Guest blogger “Edil K” posted these questions in the lead up to Mission Measurement’s session at the 2010 Health and Human Rights Conference in Toronto last week. 

From my perspective, social enterprise is one of the only means to engender social impact and one that must be embraced with all its opportunities as well as challenges.  The fact is that in today’s world corporations are more powerful and have greater longevity than many government administrations and many NGOs.  At Mission Measurement, we view corporate engagement in social change not as an interesting option, but as one of the only ways to get things done.  The burden of figuring out how to make it work and how to reconcile business interests with social good is on us:  it is a “how” not an “if.”

I can’t argue that contradictions don’t exist.  However, I believe that CSR programs that conflict with their parent company’s core business are simply not fully evolved.  It’s our mission to transform the field of CSR such that companies take on social initiatives that not only create social change but also deliver business value.

Marrying business value with social good is new and different but not impossible.  To date, few companies have overcome the gaps in strategy, relationships, skill and culture required to take on this innovative approach and doing so takes time, resources and a fair amount of political will.  The key to breaking organizational inertia is generating small wins that demonstrate the ability of social strategies to create business value.  In the short-term, the “small wins first” approach may create lingering contradictions between unrelated business and social strategies.  However, I would argue that this is simply part of the evolutionary process and will fade with time.  

Finally, corporate involvement in social change will never supplant the role of the government.  However, the private sector and businesses in particular play a powerful role in partnering with public entities to create broader, deeper and more lasting social change.  The U.S. government, including President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, recognizes this fact and has placed increasing emphasis on working collaboratively with corporations both domestically and in the developing world.  Mission Measurement’s role in measuring and improving government effectiveness is based largely on its ability to engage the private sector.  

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