The current set of challenges for many businesses are overwhelming – workforce changes, the impacts of the pandemic, the turn towards racial justice and social change. It’s clear that unprecedented times call for innovative solutions – and what if a solution already exists inside the walls of your company?
Next Stage believes in turning risk into opportunity. Social good efforts offer high-impact, low-cost solutions to many of these challenges while getting ahead of stakeholder expectation. Our team helps purpose-focused business leaders build, leverage and expand impact efforts to create positive company culture, improve the bottom line, and activate next generation workforce and shareholders – all while helping you make significant community impact. Services include:
Strategy & Implementation
Implementation Support
Nonprofit Support & Coaching
Impact Reporting
Social Impact Strategy & Implementation
Executives, employees and community leaders almost universally agree that a strong sense of purpose drives employee satisfaction, positive brand identity and overall business health. According to a recent Harvard Business School survey, nearly 90% of executives named purpose a key driver of employee satisfaction – but only 46% of those same executives said their organizations are currently operating with a strong sense of purpose. The benefits of engaging with social good are clear but figuring out how to best do this for your company can be a lot more challenging.
There is no denying the impact of ESG (environmental, social, governance) as criteria informing business success. Next Stage can help your company develop a social impact strategy that engages your employees and aligns with your business goals. Our team will conduct an in-depth discovery before working with your team to design an ESG/social impact strategy that is built for maximum impact, both inside and outside your company’s walls.
Implementation Support
Many companies are rapidly growing their social impact or community relations efforts – but internal CSR teams are often small and some are struggling to keep up with the need for increased activity. Next Stage will come alongside your existing team, serving as an implementation partner. This support can help better leverage or expand existing efforts, ensuring maximum internal impact.
Next Stage can originate or support a wide number of projects, initiatives or strategies by adding capacity. Our team of diverse social impact professionals can provide project management, marketing, partner development and employee engagement services to make sure your company stays one step ahead.
Nonprofit Support & Coaching
Partnerships with nonprofits are a powerful element of social impact strategy for private sector companies. Next Stage’s deep experience with nonprofit organizations alongside CULTIVATE, our curriculum for emerging nonprofits can help ensure that partnerships are well-matched and managed well. We offer coaching, workshops and training to help ensure that the organizations you fund make the maximum impact, as well as The Nonprofit Partnership Platform.
Next Stage’s Nonprofit Partnership Platform is a turnkey solution that makes partnering with high-quality, innovative nonprofits easy for private sector companies. The Platform consists of 20 vetted nonprofit organizations who already have developed employee engagement, cause marketing and workforce development strategies and are prepared to create custom partnerships that fit the unique needs of a company.
Impact Reporting
Every company desires to make a big impact in their community – but how do you know that your efforts are effective? Next Stage works with companies to offer both internal and external impact reporting that utilizes a combination of in-depth interviews, surveys, focus groups and observation to create a beautifully designed Impact Report.
Our community research experience, alongside deep relationships in the nonprofit community make Next Stage an ideal third-party bridge between the company and the organizations it supports to create a report that identifies real-world impact through both data and storytelling. These Reports offer a strong platform for internal reporting and planning, external communication and peer engagement through thought leadership.