A strong brand purpose can indeed make a significant difference. When a brand aligns its values with those of its audience, it creates a deeper connection and fosters loyalty. This alignment not only helps in gaining market share but also enhances employee engagement and customer satisfaction.
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Here are a few key benefits of having a clear brand purpose:
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1. Increased Customer Loyalty: Customers are more likely to support brands that share their values and beliefs.
2. Enhanced Brand Differentiation: A unique purpose sets a brand apart from its competitors.
3. Higher Employee Engagement: Employees feel more motivated and connected to their work when they believe in the company's mission.
4. Positive Social Impact: Brands with a purpose often contribute positively to society, which can enhance their reputation.

​helping-Brands
​have purpose​

​Brand purpose is about having a moral reason for being, aside from commercial interest that's aligned with what your audiences' believes. Purpose-driven companies witness higher market share gains and grow three times faster on average than their competitors, all while achieving higher workforce and customer satisfaction.

helping-Brands
​invest in local community  

​Community investing (CI) is a subcategory of socially responsible investing, and it aims to earn returns for investors while contributing to noble causes. Social responsibility means that individuals and companies have a duty to act in the best interests of their environment and society as a whole.

​helping-Brands
​create social impact
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Social impact can be defined as the net effect of an activity on a community and the well-being of individuals and families.

helping-Brands
​support related causes
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Every organization has causes that are important to the leaders, employees and customers of that organization.

​helping-Brands
​be sustainable

​Sustainability means meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In addition to natural resources, we also need social and economic resources. Sustainability is not just environmental- ism.

​helping-Brands
​empower communities

​Empowerment is the degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities. This enables them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority

​helping-Brands
with workforce development

​​Workforce development, an American approach to economic development, attempts to enhance a region's economic stability and prosperity by focusing on people rather than businesses. It essentially develops a human-resources strategy.

helping-Brands
 helping people with barriers

​Age, Criminal record, Disabilities, Disadvantaged background, domestic violence, Drug and/or alcohol abuse,  limited Education,  Employer biases,  Housing issues or homelessness, lacks basic and employability skills, Limited English proficiency,

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​Recommendations  |  ​Recognition  |  johnrfugazzie.com   |   LinkedIn Profile

Ask Professor John R. Fugazzie

Leadership | Economic Development | Community Impact | Education 
Health Care | Strategy | Marketing | Food | Retail
​
Ask Professor John about training and consulting services for any organizations who wants to transition their business, non profit, NGO, community organization, educational Institution, or government agency. 

​​ESG Investing

ESG investing is investing in companies that score highly on environmental and societal responsibility scales as determined by third-party, independent companies and research groups. “The underlying premise is that there are certain environmental, social and corporate governance factors that actually impact business,” says Smith. “Considering those factors gives investors a more holistic view of companies, which can help mitigate risk and identify opportunities.”

Here’s a closer look at the three criteria used to evaluate companies for ESG investing:

• Environment. What kind of impact does a company have on the environment? This can include a company’s carbon footprint, toxic chemicals involved in its manufacturing processes and sustainability efforts that make up its supply chain.
• Social. How does the company improve its social impact, both within the company and in the broader community? Social factors include everything from LGBTQ+ equality, racial diversity in both the executive suite and staff overall, and inclusion programs and hiring practices. It even looks at how a company advocates for social good in the wider world, beyond its limited sphere of business.
• Governance. How does the company’s board and management drive positive change? Governance includes everything from issues surrounding executive pay to diversity in leadership as well as how well that leadership responds to and interacts with shareholders.

Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)

​Socially responsible investing (SRI) is a strategy that also helps investors align their choices with their personal values. SRI presents a framework for investing in companies that agree with your social and environmental values.
Whereas ESG investing takes into account how a company’s practices and policies impact profitability and future returns, SRI is more tightly focused on whether an investment is more precisely in line with an individual investor’s values. ESG factors in corporate performance while SRI solely focuses on the investor’s values.

Impact Investing
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Impact investing is less focused on returns and more focused on intent. With impact investing, investors make investments in market segments dedicated to solving pressing problems around the globe. These sectors could include those making advancements in green and renewable energy, housing equity, healthcare access and affordability and more.
The Global Impact Investing Network (GINN) has four published guidelines for impact investments:

• Intentionality. Investments are made with the intention to affect positive social or environmental change.
• Investment with return expectations. Of course, investments should generate a return of capital at a minimum.
• Range of return expectations and asset classes. Different investment areas should have aligned expectations about returns. Sometimes these returns are below market rate.
• Impact measurement. Investments should have an exceptional level of transparency so investors can assess how their dollars help to achieve meaningful change.

Conscious Capitalism​

Created by Raj Sisodia, a marketing professor, and John Mackey, the co-founder of Whole Foods, conscious capitalism is the belief that companies should act with the utmost ethics while they pursue profits.
The four guiding principles of the movement, as defined by Conscious Capitalism, are:

• Higher purpose. Profit for these companies is a reward for a well-built conscious company, not the end-all, be-all. They strive toward a higher purpose and larger impact on the world beyond money and market share.
• Stakeholder orientation. A company and its leaders should develop an ecosystem that balances the needs of all stakeholders equally, not overweighting shareholder returns at the expense of other stakeholders.
• Conscious leadership. Leaders should work towards developing an inclusive culture and weigh equally the interests of all stakeholders in the business—from employees to shareholders to customers.
• Conscious culture. Companies should intentionally create a culture within their businesses that promote their values and purpose.

Millennial-aged investors, and women, in particular, are holding the companies they invest in a higher standard. 67% of them believe that investments are a way for them to express “social, political, and environmental value,” as opposed to 36% of Boomers.
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A few more statistics on the newest generation of investors as cited by MSCI:
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• Millennials are more than twice as likely to be interested in investments that are dedicated to solving societal or economic problems.
• 90% of millennials wealthy enough to do so want to increase allocations to responsible investments over the next five years.
• 84% of millennials surveyed in a study by Morgan Stanley said they were interested in more sustainable investing.
• The Morgan Stanley report also claims 71% of individual investors are interested in sustainable investing.

Certified B Corporations are a new kind of business that balances purpose and profit. They are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. This is a community of leaders, driving a global movement of people using business as a force for good.

Building a Better Business

People want to work for, buy from, and invest in businesses they believe in. B Corp Certification is the most powerful way to build credibility, trust, and value for your business. 
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​Building a More Equitable Economy​

Learn how with legislative and regulatory changes, we can have mandatory benefit governance and expand investors’ fiduciary responsibilities to protect the broad interests of their beneficiaries.  B Corp Directory

Deloitte insights : ​
Purpose is everything How brands that authentically lead with purpose are changing the nature of business today

Forbes:
​Environmental, Social And Governance: What Is ESG Investing?

The New Change Agents: Companies, Nonprofits, and You

​Changing Missions, Changing Lives: How A Change Agent Can Turn The Ship And Create Impact 
​by Barry H. Ostrowsky and Michellene Davis Esq.
​

• Castrucci, B. and Auerbach, J. Meeting Individual Social Needs Falls Short of Addressing Social Determinants of Health. Heath Affairs. 2019. https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/forefront.20190115.234942/   

• Taylor, L. et al. Can Businesses Be Anchor Institutions? Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR). January 2022. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/can_businesses_be_anchor_institutions

• Digital Divide Persists Even as Americans with Low Incomes Make Gains in Tech Adoption. Pew Research Center. June 2021. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/06/22/digital-divide-persists-even-as-americans-with-lower-incomes-make-gains-in-tech-adoption/   

• How to Close the Digital Divide in the U.S. Harvard Business Review (HBR). July 2021. https://hbr.org/2021/07/how-to-close-the-digital-divide-in-the-u-s​