24 Industry Leaders Now Back Pledge to Fund Social Innovation Worldwide

On Monday, 11 more companies joined the Schwab Foundation’s Rise Ahead
Pledge
— bringing the total signatories to 24 and highlighting the growing corporate
commitment to investing in social innovation to build a more sustainable,
equitable world for all.

The Pledge was launched in January 2024 with 13 signatory companies — including
EY, IKEA, Microsoft, SAP and Suez — that have now been
joined by 11 new organizations. This growing group of industry leaders is
backing an ambitious initiative aimed at addressing the estimated $1.125
trillion funding
need
that social enterprises face worldwide and maximizing the full potential of
social innovation.

The new signatories are: Automation
Anywhere, Banco
Davivienda, EDP, GE
HealthCare Foundation, Hewlett
Packard Enterprise (HPE)
Foundation,
Jubilant Bhartia Group, Philips
Foundation,
Reckitt, Renault
Group, TikTok and
Zurich Insurance Group.

With new signatories from Asia and Latin America, support for the Pledge
signals social innovation’s relevance globally.

“The Rise Ahead Pledge presents an exciting and much-needed opportunity for the
private sector to collaborate with and support social entrepreneurs worldwide,”
said Daniel Nowack, Head of Schwab
Foundation’s Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship. “The growing number of
signatories reflects how social innovation is becoming a strategic business
capability, addressing sustainability issues and business objectives. We
encourage other companies to join the pledge and benefit from the shared value
created by the social economy.”

Social innovation is the creation and scaling of transformative solutions to
critical social and environmental challenges based on a commitment to equity,
inclusivity and sustainability and aimed at improving lives — notably of
marginalized or underserved communities.

By endorsing the Rise Ahead Pledge, companies collectively aim to increase their
engagement in social innovation and significantly bolster the social economy by
2030, in line with the UN Sustainable Development
Goals.

Signatories commit to starting new initiatives or expanding on existing
activities in at least two of six engagement areas:

• providing financial support to social innovators

• providing non-financial support to social innovators

• buying from social innovators (social procurement)

• providing financial support to the social innovation ecosystem

• integrating social innovation principles into core business operations, and

• implementing or expanding programs to support employees to develop social
  innovation initiatives internally.

Furthermore, signatories commit to creating collective quantitative targets for
their activities in time for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in
January 2025. A report outlining the impact of investments so far by the
signatories — including the total cumulative financial contributions made — will
be published in early 2025.

“The challenges our society faces demand innovative solutions, and social
entrepreneurs are leading the way. By joining the Rise Ahead Pledge, we are not
only enhancing our support for social innovators but also fostering
collaborations that can scale their solutions across Latin America,” said
Javier Suarez Esparragoza, CEO of Colombia’s Banco Davivienda.

AI for Impact

The Rise Ahead Pledge is complemented by a new Schwab Foundation report,
developed in collaboration with EY and Microsoft, that emphasizes the need to
bolster support for social innovators by employing novel technologies, such as
artificial intelligence, to drive positive change. AI for Impact:
Strengthening AI Ecosystems for Social
Innovation
notes that while AI could benefit countless lives worldwide, less than 1 percent
of AI investments today focus on impact-driven initiatives.

Along with case studies of how social enterprises are deploying AI to improve
civic participation among the underserved in India (Haqdarshak) and provide
early childhood education in low-resource areas in Africa and Asia (High
Resolves), the report illustrates how the
private sector — through strategic partnerships with intermediaries — can play a
key role in nurturing AI for impact by providing funding, technology and
capacity-building support:

• Pledge signatory SAP is advancing AI skills for youth and social enterprises
  through educational programs — helping to bridge the digital divide and
  ensuring inclusive benefits from AI advancements.

• Nigeria-based medical distribution company
  LifeBank developed a blood-tracking tool that
  ensures the delivery of safe blood by leveraging blockchain to improve its
  traceability across the supply chain. Its partnership with IBM has
  enabled the enterprise to overcome infrastructural limits, regulatory
  barriers and skill gaps to scale the solution.

The report also highlights the critical role that social innovators play in
mitigating the environmental and social risks of AI, and how technology
organizations and other corporates can draw lessons and derive benefits through
partnerships and intentional support initiatives.

“Building a more just, equitable and sustainable future begins with innovation,”
said John Schultz, EVP
and Chief Operating Officer at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. “The Rise Ahead
Pledge is a powerful catalyst for the impact we know the global network of
social innovators and entrepreneurs can achieve — the HPE Foundation is
dedicated to unlocking as many opportunities as possible for this vibrant
community.”

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Sustainable Brands Staff

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Published Sep 24, 2024 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST