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The Green Seat Guide, Chapter 3

The Green Seat Guide, Chapter 3

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2024 Election Scenario Planning Toolkit

2024 Election Scenario Planning Toolkit

In an era marked by sociopolitical uncertainty, businesses and their leaders have a responsibility to their employees, customers, investors, and communities to prepare for a range of plausible impacts that could emerge following the 2024 U.S. general election. Regardless of an organization’s size, sector, or prior engagement in political and social issues, the likelihood is high that electoral outcomes and subsequent societal effects will call upon leaders to make tough calls, negotiate trade offs, and act in response to a range of stakeholder interests. Those leaders will be well-served by the foresight and preparation that scenario planning affords.

NationSwell created this toolkit in an effort to make scenario planning as accessible and effective as possible during election season and beyond. For more comprehensive guidance on the role of business in promoting a healthy democracy, visit our Civics Inc. report.

Who is this for?

The recommended audience for this resource are senior leaders and managers with responsibility over relevant functional areas, including public affairs, communications, social impact, human resources, and legal.

While businesses can and do conduct scenario planning on a large number of topics relevant to their interests, this particular resource focuses on the potential near and mid-term impacts of a U.S. general election on business, free enterprise, and our constitutional republic.

Guidance for use

This resource contains instructions and resources to support election scenario planning exercises. Because there is no one-size-fits-all approach to scenario planning, we advise leaders to review this information and adapt it to the existing practices of their organization. The intent is to make scenario planning as accessible as possible, not to divert organizations away from methods that are already working well.

What’s in the toolkit?

  • Section 1: Election scenario planning overview
  • Section 2: Election scenario planning preparation and facilitation guide
  • Section 3: Election scenarios to consider
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The Green Seat Guide, Chapter 2

The Green Seat Guide, Chapter 2

As corporate sustainability challenges grow more complex, chief sustainability officers (CSOs) are being hired at record rates. They come from diverse professional backgrounds, underscoring the multidisciplinary nature of the role, and often find themselves navigating uncharted waters, tasked with steering an entire enterprise toward ambitious goals. This mandate demands more than just technical knowledge, it demands leadership, vision, and the ability to inspire change at all levels.

While technical guidance on sustainability is widely available through consultants, vendors, and the scientific community, there remains a significant gap in the transfer of practical wisdom. The Green Seat Guide bridges that gap with insights, strategies, and lessons learned from experienced sustainability executives. The aim of the guide is to accelerate the impact of sustainability leaders, new and experienced, by offering practical guidance and learned wisdom from those who have pioneered the role.

Each chapter focuses on an essential component of the sustainability journey and includes a selection of ready-to-use tools to support the adoption of key ideas and tactics.

Chapter 2 – Organizing your team

With a strategy in hand, creating and deploying a well-rounded sustainability team is the sustainability executive’s next most important task. Whether you’ve inherited a staff or need to build a team from scratch, you should be mindful of balancing your technical needs with your strategic needs. Your team will need to be rigorous, detail-oriented, and versatile, and you will need to build key cross-functional relationships beyond your direct reports. 

Chapter 2 of The Green Seat Guide provides guidance on building a successful sustainability team, drawing on the rich insights of those who have done so before.

It is comprised of four sections: 

  1. Working with consultants
  2. Designing your core team
  3. Sourcing and screening the right talent
  4. Leveraging existing internal capabilities

For insights on developing a sustainability strategy, don’t miss Chapter 1.

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Making corporate DEIB more durable

Making corporate DEIB more durable

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Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) professionals are facing heightened political and legal opposition to their day-to-day work. At times, it’s challenging to truly know if and how companies, and DEIB leaders themselves, are shifting their commitments or approaches. 

The reality is that some businesses are pausing or re-evaluating their DEIB strategies. A number of companies are reducing investments in DEIB or choosing to proceed more quietly. But the pendulum is swinging in both directions. There is evidence that the material work of DEIB has endured and will continue to endure. 

Based on interviews with chief diversity officers and other DEIB executives, this report is intended to support leaders and organizations in confidently charting a path forward at a moment of heightened scrutiny.

The resource teaches the four components of a resilient approach to corporate DEIB and includes tactical guidance, real-world examples, and implementation tools.

The four components:

  • Leverage data as the backbone of your commitment
  • Cultivate and activate accountable champions at all levels of the organization
  • Center transparency, honor progress, and strive for continuous improvement
  • Get intentional about future-proofing DEIB
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The Green Seat Guide, Chapter 1

The Green Seat Guide, Chapter 1

As corporate sustainability challenges grow more complex, chief sustainability officers (CSOs) are being hired at record rates. They come from diverse professional backgrounds, underscoring the multidisciplinary nature of the role, and often find themselves navigating uncharted waters, tasked with steering an entire enterprise toward ambitious goals. This mandate demands more than just technical knowledge, it demands leadership, vision, and the ability to inspire change at all levels.

While technical guidance on sustainability is widely available through consultants, vendors, and the scientific community, there remains a significant gap in the transfer of practical wisdom. The Green Seat Guide bridges that gap with insights, strategies, and lessons learned from experienced sustainability executives. The aim of the guide is to accelerate the impact of sustainability leaders, new and experienced, by offering practical guidance and learned wisdom from those who have pioneered the role.

Each chapter focuses on an essential component of the sustainability journey and includes a selection of ready-to-use tools to support the adoption of key ideas and tactics.

Chapter 1 – Developing a sustainability strategy

Crafting a sustainability strategy is a foundational, if daunting, part of a sustainability leader’s mandate. Success requires rapid, comprehensive learning about a complex enterprise and a nuanced grasp of the forces that motivate your key stakeholders.

Chapter 1 of The Green Seat Guide explores the art of crafting a sustainability strategy, drawing on the rich insights of those who have navigated this process before.

It is comprised of seven sections: 

  1. Getting to know your business inside and out 
  2. Roughing out a draft strategy
  3. Conducting a materiality assessment
  4. Defining top strategic priorities
  5. Setting targets
  6. Roadmapping and resourcing your sustainability strategy
  7. Engaging with external coalitions, pledges, and third-party validation

The chapter also offers tools to support the adoption of key ideas and tactics, including: 

  • Tool A: Sustainability landscape assessment checklist
  • Tool B: Preferred consulting and technology solutions
  • Tool C: Sustainability accountability map components
  • Tool D: Overview of commonly used sustainability reporting frameworks
  • Tool E: Materiality assessment preparation checklist
  • Tool F: Essential elements of a sustainability roadmap
  • Tool G: Common product sustainability certifications
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Civics Inc.

Civics Inc.

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This is the biggest election year in history, as citizens in countries representing half the the world’s population head to the polls. At home, the 2024 U.S. election will once again put destabilizing pressure on American political processes and institutions.

We know that the moment demands more than our attention; it demands urgent action. Employers hold outsized potential to promote civic participation and protect our democracy, but for many leaders, that work feels more fraught than ever before.

Developed from the insights and experiences of business leaders and democracy experts, this report is designed to meet businesses where they are. It provides a strategic framework to help employers customize their efforts around three goals and five core assets.

Three goals for employers to pursue in service of healthier democracy:

  • Encouraging and enabling civic participation
  • Promoting information accessibility, transparency, and quality
  • Supporting issues that protect fundamental rights and protect democracy

Five core assets that all businesses can leverage in pursuit of these goals:

  • Workplace policies and benefits
  • Employee engagement and people infrastructure
  • Corporate products and services
  • Political contributions and advocacy
  • Corporate and executive voice

What else is included in the report?

  • Talking points for making the business case for democracy, provided directly by corporate leaders and democracy experts
  • Dozens of real examples showing how businesses are promoting civic participation and a healthier democracy, paired with detailed implementation guidance
  • Peer-vetted recommendations for partner organizations on a wide-range of needs
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Investing in employee well-being: innovative policies and benefits

Investing in employee well-being: innovative policies and benefits

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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.

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Looking Ahead: 2024

Looking Ahead: 2024

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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
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Guide to engaging employees in corporate volunteerism

Guide to engaging employees in corporate volunteerism

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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: 

  • Four critical areas of strategic guidance surfaced by NationSwell members
  • Case examples of strategies in action, featuring Mastercard, PwC, LinkedIn, Nike, Dow, Salesforce, Coupa, Starbucks, MetLife Foundation, KPMG, Liberty Mutual, Medtronic, Bank of America, and Verizon.
  • Implementation checklists to support action
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2023 Private Sector Social Impact and Sustainability Leadership Survey

2023 Private Sector Social Impact and Sustainability Leadership Survey

2023 brought social impact and sustainability work further into the social, political, and organizational spotlight, and presented leaders with distinct, long-term considerations for their work. Leaders encountered large-scale, composite challenges: the escalation of the anti-ESG movement; the Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action and its subsequent implications for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB); the effects of an increasingly restrictive macroeconomic environment on teams and priorities; and the intensification of regulatory requirements. At the same time, social impact work has matured and deepened, with leaders investing heavily in employee engagement, leaning in on sustainability strategies, cautiously adopting AI, and empowering communities through trust-based and place-based work.

Against this backdrop, NationSwell set out to investigate what forces were most significant in changing the way leaders approached their priorities and decision-making over the past year, and what leaders anticipate about the environment, their organizations, and their jobs in the year to come. Between July and August 2023 we surveyed 74 corporate social impact and sustainability leaders across NationSwell’s membership community and beyond. The resulting report explores the direct opinions and experiences of those leaders, in service to advancing collective knowledge about their essential roles.

Below is a summary of the key findings discussed in greater detail in the report:

Theme 1: Leaders’ confidence takes a hit among a difficult year for impact work

  • Leaders’ satisfaction with their organizations’ social impact is waning marginally amid an increasingly challenging environment.
  • With trepidation about the year ahead, leaders’ confidence in their own work is also dwindling.

Theme 2: Economic and regulatory activity assert their dominance above other forces 

  • Two of 2023’s trending issues – the politicization of ESG and the emergence of generative AI – have not transformed social impact and sustainability strategies. 
  • Instead, macroeconomic conditions had widespread and deep impacts highlighted by layoffs, budget cuts, and new barriers to collaboration.
  • Over the next year, leaders predict that economic conditions and regulatory/legislative activity will be key factors in their prioritization and decision-making.
  • In recognition of their growing need, and in spite of economic uncertainty, leaders will advocate for more funding for social impact and sustainability work in the year ahead.

Theme 3: Influence is leaders’ most sought-after and valued currency 

  • Leaders respond most to the influence of their executive team, and want to wield their own influence in return.
  • Leaders are intent on improving their strategies and capabilities to engage with internal stakeholders.
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