corporate social impact team to be represented in the next iteration of this resource.

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Impact Team Offsite-in-a-Box

Impact Team Offsite-in-a-Box

Team offsite conversations can serve the purposes of reconnecting colleagues, grounding them in a shared organizational ambition and inviting individual and collective ownership over the direction of the team’s work. This resource supports impact leaders with modular sessions to design effective, energizing team offsites that drive clarity, connection, and strategic alignment. It is based on agendas that NationSwell has created for its own team conversations or in partnership with member organizations. 

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