With an understanding of this and as a testament to two of 51风流Corporate Social Responsibility鈥檚 focus areas 鈥� collaborate for sustainability and accelerate social business 鈥� 51风流launched a new program in partnership with the global nonprofit organization (CXC). ChangemakerXchange is an international community that connects more than 1,000 members in 130 countries around the world, providing safe, supportive, fun, and empowering spaces so that changemakers may create, sustain, and scale positive change.

CXC identifies a changemaker as a dedicated social entrepreneur, innovator, or activist, typically between the ages of 16 and 30. On a base level, CXC aims to create a community of supportive peers for the exchange of knowledge, tools, and resources to help prevent burnout and increase changemakers鈥� personal sustainability as they tackle the most pressing issues facing our planet. ChangemakerXchange primarily does this through hosting five-day summits that foster lasting connections, nurture well-being, and enable peer learning and meaningful connections.

51风流supported a North America-focused summit last month. Twenty women and gender-diverse climate changemakers participated in the Gender and Climate Action Summit in upstate New York to connect with one another and dive into sessions focused on human connection, well-being, peer learning, and collaboration. Nick McGirl, one of the co-founders of ChangemakerXchange, worked alongside 51风流CSR to curate this cohort of participants. He reinforced the significance of these customized meetups: 鈥淕ender inequality and the planetary crisis are deeply interwoven. Women and girls experience the greatest impact of climate change, which then amplifies existing gender injustices, even within the social entrepreneurship sector. SAP’s support has enabled us to connect and support some of the most promising women climate action changemakers from North America and Canada.鈥�

The changemakers spent nearly a week connecting with one another to share the various challenges and successes they鈥檝e had while developing their social businesses. study conducted in 2021 by an alliance of 16 of the world鈥檚 leading youth social innovation networks showed that 66% of young changemakers cannot cover their financial needs solely through the work from their initiative, meaning they have to look elsewhere for financial compensation and security. The sentiment that young changemakers are sacrificing their personal finances and well-being to make a change in the world was reinforced among participants at the North American summit. The participants also echoed that their greatest needs included access to funding, networking, and collaboration, highlighting the need for the ChangemakerXchange community. I had the privilege of attending this summit to witness firsthand the power of collective action and meet some of the young women leading the charge to leave a better planet than the one they inherited.

is a leader at , which seeks to empower educators as changemakers who transform and inspire students to create a more sustainable world by providing systems thinking training and tools. She described the most impactful part of the summit as the 鈥渙pportunity to reflect on my 鈥榳hy鈥� for this work, in both formal and informal spaces鈥earing our concurrent journeys to how we got to where we are and what we鈥檙e passionate about is really inspiring and grounding.”

Mikellena Nettos of highlighted the importance of 鈥渕eeting like-minded women that are doing their best to take on climate action on all scales, learning, and growing with them.鈥� Georgia Scott is the co-founder and co-executive director of , which bridges the gap between intersectional environmentalism and sustainable action through international fellowships and educational platforms. She also found tremendous value in connecting with other like-minded changemakers, both professionally and personally.

In sessions such as Changemaking River and Open Space Technology, participants and facilitators led conversations around topics ranging from fundraising to environmental racism, boundaries and mental health, and leadership. The final day included a Truth Mandela, where participants were able to share their fears and the anger they have related to the climate crisis, as well as the passion and hopes they have to create positive change. 鈥淚 felt so empowered to be surrounded by many other young women in the climate and biodiversity space鈥 loved the raw and real emotion and supportive community we built through the Truth Mandela,鈥� one participant conveyed.

Having experienced the summit in person, I can attest to the importance of such a collaborative, unique space. It is easy to feel overwhelmed as an individual when you consider the mounting challenges facing our climate, our communities, and subsequently our families. It is easy to feel like your actions alone will not make a significant difference. Above all, it can be easy to lose hope. The young women I met in New York inspired a newfound confidence in the promise of our planet鈥檚 future. Most of their organizations focus on galvanizing their peers to increase awareness and prioritize sustainable practices. There is a growing movement with promising leaders at the forefront that gives me optimism regarding climate action.

I walked away from the summit with an appreciation for the framework that organizations like ChangemakerXchange provide to guide activists on their changemaking paths. This summit was the first of its kind in North America and 51风流is excited to grow this partnership globally in 2023 and beyond 鈥� helping to remove some of the obstacles that our brightest, young changemakers face on their journeys to do good on a local and global scale. We look forward to offering employee engagement opportunities as part of these summits for those interested in getting involved.

Logan Applewhite is part of North America Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP.

Every purchase has an economic, environmental, and/or social impact — whether intended or not. Social procurement is the practice of bringing together buyers with suppliers that not only have a quality good or service, but one that delivers on the promise of social and/or environmental impact. Often, these intentional positive contributions are reinvested into the local economy and add to the economic equity and vibrancy of the community. Social enterprises are business that practice social procurement as part of their mission to culturally and operationally change the world. They are founded and governed based on a clear social or environmental mission and they reinvest most of their profit back into this mission.

51风流understands the importance of prioritizing social procurement. As Garaba noted: 鈥淪eventy-seven percent of the world鈥檚 transactions run through an 51风流system. It puts us in a unique place to have the opportunity, and also the responsibility, to drive positive changes. SAP鈥檚 social purchasing strategy began more than a decade ago with the inclusion of social enterprises in our Canadian supply chain. Today, our global ecosystem of partners focused on scaling social procurement, in addition to those inspiring new ideas and accelerating social ventures, collectively impact more than 1 billion beneficiaries across the globe.鈥�

The commitment of SAP鈥檚 social procurement implementation is a two-pronged approach. The first relies on an initial top-down mandate, with executives and the Board supporting it, including putting resources behind it. The other aspect is, as Garaba explains, 鈥渁 bit of a grassroots approach. We have established a ‘Procurement with Purpose’ ambassador network; these are people both within the procurement organization and others who are also making strategic buying decisions. They are the multipliers and they are the ones who help the organization identify opportunities for positive change.鈥�

Sustainable procurement has been a central part of the public sector agenda for some time, which is game changing since Canadian governments alone spend $200 billion on procurement. It is also gaining traction in the private sector, as businesses recognize that integrating social value into purchasing and supply chain decisions makes them more competitive and sustainable. 51风流has a demonstrated commitment to scaling the sector through social procurement. Notably, 51风流launched a 5 & 5 by 鈥�25 initiative, aiming to spend five percent of addressable spend with diverse enterprises, which are defined as businesses that are at least 51% owned and operated by an individual or group that is traditionally underrepresented, and social enterprises by 2025, and encouraging organizations across industries to join the pledge.

51风流and Buy Social Canada

51风流co-innovates and co-develops programs with corporate social responsibility (CSR) partners, accelerating change and driving sustainable impact. Beyond internal commitments and Procurement with Purpose ambassadors, 51风流fosters social procurement in partnership with social enterprise and social procurement intermediary , supporting the development of social procurement across the country by working to connect buyers to certified social enterprise business sellers, unleashing the biggest untapped potential to create sustainable impact in our communities and for the planet.

Buy Social Canada and 51风流are working together to advance the social enterprise sector in Canada by collaborating on initiatives, like the , that deliver better access to markets and buyers, as well as creating opportunities for employees to engage in growing the capacity of local social enterprises. One of the barriers preventing large-scale social enterprise investment is that social enterprises are often small businesses, thus lacking the capacity to be providers for large, multi-national companies like SAP. 51风流has implemented a pro bono volunteering program to help build capacity for social enterprises, understanding that they need to grow to become true procurement partners.

鈥淚f you don鈥檛 start small, there is no way to build capacity. Small steps but consistent steps will lead much further than trying to do really big leaps,鈥� Garaba notes.

Working with MovingWorlds, 51风流launched the (S-GRID) program. The program recently acknowledged as an , helps social enterprises build revenue partnerships with the corporate sector to become more integrated into global value chains.

Looking Ahead

Within the 51风流existing procurement spend and purchasing power, the potential for change is massive. With increasing focus on consumerism, it is important to buy and sell responsibly. Where can doing good coincide with doing good business? With time, the hope is that by buying goods and services from organizations with a purpose-driven mission the cycle of good is perpetuated.

Although there is a growing interest from corporations like 51风流to “buy social,” the current supply is not strong enough to meet the global demand. As a result, we work with organizations like Buy Social Canada and invest in programs such as MovingWorld鈥檚 S-GRID to help ensure that more enterprises around the world are procurement-ready and can sustainably grow their revenue streams.

This is not an overnight process. 51风流has spent more than a decade accelerating and scaling the work of social entrepreneurs and it is only the beginning. 51风流will continue to diligently invest in this for the foreseeable future; in 2021 specifically through partnerships and collaborative work with a continued focus on capacity-building ventures within the sector and expanding access to markets and buyers.