Q1 2025 marked one of the most turbulent periods for the social impact sector since the COVID-19 pandemic. What emerged was a mix of reactive, proactive, and strategic responses: creating shared value, evolving DEI approaches, strengthening supports and deepening engagement, and advancing collective action.
The Business Case for Childcare Benefits for Every Employee
Today NationSwell is proud to announce the launch of our expanded Case for Childcare Collaborative site advocating for childcare for all workers. Employees—especially gig, hourly, part-time and frontline workers— across the country continue to face an uphill battle, punctuated by the ongoing childcare crisis in the United States. Frontline workers represent about 70% of the workforce with 90% of companies relying on these workers (BCG, Fortune). And yet, while only 14% of full-time workers have access to employer-sponsored childcare support, that number falls to 8% for part-time workers (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). This demonstrates a childcare benefits gap, revealing those with the most to gain from these benefits are traditionally excluded from qualifying. The detrimental effects of a broken childcare system are glaringly apparent, with parents forced to leave careers in order to take care of children, and businesses suffering huge workforce losses.
This was the instigation for NationSwell to launch the Case for Childcare site in February 2024, showcasing two years of research making the case for employer-supported childcare benefits, revealing the business opportunity of supporting employee childcare needs.
Why focus on frontline workers?
But–a gap in our research remained—frontline workers have the most to gain from childcare support yet are traditionally excluded from benefits packages that are reserved for full-time, salaried employees. So we set our sights on an expansion of this site to build the case for employers to provide childcare benefits for all workers. Over the last year, we’ve focused our research on frontline workers, speaking with workers, advocates, and employers alike. This research highlighted the importance of these workers for businesses and the overall economy—leaving this demographic out of conversations around employer-based childcare support is a missed opportunity for companies to improve their retention, attraction, loyalty, and engagement of workers, ultimately boosting their bottom line. Today, we’re exposing the data that employers should support their worker’s childcare needs because it is both the right thing to do for people and the company.
Educate
With this launch, our Collaborative aims to put the spotlight on the research-backed value of supporting employer-sponsored childcare benefits for frontline workers so that more leaders can educate their colleagues and advocate for change. If you need to make the case for childcare at your company, you can find easily downloadable materials that can serve as a pitch to leadership on why childcare benefits should be implemented or expanded for your workforce. Visit our site and request the synthesized research and solutions that you can use to pitch leaders and HR managers on the expansion of your childcare support for all workers.
Commit
You might be asking, “After I get buy-in, how can we get started? What can we offer as an employer to support caregivers?” The newly launched site includes a visualization of childcare solutions that range to fit any business, no matter where you’re starting from, whether it’s just starting to think about childcare support for the first time or adding cutting-edge policies to your already comprehensive benefits package. Explore each solution with resources and organizations to help you get started and examples of other companies who are implementing these kinds of support. Then commit to change, perhaps making a plan to reevaluate your care policies each quarter with executive leadership or starting to pilot one solution over the next six months. No matter where you start, start somewhere. Join others by committing publicly on our site—submit your story or commitment to be uploaded on our wall of examples. Together we can build a community of care.
Share
Finally, we encourage you to share this site with your networks. Caregiving is undervalued in the United States and we’re on a mission to showcase the value of care for businesses and our economy. This site not only portrays the data on the clear business value in providing employer-supported care benefits for every employee, but it also features firsthand stories from business owners and workers who are parents. Listen to employers share how to accommodate childcare needs in the workplace for all workers—it’s not only possible, but practical. Hear from advocates on the unique barriers these workers face in regards to care. And listen to parents share their stories on the impact of employers who support the care movement. Post the site on your LinkedIn, text the link to a friend or family member, or reshare NationSwell’s social posts. Help us reframe the narrative to value care.
Conclusion
This site is a go-to hub for businesses and leaders to find information they need to not only build awareness of the business case for employer-supported childcare, but also, to provide tactical solutions that more employers can implement to grow the support for all workers to have access to affordable, quality childcare that fits the needs of their family.
Visit the Case for Childcare Collaborative’s childcare for all expanded site to learn about the case for care for all workers, commit to implementing solutions, and share the information with your team and network. Help us forge a world where childcare is no longer a barrier for workers to remain and thrive in the workforce. Thank you to our partners at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation and Pivotal Ventures for supporting this important work.
Read more about the Case for Childcare Collaborative
At a moment of growing inequality and division, who is advancing the vanguard of economic and social progress to bolster our most vulnerable communities? Whose work is fostering the inclusive growth that ensures every individual thrives? Who will set the ambitious standards that mobilize whole industries, challenging their peers to reach new altitudes of social impact?
In 2024, Impact Next — a new editorial flagship series from NationSwell — will spotlight the standard-bearing corporate social responsibility and impact leaders, entrepreneurs, experts, and philanthropists whose catalytic work has the potential to shape the landscape of progress amid urgent need for social and economic action.
For this installment, NationSwell interviewed Alesha Washington, President and CEO of Seattle Foundation.
Chloe Lew, Senior Vice President of Partnerships, NationSwell: How did you come to be the President and CEO of the Seattle Foundation? I’d love to hear about any key milestones, mentors, or experiences that brought you here.
Alesha Washington, President and CEO, Seattle Foundation: For me, it started with a general curiosity about nonprofit organizations because of my experiences with them growing up. I was a volunteer camp counselor at my neighborhood YMCA, and my first internship experience was with the ACLU. As I became more aware of nonprofits, I quickly learned that philanthropy played a role in funding all of these amazing experiences I was having as a kid, and I knew I wanted to do something to give back to this sector that was giving so much to me.
I also had a notable mentor in Dave Abbott, the former president of the George Gund Foundation in Ohio — he was the one who instilled in me the power of public policy and philanthropy. He taught me that if we make a grant to an organization, it will benefit a group of people, but if we change the law or the regulation that’s causing the need in the first place, we can help many more. He was always thinking about how to use philanthropy as a catalyst for public policy and systems change. I became a lobbyist because of his influence and used my position to create change in the civic sector. By the time Seattle Foundation became a possibility for me, I was impressed by how explicit the foundation was about racial equity and justice, and how clear it was about the role that a community foundation could play in systems-change work through grant making and advocacy.
Lew, NationSwell: You have been at the Seattle Foundation for nearly three years. What has been guiding your leadership as you’ve taken the helm of the organization?
Washington, Seattle Foundation: Three things come to mind. First, there were some operational challenges when I stepped into Seattle Foundation, and I came in eyes wide open — the opportunity I saw was: How do you unlock resources for a community while also building a stronger business, and how do you do that with purpose? Wrestling with this solidified the need for a very clear and accessible vision. When you go through big shifts as an organization, there are bound to be questions and pent-up energies — the ability to set that vision early on and give folks something to aspire to helps them know that even when it’s hard, it’s hard for a reason.
The second thing is that I genuinely believe organizations are only as strong as their people, and at the end of the day if the people aren’t well, the organization isn’t healthy either. Stepping into this role, I spent time early on with every single person who works at the Foundation so that I could hear their stories and understand their point of view. It starts to give you a real temperature check on the health of the organization as a whole when you hear how people are showing up to work every day.
Finally, the thing I hold at the very center of my work is joy. In a space where there is so much polarization and so many people coming from different lived experiences, joy is something that we all still seem to find some unity in. Holding space for joy doesn’t mean that things aren’t chaotic or difficult; it just means that we can recognize the beauty of that discord and move through it with meaning, strength, purpose, and hope.
Lew, NationSwell: How do you center joy within the Foundation — what does that look like in practice?
Washington, Seattle Foundation: The reality is given the changing nature of community foundations – the shift towards sustainable business models that can drive real impact – we will be in a state of evolution constantly. Navigating change is hard, so a key focus for us is building trust in order to ensure that our people feel valued and heard. We put out a robust staff engagement survey in an attempt to create mechanisms for people to share thoughts and perspectives. We use our people manager meetings to offer training on change management, really focusing on how to manage through change joyfully so they feel equipped to support our team.
We’re always thinking about how to create safe spaces for people to share thoughts, but then also how to respond to those concerns so folks have clarity and transparency around our thinking. Our team that works on learning literally put together a Jeopardy game to bring people deeper into the work and make it fun — you can make gaining knowledge and trust a really joyful experience.
At the end of the day, we’re trying to create a fun and joyful environment internally while also being intentional about transparency and trust mechanisms that help people step into more of their power in the work. My personal barometer for that is how many staff feel comfortable reaching out to me to say, “Can we grab coffee?” or “Can I talk to you?” I’m seeing an uptick in that in a way that lets me know we’re doing something to foster something good here, even if it’s hard.
Lew, NationSwell: How are you thinking about the current moment in social impact, and the economic landscape more broadly?
Washington, Seattle Foundation: Nikole Hannah-Jones did a piece on the colorblindness trap that I think is essential reading. Especially now as I consider where we are post this election. She very skillfully and artfully tracks the impact and legacy of slavery to where we are in the present day, with a number of lawsuits and efforts to attack diversity, equity, inclusion, to turn the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act on their heads and systematically reverse a lot of the efforts to create more opportunities for Black people and other people of color.
So much has gotten lost in translation through this time that I’m not quite clear or sure how astute and clued in we all are as a society. If nothing else, it is illuminating how powerful and sometimes dangerous narrative can be. One thing I still hold onto from NationSwell’s immersive experience in Montgomery is when Bryan Stevenson shared with the group that the biggest sin of slavery wasn’t slavery itself, it was the way that we justified it — the narrative around it.
I think what it means in my work, and for philanthropy as a whole, is that we get prepared for sophisticated legal, financial, and reputational threats that are meant to make us back away from anything we are doing that would be seen as too controversial in this current environment. We need to stay focused and close to each other. We need to keep our values at the center of every move we make. And we need to keep funding narrative change, community organizing, and power building in the communities we serve.
I want to know that we’re able to stand the test of this time, that we don’t shrink away and acquiesce to a moment and then find ourselves in a situation a decade from now where these things we fought so hard for around a more inclusive democracy, around opportunities for those that never had a fair shot to a get ahead, all of that is turned on its head.
Lew, NationSwell: What are some of the initiatives, ways of working, or projects that you feel represent the best or most differentiated work that the Seattle Foundation is doing? What would you lift up for other leaders in the field?
Washington, Seattle Foundation: We have a vision of a joyful region of shared prosperity, belonging, and justice. As a grantmaker, we’re always thinking about how we resource organizations — especially BIPOC-led and -serving organizations — in a way that helps make that vision a reality.
We’ve always done that through this very tiny pot of money that represents our core discretionary dollars — around 5% of what we do as a whole — with the other 95% driven through our donor-advised funds. The foundation has had to get innovative to figure out how we shift from impact work happening through a tiny discretionary grantmaking pool to bringing all the resources under our control to drive toward our vision. We have to think about all of the tools in our impact toolkit and how they support traditional grantmaking, and so we’ve really started to deepen our work with impact investing.
One of our primary vehicles for this is the Evergreen Impact Housing Fund, which is our way of contributing to the production of affordable housing, something that iis sorely needed in a community like Seattle. Thinking about the creative ways that philanthropy can test, innovate, and de-risk projects around affordability, how we can come into a capital stack of a project to make it more solvable at the end — we really put a lot of energy into that, and it creates opportunities for donors to co-invest with us. We are planning to grow this impact fund over the next year and create opportunities for individual donors to co-invest with us.
We have refreshed learning opportunities for our donors to help broaden their understanding of community issues and help them get engaged. We’re supporting peer-to-peer learning among our donor base, so while their entry point may be a conversation of interest for them with other philanthropists on environmental justice, we’re there to then help them see what we’re funding and where there are opportunities for them to invest.
My hope is that by recognizing everybody’s humanity in this — and the fact that we are all linked together in what it takes to get to a joyful community — we’re seeing resources move in more ways that are aligned and connected to what Seattle needs to thrive.
Lew, NationSwell: Which of your peers in the field most inspire you?
Washington, Seattle Foundation: I have a top three. Fred Blackwell with the San Francisco Foundation is the epitome of cool for me. He has a tremendous heart for social justice. Trisha Finnegan at the Oklahoma City Community Foundation — we have this shared experience of moving to communities that we are not from and stepping in as new leaders attempting to drive pretty significant change. She leads with a level of courage and strength that is beyond anything that I’ve seen, and it gives me a lot of energy and hope.
I’m also inspired by a phenomenal community leader back home named Leah Hudnall, who runs the Legacy Perspective. Leah really understands narrative change work and is deeply committed to the success of the community that raised her. She’s been very intentional in capturing the stories and legacy of people that would otherwise not be named, and she has stayed true to that calling, even in the face of opposition to her leadership.
Lew, NationSwell: What are the resources that you’ve found have been transformational in terms of how you look at this work and at your own leadership?
Washington, Seattle Foundation: I’m reading a really great book right now called “Leading with Joy: Practices for Uncertain Times,” by Akaya Windwood and Rajasvini Bhansali. I’m big on leadership books for past time reading but it is probably the most insightful, meaningful body of work that I’ve read — it uses short vignettes and stories from both of the authors to reflect on the leadership experiences of women of color through a lens of joy.
At a moment of growing inequality and division, who is advancing the vanguard of economic and social progress to bolster our most vulnerable communities? Whose work is fostering the inclusive growth that ensures every individual thrives? Who will set the ambitious standards that mobilize whole industries, challenging their peers to reach new altitudes of social impact?
In 2024, Impact Next — a new editorial flagship series from NationSwell — will spotlight the standard-bearing corporate social responsibility and impact leaders, entrepreneurs, experts, and philanthropists whose catalytic work has the potential to shape the landscape of progress amid urgent need for social and economic action.
For this installment, NationSwell interviewed Pam Hacker, Vice President of Social Impact at Kyndryl.
AiLun Ku, Senior Strategic Advisor, NationSwell: What brought you to this field? Was there a moment in your life that galvanized your commitment to driving bold action on social and economic progress?
Pam Hacker, Vice President of Social Impact at Kyndryl: I think I was born to do good in the world. I remember volunteering at the local hospital as a kid, and teaching theater to kids with special needs — I always had this passion for giving back.
I was lucky enough to land in the PR department at Sesame Street’s nonprofit, Sesame Workshop, and I knew right away that I had found my people (and my Muppets). Slowly but surely, I found myself leading our outreach efforts — everything from creating resources for how to talk to kids about an incarcerated parent to eating healthy on a budget. Throughout it all, the essence of the work was about giving back to under-resourced communities.
From there I was able to make a very organic transition to HBO, where I used my skills as a communicator and a storyteller to help build out their social impact work. I loved that era, and I loved creating resources and PSAs to help communities — everything from how to get access and talk about the vaccine, to Black Lives Matter, to Stop Asian Hate, and more.
Just as I was starting to ask myself what was next, a recruiter found me on LinkedIn and told me about Kyndryl. Over a year in, it has been the most incredible experience for me. I’m learning more about the space and how we can use tech for good, and how we can better allow our 80,000 employees to take time off to volunteer in the communities where we live and operate.
Ku, NationSwell: How are you making sense of the current trends we’re seeing in social impact? What are you concerned about, what are you optimistic about, and what should we be paying more attention to?
Hacker, Kyndryl: Honestly, I’m a huge optimist — I always see hope in any scenario, in any community, in any issue we’re tackling, in any theme. If there’s one thing that still ails me, it’s the fact that diversity, equity, and inclusion is still something that we have to even have these conversations around, that there is still so much work to be done in terms of ensuring that all people have a seat at the table.
Ku, NationSwell: Looking back at the scope of your career, how have your thinking, your strategies, leadership style, or philosophies evolved? What are some attributes or approaches that make you an effective leader in this space?
Hacker, Kyndryl: I’m continuing to grow as a leader. At Kyndryl, being a global organization, this is the biggest team that I’ve led. But even when I’ve had small teams, I am a people centric leader.The work is as important, I should say, but I go back to the people. I care deeply about the next generation of humans and I care deeply about people having the opportunity to grow at a company and stay on their journey. Nothing makes me happier than mentoring people inside and outside of my team. I lead with my heart.
Ku, NationSwell: Is there any particular initiative at Kyndryl you want to highlight that really kind of brings into focus your unique brand of leadership and what’s coming ahead in the work that you’re doing?
Hacker, Kyndryl: The beauty of a global company is that there’s so much happening on the ground that sometimes it’s hard to keep up. We are just in our first year of foundation grants, and we’ve given 11 of those grants out in seven different countries. We’re about to meet with our board and talk about the next round, so to be part of building something because the company is so young, that is something I’m grateful to be able to do.
I really see and feel the pride in working at Kyndryl: Employees wear our colors, they wear the logo — there’s a sense of pride, and it’s so exciting to have the platform to show that pride and to help build it. We’re building the culture, we’re transforming as we’re here, and you truly see them care about the people.
Ku, NationSwell: It’s clear that you bring a very values-centered approach to leadership. How do some of those values show up — what’s the North Star of your leadership?
Hacker, Kyndryl: Honestly, it’s people. When you have great people on your team, you end up doing great work together, and I got really lucky with the team I’ve gotten to work with. Kyndryl attracts really great people in general — smart, high performers, creative, strategic individuals. I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder in my life, and yet I simultaneously feel myself stretching and learning and growing almost every day because the work is so inspiring.
Ku, NationSwell: What does winning in social impact look like to you?
Hacker, Kyndryl: I think the more lives we could impact and change, that’s winning, right? And there’s small wins, right? For every student that walks into our office who’s never been in an office before, that’s a win for me. For being able to train almost 50,000 women in India around cybersecurity, that’s a win. And on a larger scale, being so young as a company, there’s so much opportunity to grow, to impact more.
As the brand grows, we’re part of that brand growth. Social impact is embedded into the DNA of the company. It’s not something that is an afterthought. It’s really built from the ground up.
Ku, NationSwell: Could you recommend any insightful resources – maybe a book, report, podcast, or article that has significantly influenced your thinking?
Hacker, Kyndryl: My relationships in the impact space are my best resources. Whether it’s other colleagues, friends, a mentor — impact leaders want each other to succeed. My peers in this space are my go-to, and it’s so comforting to know that I have experts or advisors that I could call about any issue throughout the years, no matter where I’ve been in my career.
Ku, NationSwell: Do you have any words of wisdom to share with those working in the social impact space?
Hacker, Kyndryl: For newcomers to the work, I say often that if you are at a company that you’re happy at, start a social impact team there. One of my old bosses at Sesame Street always used to say, “change is good,” and that’s been true for me — it was good for me to leave Sesame and go to HBO, and it was even better for me to leave HBO and come to Kyndryl. So I’d say the same to a more seasoned professional, or anyone experiencing a moment of uncertainty, that I would to anyone just starting out: Change is good.
At a moment of growing inequality and division, who is advancing the vanguard of economic and social progress to bolster our most vulnerable communities? Whose work is fostering the inclusive growth that ensures every individual thrives? Who will set the ambitious standards that mobilize whole industries, challenging their peers to reach new altitudes of social impact?
In 2024, Impact Next — a new editorial flagship series from NationSwell — will spotlight the standard-bearing corporate social responsibility and impact leaders, entrepreneurs, experts, and philanthropists whose catalytic work has the potential to shape the landscape of progress amid urgent need for social and economic action.
For this installment, NationSwell interviewed Sally McCrady — Chair and President of the PNC Foundation.
Greg Behrman, CEO and Founder, NationSwell: What brought you to this field? Was there anything formative or foundational that galvanized your commitment to driving social and economic progress?
Sally McCrady, Chair and President of the PNC Foundation: Like anything, probably a little bit of luck and being in the right place at the right time.
I’ve been at PNC for 26 years now, and I started right out of graduate school. I really wanted to work for a nonprofit, and never thought I would be saying someday I’ve been at a bank for 26 years. But I got a terrific opportunity at PNC to start doing research in support of our Community Development Banking group, which felt like a good first step, and I became really interested in the role that banks can play in terms of community development.
From there, I went into our Compliance group where I did work for the Community Reinvestment Act, which I’m happy to say PNC has had an outstanding rating under for the last 40 years. In September of 2003, PNC announced a program called PNC Grow Up Great, and I was immediately drawn to its mission and the importance of early childhood education. Twenty years later and here I am — working not only on our Grow Up Great program, but also overseeing PNC’s charitable giving.
Behrman, NationSwell: What do you think is different about how PNC approaches its philanthropic work and community investment?
McCrady, PNC: To me, the piece that’s always made our philanthropy impactful and interesting is that we are very committed to making decisions locally. To give some context, when PNC Grow Up Great launched in 2004, PNC operated in 12 markets — we had never really done anything where everybody had a similar focus. Fast forward 20 years, and we’re now in 54 markets.
What’s been interesting, and what’s allowed Grow Up Great and our philanthropy in general to be successful, is that we have never stepped away from the local approach to philanthropy. So while Grow Up Great has a common mission, and we are all focused on supporting high-quality early childhood education, that looks a little bit different in each one of our markets because we know that our local markets and our employees there, know the needs; they know the nonprofits that can have the greatest impact, they really take the lead and make the decisions locally, and that’s been very successful for us.
Behrman, NationSwell: Is there a signature social or economic project or initiative you’re currently overseeing that you’d like to spotlight during our discussion?
McCrady, PNC: One of the things I treasure most about Grow up Great is our strategic focus on one common social issue — early childhood education —. What that’s allowed us to do, not only at the corporate level, where we have a couple of partnerships that are national in scope, but also at the local level, is build relationships that, in many cases, have spanned the full 20 years.
One of my favorite initiatives that we bring into all of our markets now is called Be My Neighbor Days. Across the country, we’re partnering with Fred Rogers Productions, a local PBS station, and a number of community partners for a community day with all sorts of different activities for families and their younger children to really think about how they can be great neighbors. They might be writing, they might be putting packages together for local senior communities, but everything is done with the importance of kindness in mind.
Another partnership that’s been amazing to work with is DonorsChoose, which is a platform where citizen donors can go online and help fulfill a teacher’s request, since we know they are still spending out of their own pockets for things they want to utilize in their classrooms.
Several years ago, when we first worked with DonorsChoose, the platform was not open to Head Start programs, which are one of our biggest partners since the inception of Grow Up Great. We’ve been able to work with DonorsChoose to re-envision the platform. And, with our committed funding, DonorsChoose now serves Head Start programs across the country. We’re so proud of this investment, because I can’t think of any educators that need it more than our Head Start teachers.
Behrman, NationSwell: Is there anything else that you might want to lift up in terms of the ambition of your work, or things that you feel like are particularly innovative that you’re pushing on right now?
McCrady, PNC: I’ll highlight our employee volunteerism program also, which is a little bit different than other corporate programs out there. First, our employees receive 40 hours of paid time off each year to volunteer. So one of the programs we can volunteer for is Grow Up Great, and we’ve had 1.1 million hours in support of early childhood education through the program. Second, I think volunteers are the heart and soul of our program, and it’s awesome to see how engaged our employees get. It’s so rewarding to support our philanthropic giving with employee volunteerism, and to support our employee volunteerism with philanthropic giving.
Behrman, NationSwell: People often talk about integrating employee giving, and philanthropy more broadly, into their business strategies. Are there connection points there with the work that you’re doing?
McCrady, PNC: We have a dedicated skills-based volunteerism program where we work with a small group of nonprofits in several of our markets to help address a particular issue they’re hoping to solve. For about 16 weeks, our employees and nonprofit partners work together to focus on that one problem. We’ve helped organizations with IT, job descriptions and overall HR strategies, we’ve supported landscaping and marketing needs, and we’ve helped Head Start programs streamline enrollment and translate documents into multiple languages.
We also encourage our nonprofit partners to think broadly about how they can use the experience and different skill sets of thousands of PNC employees to make a difference. So every day, we have opportunities to make those connections and help create long-term success.
The more we’ve learned about early childhood education and the positive impact it has on a child’s lifetime trajectory, the more we’re convinced it’s the place where we could really make a difference. And it wasn’t already crowded with a lot of voices — we felt like it was an area where we could really make a difference and, probably most importantly to who we are as a bank, there was a ton of economic research coming out that explained the value of long-term investment.
Behrman, NationSwell: Is there an approach to your leadership that you would say has allowed you to drive impact and be successful in the way you have?
McCrady, PNC: First and foremost, none of this would be possible without our executive leadership support and active engagement in driving the importance of our community work.
Another approach that has served me well over time is just having the utmost respect for my colleagues across the markets, and being such a huge fan of what they’re doing and the organizations that they choose to support. The different work they’re doing might not seem like a fit with the project we’re trying to do at first, but then when you understand the local nuances, it makes sense. So I think it’s just being open to new ideas, how things might look a little different in every city where we operate. And that’s OK, because again, our colleagues understand the community and what they’re trying to accomplish.
Behrman, NationSwell: What are some of the defining trends you’re seeing right now in community impact or corporate philanthropy?
McCrady, PNC: From a corporate philanthropy standpoint, one thing that’s really important in this moment is around employee engagement and just thinking about how all of our workplaces have changed dramatically over the last four or so years. One area we focus on a lot is making sure our employees understand what we’re doing in the community and have an opportunity to learn and engage in the impactful work we do.
For the last several years, one of my favorite things that we do to engage our employees is provide a DonorsChoose gift code around the holidays and let them go online and choose a project to support that speaks to them. So I think a lot of it is the importance of creating and enforcing PNC’s culture — really just tying everything back to the employee experience.
Behrman, NationSwell: Of the social or economic leaders who perform a similar function to yours at peer organizations, whose work inspires you, and who do you hold in high esteem?
McCrady, PNC: I’m following Mackenzie Scott and all of the decisions that she and her brilliant team have made in the last several years. It’s so interesting to see the nonprofits they select, and in so many cases they’re familiar organizations that we have worked with in a small way. I’m beyond excited to see the recognition and elevation into the national limelight, because in many cases they’re small local nonprofits that would never have these enormous resources to really take their mission to scale.
I’ll also mention Cathe Dykstra, who runs an organization called Family Scholar House in Louisville, Kentucky. The program is basically a housing education program; the majority of the clients are single moms, but there are also some great dads that have been part of the program as well. The scholars are graduates of high school who want to go on and get higher education – two-year, four-year degrees – and the program provides the stable housing and everything their families need to allow them to achieve their educational goals. It truly breaks the cycle of poverty in one generation, and what’s been awesome to see is that while they have five campuses in Louisville, it’s now spreading across the country.
Behrman, NationSwell: Could you recommend any insightful resources – maybe a book, report, podcast or article that has significantly influenced your thinking?
McCrady, PNC: A podcast I love and just discovered in its second season is Wiser Than Me by Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Just this weekend, I listened to an episode featuring Diane von Furstenberg, and she also had Rhea Perlman and Bonnie Raitt as guests — it’s just amazing. The guests are women that are mostly in their 70s, talking about these remarkable careers and what they’ve done philanthropically. It’s just a ton of fun. She ends every podcast by calling her mom and telling her about who she’s just spoken to, and her mom has these wonderful anecdotes or insights that take you by surprise. It’s a wonderful array of women leaders that have accomplished so many things — I find it crazy inspirational every time I listen.
At a moment of growing inequality and division, who is advancing the vanguard of economic and social progress to bolster our most vulnerable communities? Whose work is fostering the inclusive growth that ensures every individual thrives? Who will set the ambitious standards that mobilize whole industries, challenging their peers to reach new altitudes of social impact?
In 2024, Impact Next — a new editorial flagship series from NationSwell — will spotlight the standard-bearing corporate social responsibility and impact leaders, entrepreneurs, experts, and philanthropists whose catalytic work has the potential to shape the landscape of progress amid urgent need for social and economic action.
For this installment, NationSwell interviewed Amy White — Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility & Communications at Adobe.
Greg Behrman, CEO and Founder, NationSwell: What brought you to this field? Was there a moment in your life that galvanized your commitment to driving bold action on social and economic progress?
Amy White, Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility & Communications, Adobe: It might sound sort of cliché, but my career in community service really starts with my parents. They were both career public servants, my mom in education and my dad working for the National Soil and Water Conservation Service and earning his BS and Masters Degree by leveraging the GI Bill. My love for the environment and concern about climate change and climate justice came from my dad and my belief that economic opportunities were unlocked through education came from my mom. There was never a doubt in her mind that we would all go to college, but I didn’t really anticipate getting a degree in forestry that I don’t use very often now.
I’d say the other formative moments in my career that have brought me to social impact work have been working with direct service organizations. My early career began in direct service with the YMCA and the Girl Scouts, running resident camps and helping all kids realize their full potential. That evolved into the understanding that some communities were not reaching their potential either because not everyone was able to participate, or because there were systems in place that limited their power and mobility. These realizations motivated me to move into a career that is focused on advocacy, communications, and eventually philanthropy, all in service of trying to level the playing field.
Behrman, NationSwell: Looking back at the scope of your career, how have your thinking, your strategies, leadership style, or philosophies evolved?
White, Adobe: If you were to ask some of my closest friends or former bosses, they might tell you that I am deeply principled, and that sometimes gets in the way of getting what I want. I think my principles and style haven’t changed, but my ability to see that there is often more than one way to get to my desired outcome — and that shared success with other business leaders or community organizations or folks in positions of policy or advocacy can be shared — has. I think some of that is maturity and understanding the context of the systems and problems we are working to change or improve, and some is getting smarter at building allies “across the aisle” to support my goals
Philosophically, I have always believed that we are stronger and better together. Through collaboration and leveraging the best of our collective resources, listening, strategy, and thinking, we come up with better solutions and usually a more sustainable and lasting change.
Behrman, NationSwell: In your mind, what defines this present societal and economic moment? Which trends fill you with optimism, and which ones give you pause?
White, Adobe: Two topics that I spend time thinking and worrying about, particularly in the U.S., are polarization and isolation. To my earlier point, I think we are better as a collective, but the political polarization and isolation that has endured in a post-Covid world has resulted in less of the community-based living that humans are meant to have.
I think that has big implications for our mental health and well-being, and that our empathy has taken a beating as we have forgotten how to be curious about others and care for our neighbors — which is exacerbated when it comes to and how we care for the folks who are the most disenfranchised. I think it’s deeply concerning that the topics where Americans have historically been united, or at least willing to have a civil debate, are no longer even on the table for Thanksgiving dinner. We seem to have lost the ability to have a classy conversation and respect the dialogue because we have to win, and because we’re entrenched in our positions.
I also don’t know that social media is necessarily helping us. I think some of the gains we saw in the earlier era of community building, organizing, and information-sharing that social media enabled are now being lost to echo chambers of folks with the same ideas, and replacing our in-person relationships with technology.
Not to be discouraging — all that being said, I do have a lot of optimism and hope. I’m really encouraged by the idea that an entire generation of social activists are coming into their own as the executive directors or CEOs of change, creating movements as community organizers and advocates who are now in leadership positions and able to swing resources and attention toward issues that matter.
Behrman, NationSwell: What’s not getting enough attention?
White, Adobe: Education. As I shared earlier, I’m a firm believer that education unlocks enormous opportunity — but actually being able to unlock those opportunities starts with ensuring equal access to education.
It’s going to be really important that we make this education accessible to everyone: in schools, in workplaces, and through non-traditional pathways and local community-based settings.
I also believe that increasing attention to education means increasing attention to the unique educational needs of the current generation, Gen-Z. We know that Gen-Zers are uniquely creative, ambitious, and vocal, so we also have an opportunity to reframe the skills we’re able to provide them with so that they can truly feel empowered to shape the future.
Behrman, NationSwell: What makes the impact strategies or initiatives you’re championing within your organization unique? Can you walk us through the steps you’ve taken?
White, Adobe: Adobe’s overall mission — which our CSR work is obviously hyper-focused on — is to do the right thing by focusing on people, purpose, and community. I think these three ideas really come together through the employee community engagement work we do right in our own backyard of San José, California. This has been a focus of ours for as long as we’ve been in San José — which is a long time, since 1994! — but we really ramped it up in 2023 when we launched our Hometown Commitment. The Hometown Commitment is Adobe’s promise to San José — a promise to give back to the community that we call home and a promise to help support the institutions, organizations, and people who work to make it a better place. And for San Jose specifically, we believe through strategic partnerships and funding we can help revitalize the downtown community that still is recovering and reinventing itself after COVID. We think we can support community based organizations and social service providers to activate public spaces and care for the most vulnerable folks in that community so we can all thrive together.
A recent and especially fun example of this work can be found directly on the pavement in San Pedro Square in San Jose. Adobe collaborated with two of our hometown grantees — the San Jose Downtown Association (SJDA) and Local Color — to paint a beautiful pavement mural, “Threads Woven.” Created by local artist Jim Fonseca, the mural is inspired by Mexican sarape blankets and aims to showcase the vibrancy and color of San Jose. It isa huge mural (over 12,000 square feet!) and we were able to offer up some of our programs like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Fresco to help with the design. It is the largest public artwork of its kind in San Jose — and it’s so colorful that you won’t be able to miss it.
I think this particular project stands out as a great example of our impact strategies at Adobe and how they really span from inside our company to our community. Our community and impact work is expansive and optimistic, but we also take the time to focus on smaller projects that can make a difference in individual communities.
Behrman, NationSwell: That’s very cool – can’t wait! Can you elaborate on your specific role in spearheading social or economic progress within your organizational framework? Where does your function sit, and how does your role stand out from other social or economic impact leadership functions?
White, Adobe: What I love most about my role is that I have a unique perspective on where our people, our products, and our philanthropy intersect to really impact social progress. We’re a creative company. How do we use our creative tools to make a difference? I see my role as bringing together Adobe’s resources to solve problems and support the communities of people we serve.
An important component of the resource we bring to bear is Adobe’s platform. Our CSR team sits within our Global Marketing Organization and that means that we view storytelling about our grantees and partners as integral to how we raise awareness and introduce our audiences to organizations doing amazing work.
Behrman, NationSwell: Could you recommend any insightful resources – maybe a book, report, podcast, or article that has significantly influenced your thinking?
White, Adobe: One thing I’ve read recently that’s stuck with me is this supplement to the Stanford Social Innovation Review sponsored by the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project. It covers a number of really important issues — trust-based philanthropy, racial justice in philanthropy, how philanthropic founders can remain accountable, and more — and a big takeaway for me is how trust-based philanthropy can help inform the future.
A trust-based approach to philanthropy means a more equitable relationship between foundations and their grantees. It means instilling more trust in local organizations, letting grantees and partners take the lead, and focusing strongly on relationship building — and consequently, trust-building. I really believe that centering community is key to making the biggest impact — and to do that, philanthropic organizations and philanthropists themselves have to lead with trust. But I also think that too often, corporate funders do not choose this approach. There is often a quid-pro-quo approach with nonprofit partners. And while there may be less reporting that private or government funding, there is a push for NGOs to support brand building versus focusing on their strategic programmatic priorities and corporate funders have a lot to learn and reflect on in the learnings relating to trust-based funding approaches.
At a moment of growing inequality and division, who is advancing the vanguard of economic and social progress to bolster our most vulnerable communities? Whose work is fostering the inclusive growth that ensures every individual thrives? Who will set the ambitious standards that mobilize whole industries, challenging their peers to reach new altitudes of social impact?
In 2024, Impact Next — a new editorial flagship series from NationSwell — will spotlight the standard-bearing corporate social responsibility and impact leaders, entrepreneurs, experts, and philanthropists whose catalytic work has the potential to shape the landscape of progress amid urgent need for social and economic action.
For this installment, NationSwell interviewed Becky Ferguson — Senior Vice President of Philanthropy at Salesforce and CEO of Salesforce Foundation.
Greg Behrman, CEO and Founder, NationSwell: Tell us a little bit about your journey into leadership in this field. Were there any defining moments, experiences, or mentors that helped you to get here?
Becky Ferguson, Salesforce: For me, a really foundational experience was my first job out of college back at a small, community-based nonprofit in the community where I grew up.
When I look back, I appreciate it for a number of reasons. First, the support services we provided across the entire county made me appreciate just how interconnected so many social issues are — I learned to look at things holistically and try to get beneath the surface and understand the root causes.
It also gave me an appreciation for every single dollar. When I look back, I realize how much we made happen as a small organization with a limited budget. And through my career, as I’ve worked with larger organizations, partnerships, and budgets, I still try to think about the power of every dollar.
And then the other thing I really took from that experience was that when you work at a startup or a small nonprofit, you wear a lot of hats. One of the hats I wore in that period of time was running the hotline — making sure that any day of the week, any hour, if someone called, there was someone on the other end to pick up that phone. I learned that oftentimes what people really needed in that moment was someone on the other end to listen. There is so much power and importance that comes with presence and listening.
Behrman, NationSwell: What makes your approach to your work differentiated or sets it apart in the field?
Ferguson, Salesforce: At Salesforce, we’re celebrating our 25th year anniversary as a company this year, and one thing that has grown with us over the years is what we like to call the 1-1-1 model. Early on, we made a pledge to look at how we could give back our financial contributions, our time, and our product, and the ways in which we have been able to watch and see those contributions grow over time is really remarkable. As we look back over the years and see things like over nine million volunteer hours from our employees, thousands of nonprofits that now use Salesforce technology to help power their missions out in the world, and much more. The layering of that impact over time is really powerful. We’ve also always really believed in the power of partnerships and it has been so inspiring to see other companies adopt the 1-1-1 model and make it their own with now over 18,000 companies joining the Pledge 1% global movement.
Behrman, NationSwell: Salesforce has really built a reputation for being out in front and on the vanguard. Is there anything you can point to that has helped you to stay in alignment with those expectations over time?
Ferguson, Salesforce: To start, it is very much a part of the origin story of the company — it’s the fabric of who we are and our values.
I think another element of it is that at Salesforce, we’ve really embraced a more distributed or integrated model of impact in the company — meaning it lives in different parts of the business; it’s not just one person or one team’s responsibility alone. At times that can be a little bit messy, but we’ve always felt that that is actually the most powerful way to make lasting change happen.
Behrman, NationSwell: There’s a lot of energy around employee engagement, volunteering, folks wanting to see how to push to the next level of impact, engagement, design. Is there anything you are particularly proud of that you might speak to?
Ferguson, Salesforce: A couple of years ago, we decided to shift away from just celebrating the number of hours people have volunteered — which is really impressive, and which we still have ambitious goals around — in favor of thinking about how we can also inspire and celebrate a deeper kind of giving back journey for employees.
We dug in with our in-house design team and got a lot of feedback from employees to create a new impact journey. We now have a set of impact milestones people can earn that encourage them to not only volunteer, but to volunteer more than once with an organization, to volunteer and donate, to perhaps join a board — the ultimate goal is to build deeper and deeper engagement. And then as we reward, recognize, and celebrate those milestones over time, we’re able to connect employees with different opportunities that they can then use to continue to further their impact journeys.
We’re hoping to reach over a million employee volunteer hours this year. The way in which Salesforce employees engage and give back, whether it’s individually or collectively with their teams, is really inspiring.
Behrman, NationSwell: I have this impression that you guys have a differentiated way of communicating, and using narrative, to further ingrain this work and inspire employees. Can you bring us into that a little bit more?
Ferguson, Salesforce: We are a company and a culture of storytellers, and we bring our work across the company to life through stories — be it stories about customers that we work with, stories about our employees, stories about our community partners. We often refer to the individuals in those stories as trailblazers — people who are forging a new path forward — and the idea is that any of us can be a trailblazer in all sorts of ways, from how you’re using new technology to how you’re inspiring teams.
We’re also definitely intentional about the ways we create moments and avenues to share those stories. We were just at the company kickoff, and we ended the time together by recognizing three employee trailblazers who were rewarded with golden hoodies and recognition from the entire company. They were three really different employees, working in very different roles and parts of the company — making a unique impact not only in their day jobs, but also in their communities.
At the end of the day, we are community builders: We think a lot about our ecosystem of partners and trailblazers and the ways we all come together in community. And people really feel that sense of community.
Behrman, NationSwell: What has helped you to be an effective leader in the space? Are there attributes or proclivities or parts of your philosophy of leadership that are central to your leadership
Ferguson, Salesforce: I’ve worked in a lot of different organizations, sectors, and settings. I’ve done work in the UN, research, corporate venture capital, private philanthropy, corporate philanthropy, and I think across all of those roles, I have gained an appreciation that there are many different ways and styles of leadership. I think there are two things that really resonate with me: first, trying to reorient my mindset around failure — this idea that to do hard things, you’ve got to take chances, you’ve got to make bets, and it’s not always going to work or go exactly as planned, and that’s okay.
Behrman, NationSwell: I’d love to hear about a few things you might recommend that have been influential to you in your leadership journey or current state of mind.
Ferguson, Salesforce: There are a couple things that are on my book stand right now, and one of them is Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teaching of plants. What I love about it is it’s a blend of stories and science. Another is a book by Bob Sutton called Scaling Up Excellence that was recommended to me by another leader here at Salesforce. One thing about Bob Sutton’s work that has been sticking with me lately is he talks about this idea that in organizations and companies, things layer up over time and you need to step back and look at what is no longer adding value and strip those things away.
He refers to them as barnacles, and that is something I’ve been thinking about lately — what are the barnacles in the work, in the field I’m in, that have layered up over time and are no longer serving us? What do we need to chip away at or strip so that our ships can sail much faster to where we’re trying to go?
Behrman, NationSwell: Who are some of the peer leaders you really admire — folks more or less in your role at other companies or organizations who you think are really great leaders doing great work?
Ferguson, Salesforce: I’ve met a lot of incredible people through the NationSwell community actually. Being around a table, sharing meals with folks. For instance, Alicia Vermaele, executive director of the Starbucks Foundation, is someone I love to run across town and have a cup of coffee with and hear what’s on her mind, what she’s working on and thinking about. And then Shamina Singh and the team at MasterCard, that’s another group I have come to know through the NationSwell community that I think are doing great things in the world.
The COVID-19 pandemic served as catalyst for employers to invest more deeply and creatively in employee wellbeing, driven by fundamental changes to workplaces (e.g. remote work), implications for healthcare, family and childcare support, financial outlook, and more. Simultaneously, increased focus on racial justice and equity has heightened private sector commitments to inclusive workplace policies for marginalized communities. More recently, policy changes in the U.S. – including the overturn of Roe v. Wade and the “childcare cliff” – have escalated the need for employers to increase benefits that supplement lack of government supports.
Employees and companies alike are placing workplace wellbeing higher on their priority lists. 91% of employees find that their job plays a role in determining their wellbeing, and 57% report seriously considering quitting for a more supportive workplace. 76% of U.S. executives feel that expectations about workforce wellbeing are higher than in previous years, and 87% say that workforce wellbeing gives their company a competitive advantage. In addition to productivity and retention advantages, companies with higher employee wellbeing scores fare better financially, showing a superior return on assets, higher profits, and higher valuations.
When balanced with other core aspects of employee experience (including leadership behaviors and job design), inclusive employee policies and benefits can play a significant role in supporting holistic wellbeing. This Curated Collection provides the business rationale for and innovative examples of private sector wellbeing policies and benefits across five key areas: reproductive health, family care, paid leave, financial wellbeing, and mental health.
A majority of employees (69%) report that “having societal impact is a high expectation or deal breaker when considering a job” (Edelman Trust Barometer, 2023). By facilitating volunteerism, companies can help to meet growing employee interest in purpose-driven work environments while harnessing the power of individual and collective contributions to drive impact.
Generally, employees are eager to have access to volunteer opportunities through work. Seventy-one percent of employees say it’s imperative or very important to work at a company that is supportive of giving and volunteering (America’s Charities, 2022), and they attribute volunteerism to well-being (77%), boosted morale (70%), and strengthened camaraderie (64%) (Bright Funds, 2021). Additionally, 92% of corporate human resources executives feel that leadership and professional skills are strengthened by contributing expertise to nonprofits (Deloitte, 2017).
However, volunteer participation is decreasing. In 2022, 86% of companies offered domestic virtual volunteerism programs but only 19.8% of employees volunteered one hour or more of their time – lower than the pre-pandemic average of 29% (CECP, 2023). Nonprofit organizations are noticing this downward trend. In a recent survey, 47% of nonprofit CEOs said that recruiting sufficient volunteers is a notable problem for their organization (Do Good Institute, 2023).
Given the increased value that employees place on working within purpose-driven environments, what explains the decline in volunteerism? Workers cite the following major detractors from volunteering: pressure from employers and colleagues, no availability during work hours, undefined projects, limited information about NGOs, and lack of a platform to register, participate, and track hours (America’s Charities, 2022). Moreover, few feel that volunteering can enhance their career opportunities (18%) or help to develop new skills (36%) (Deloitte).
Gathered from NationSwell members and independent research, this resource provides strategic guidance, case examples, and implementation checklists for companies to strengthen and advance their volunteerism efforts, with a specific focus on mitigating barriers and increasing incentives for employees.
In this report you will find:
Frequent media headlines, debate on our national stage, and marked instances of backlash toward companies have mainstreamed the politicization of ESG. Although the underlying work of corporate social impact and sustainability remains in-tact and durable, newly mounting political pressures have created real headwinds for business leaders — headwinds that can fundamentally change how social impact and sustainability are practiced. To get more clarity on what impacts political backlash is having on corporate practices, NationSwell surveyed 74 corporate ESG leaders (VPs and above), and conducted in-depth interviews with 12 more (whose ranks include senior leaders from Fortune 100 and 500 companies).
Our research surfaced one significant way that political pressure is impacting company behavior: it has sown a growing reluctance to speak out publicly on culturally sensitive and politically divisive topics.
Whereas the social justice movements of 2020 normalized the activist CEO, the current moment is introducing new doubt in the boardroom and among management teams about the relative risks and rewards of taking public and participatory action when an issue is polarizing. If harnessed intentionally, this trepidation can provide a useful moment for companies to reflect, reevaluate, and reset the purpose and impact behind public responses. Companies need to consider their own credibility and opportunity for meaningful impact before making bold public statements or commitments. But too much restraint can be overcompensatory and damaging, both to society and to corporate interests.
As we look ahead to continued global instability and social turbulence, the acuity of questions around if, when, and how to respond to social and political issues will only grow. In conversation with leaders and practitioners, we’ve surfaced four recommendations for companies to help them navigate ESG headwinds while considering the interests of their employees, customers, communities, and other stakeholders. These recommendations will be most effective if implemented together. We have also created four tools to support their direct implementation.
Recommendations:
Implementation tools:
