SITUATION

The Vera Institute of Justice—a non-partisan organization that works to improve justice systems that ensure fairness and strengthen communities—wanted to assess the feasibility of developing corporate sector partnerships as both a funding source and a platform for amplifying their message.

OUR WORK

We started our work in 2020, as public companies were beginning to align CSR priorities with issues of equality.

Enlisting the help of our network of industry partners and clients, we conducted a series of interviews with CSR and corporate philanthropy executives with the goal of understanding which of Vera’s focus areas, if any, aligned with emerging industry sector priorities. Our learnings concluded that there was promising potential in the areas of disabilities, educational opportunities for the incarcerated, policing, and racial bias in prosecution.

With those learnings in hand, we partnered with Vera’s development, marketing, and program staffs, to develop a corporate engagement and partnership framework focused on the five issue areas that emerged during the discovery phase.

IMPACT

• Vera’s corporate philanthropy increased by 350% in the fiscal year following the implementation of our work.

• Building a responsive strategy has enabled Vera to adjust to the ups and downs of shifting corporate priorities over the past five years.