By Tereza Bízková
“We hired a CSR person at Twitter, years before we hired our first sales person, to make sure we had a culture and impact of doing good,” remarked famously Biz Stone, Twitter’s co-founder.
This isn’t exactly a conventional step for founders, but it may have its benefits. In fact, an HBR study found that companies that are highly purpose-driven outperform the market by 5-7% per year in growth and profitability.
Yet, identifying purpose—and living it through corporate social responsibility (CSR)—remains notoriously difficult for many businesses out there. Fluctuating revenue and market volatility hardly help: 2020 saw a 6.1% drop in corporate giving, with numerous impact initiatives affected as a result.
There’s a powerful argument against putting CSR on the backburner, though. The vast majority of consumers say they would be more willing to purchase from companies with a commitment to addressing social, economic, and environmental issues. And 73% of investors agree.
So, how can companies navigate the widespread pressure to make the world a better place?
On a crusade to make CSR more than a mere afterthought, some brands have been exploring how blockchain technology, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) more specifically, can revitalize their impact efforts.
For example, last June, Coca-Cola raised over half a million dollars for the Special Olympics through an NFT auction on OpenSea, showing a glimpse of a wholly new way of approaching CSR—with engagement and transparency at its heart.
Impact shouldn’t be a zero-sum game
From Bored Apes to Crypto Punks, NFTs have until now been mostly associated with overhyped PFP (profile picture) art on Twitter and get-rich-quick schemes—but there’s much more to it.
“Imagine if Nike were to partner with a coral protection nonprofit,” points out Jon O’Sullivan, the business development manager at Project …
Full story available on Benzinga.com