Passion Projects: Aligning Company Initiatives and Personal Values

For most of the modern era, corporate giving and individual passions have been mostly siloed, as employee programs focused more on encouraging people to give to charities chosen by the company. Now, companies are beginning to embrace “The Power of And,” which encompasses both vertical and horizontal engagement. That’s the scenario where the vertical pillars or specific charities in a company’s social responsibility strategy are complemented by a more horizontal or grassroots focus powered by the passions and interests of its people. Once you combine the two, it’s easy to see the powerful potential to engage your people more broadly AND boost awareness of your company’s positive role in society.

It’s all in how the concept of collective impact is redefining conventional approaches to CSR and corporate Goodness. Instead of limiting thinking of impact to the dollars that can be raised for a specific cause or charity by funneling people into a limited selection of charities that often mean little or nothing to them, technology is helping both democratize giving and catalyze "the crowd" in ways that drive behavioral change and create sustainable engagement and impact. And the key to doing that is making way for personal “passion projects.”

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