April 2022 Social Impact News Roundup: Investing in a Sustainable Future

Every month, we share leading social impact insights, trends, job opportunities, and events to help you drive positive change from wherever you are. Here are some highlights from April 2022:

Delivering More Effective Acceleration Support to Social Enterprises

Earlier this month, MovingWorlds – in partnership with SAP, TRANSFORM, & Unilever – announced the launch of the TRANSFORM Support Hub: a global, cross-sector platform that connects social enterprises with corporates, peers, learning content, and a global community of pro bono professionals to deliver market-based solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals. The TRANSFORM Support Hub not only provides social entrepreneurs support, it also has learning and networking benefits for professionals, makes it easy for corporations to engage in supporting social entrepreneurs, and helps impact investors and accelerators provide more support to their networks. Read more in our launch announcement here. Our friends at Argidius also published the results of its latest research into what it takes to most effectively accelerate social enterprises through programs like the TRANSFORM Support Hub, and you can find the key takeaways in our summary of the report here.

New Opportunities for Social Impact Through Corporate Transformation

Investors, employees, consumers, and even governments are putting pressure on corporations to become more sustainable in their operations and communities, leading to an increased strategic focus on ESG, social impact, and social procurement. In a recent article for ESG Today, Proof of Impact’s Chief Impact Officer Evan Vahouny outlines the key differences between ESG and Social Impact – and how companies that prioritize both will be best positioned to create long-term sustainable value. Another way companies are becoming more sustainable is through their procurement practices, which has the potential to dramatically shift some of the biggest forces in our economy: how businesses and governments purchase goods. In a recent article for Impact Entrepreneur, MovingWorlds Co-Founder and CEO Mark Horoszowski elaborates on the big income opportunity this creates for social entrepreneurs. Companies increasingly need social enterprise partners to ensure that their entire supply and distribution chains are transparent, sustainable, and achieve ESG targets. Particularly in the last-mile, social enterprises have proven solutions where other entities do not (to learn more, check out the Global Distributors Collective State of the Last Mile Distribution Sector in 2022 report here.)

Earth Day 2022: Invest in Our Planet

Like years past, this Earth Day was met with a flurry of announcements and commitments from companies in the race to net-zero. But unlike Earth Day’s past, it’s getting a lot harder for companies to ‘greenwash’ their actions as real change without the data and action to prove it. As Tim Mohin explained in this Fast Company article, “the era of greenwashing is coming to an end as environmental concerns have crossed a threshold into mainstream financial reporting.” Last month, the SEC proposed new climate reporting rules, and this month, the first science-based global standard for financial sector net-zero targets was announced. Data is one thing that can’t be greenwashed! Curious whether Earth Day announcements you’ve seen have been genuine or just greenwashing? Check out this guide on how to tell the difference. 

Social Impact Job Opportunities

• Acumen is hiring for multiple positions, including:
  • Data & Systems Associate (based in NYC, San Francisco, London, Bogotá, or Lagos)
  • Operations Associate, BD & Partnerships (based in San Francisco, CA)
  • Impact Manager (based in London, UK)
• Adobe is hiring for a Senior Program Manager, CSR (based in San Francisco, CA)
• Amazon is hiring for a Worldwide Lead, ESG Reporting, WW Sustainability (based in San Francisco, CA)
• The Aspen Institute is hiring for an Associate Director, Communications (based in Washington, D.C.)
• Calvert Impact Capital is hiring for an Impact Analyst (Hybrid, based out of Washington, D.C.)
• Global Distributor’s Collective is hiring for a Senior Consultant (based in Kenya, Nepal, Senegal, or Zimbabwe)
• Global Innovation Fund is hiring for multiple positions, including:
  • Investment Associate, Risk Capital (based in London, Washington D.C., Nairobi, or Singapore)
  • Investment Associate, Public Sector (based in London, Nairobi, or Washington D.C.) 
• Google is hiring for a Director of Social Impact Communications (based in New York, NY)
• MovingWorlds is hiring for a Senior Full Stack Developer (contract, remote)
• Proof of Impact is hiring for multiple positions (all of which are remote), including:
  • Operations Finance Manager
  • Sales Development Representative
  • Growth Marketing Manager
• ThinkMD is hiring for a Business Development Lead, Government & Donors (based in Burlington, VT or remote)
• VisionSpring is hiring for a Global Multimedia Marketing Manager (remote within U.S.) 
• The World Economic Forum is hiring for a Head of the Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship (based in Geneva, Switzerland)
• Yunus Social Business is hiring for a Brand & Communications Manager (Based in Berlin/Europe)

Upcoming Events & New Programs

• May 9-13: Catalyst2030 is hosting “Catalyzing Change Week,”an annual event for social innovators to share knowledge, exchange ideas and accelerate collaborative systems change through more than 250 sessions.
• May 10: MovingWorlds is presenting at Catalyzing Change Week on the topic of “Helping Corporations Achieve SDG Targets by Partnering with Social Enterprises”. Join us at 8am PST on May 10th here.
• May 18: TRANSFORM Support Hub is hosting a social enterprise webinar, ScaleOut: A Recipe for Expansion into New Markets featuring the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship team. Register here.
• May 22-26: The World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting will take place in Switzerland, with the theme of Working Together, Restoring Trust. 

Congratulations to….

• Ecomak Recyclers for being selected among the Top 10 Startups to join the Startupbootcamp AfriTech Acceleration Programme!
• Umunthu Plus for receiving funding from the US Embassy to implement a 12 month project targeting youth living with HIV, which will include community door to door HIV testing for young people who do not have access to health facilities.

A Final Bit of Inspiration

“Sustainable development is a fundamental break that’s going to reshuffle the entire deck. There are companies today that are going to dominate in the future simply because they understand that.”
Francois-Henri Pinault