This post originally appeared in GovLoop.

Northwestern University—with social impact consulting firm Mission Measurement and international development experts DAI—will evaluate a newly announced Walmart initiative designed to empower 60,000 women working in factories supplying the multinational retail giant and other retailers.The five-year initiative announced by Walmart earlier this month will target women in India, Bangladesh, China and Central America and, collaborating with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), teach them critical life skills including hygiene, communications, reproductive health and occupational health and safety.

The Skoll World Forum—an amazing alchemy of the world’s greatest social entrepreneurs, big thinkers, financiers, philanthropists, and academics—is often a zeitgeist of the latest thinking in the social sector, and this year didn’t disappoint. While the officially programmed theme of the conference was “flux,” the real themes played out in informal hallway chatter, over drinks with colleagues at the Oxford Retreat pub, and in the Twittersphere.Having participated in a number of these informal “sessions”—in addition to moderating a formal one—I sat down to consider what I heard.

Businesses increasingly see the value of sustainability initiatives and continue to develop new and innovative sustainability strategies. Yet something is holding many businesses back from deploying those efforts.

Guilt is not a product anyone loves.That might sound obvious, but for most nonprofits, foundations and government agencies, guilt is the best product we’re selling. Our appeals for funding are built around psychic benefits—give us money and you’ll feel good. Yet as the funding pool continues to shrink and competition grows fiercer, selling guilt simply isn’t sustainable.But it doesn’t have to be that way.

CSR programs are under ever-increasing pressure to be relevant—to provide tangible value to their parent companies. The problem is that few, if any, were designed to that.We can’t create value out of thin air. Unquantifiable concepts like “brand reputation” and “shared value”, which attempt to do that, lose steam once they reach the boardroom. And “social responsibility” is no longer the differentiator it once was. “What’s the return?” CEOs are increasingly asking. The answer is almost guaranteed to be unsatisfying.But it doesn’t have to be that way.

In my recent Q&A with Insight Labs, I explore why nonprofits must measure outcomes, not activities, if they want to survive.This excerpt that gets to the bottom of the current activity-focused mindset:

Mission Measurement’s corporate practice is based on a simple premise: By focusing on the value of social impact outcomes, we can develop new corporate strategies that drive profit while doing good.We call it the Social Value Proposition (SVP). It’s that sweet spot where profit intersects social impact. And it’s gaining traction with companies—from family-run mom and pops to the Fortune 50.Over the last year, we’ve seen our approach to SVP-based strategies build momentum, as we formed partnerships with standard-bearers like PepsiCo, McDonalds, BMO Harris Bank, Cisco and The Walt Disney Company.

One of the great pleasures of being at the forefront of a movement like social entrepreneurship is to witness its evolution and progress from the front row. Opportunities to work with new start-ups are the best chance to see what the next-generation of social innovators is doing with the ideas we pioneered.I recently had the opportunity to serve as a mentor to three up-and-coming social entrepreneurs in Chicago who focus on education and youth development outcomes.

Download Measurement Drives Strategy: A Guide to Outcomes-Based Strategic Planning and Program Design