There’s a lot of information out there about social purpose and purpose-driven marketing. However, finding the best resources to help you map out and implement your brand’s strategy can be overwhelming, to say the least. To make it easier, I’ve compiled a list of five great resources to help you develop your social purpose strategy, connect and collaborate with other social-purpose-driven business leaders, and learn from thought-leaders across the industry.

 

1. Sustainable Brands

Sustainable Brands aims to “inspire, engage and equip today’s business and brand leaders to prosper for the near and long term by leading the way to a sustainably abundant future.” They have lots of excellent resources you can tap into, including articles, news and views from various leaders in the industry. They also offer peer-to-peer learning groups for members, a digital resource library, webinars, slideshows, research reports and case studies. Not only that, they host online and live events, including global conferences for members of the global Sustainable Brands community. I’ve put them at the top of my list because they have a great community of smart and committed people, they have a global presence and they host some of the best conferences I’ve ever attended.

2. B-Lab

As I wrote about in a previous post on Why B Corps Are Important to Social Purpose Brands,  B-Lab is a non-profit organization that provides B Corp certification to for-profit organizations that “meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.” Becoming a B Corp provides additional credibility to your company’s social purpose commitment and means you’re part of a like-minded group of business leaders. Their resources and meet-ups will help you continue to hone your social purpose strategy and benefit from the community’s wisdom.

3. Investors’ Circle-Social Venture Network

A recent merger of the Investors’ Circle and the Social Venture Network, IC-SVN brings together two organizations that have historically focused on the needs of impact investors and mission-driven business leaders, respectively. Today, they’re building bridges between those two worlds, and creating more powerful outcomes by bringing investors, business leaders and entrepreneurs together in pursuit of positive social, economic and environmental change. Their conferences, learning circles and investment pitch events offer great networking and knowledge-building platforms.

4. Stanford Social Innovation Review

The Stanford Social Innovation Review is an online magazine that focuses on solutions to various social problems, from environment to human rights to civic engagement. It’s written by thought leaders from various sectors, including not-for-profits, corporations, government and foundations. Designed for social change leaders from all sectors of society, it’s consistently proven to be a credible and thought-provoking source for insights and case studies. Like it says on their website, “With print and online articles, webinars, conferences, podcasts, and more, SSIR bridges research, theory, and practice on a wide range of topics, including human rights, impact investing, and nonprofit business models.

5. Marketing Week

Britain has a strong history of corporate responsibility and social innovation, so it’s not surprising that another trusted go-to source is the UK-based Marketing Week. Available online and in print, it covers all topics of, yeah, you guessed it, marketing, from data to content marketing to media strategy to advertising. They have an extensive section on Brand Purpose that provides solid “news, analysis and insight on embedding values into your brand’s DNA.

Have you got a favourite social purpose resource? If so, leave a comment to share it with our community.

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