While some folks might be canceling anything that appears to be “DEI,” “ESG,” or “woke capitalism,” the toothpaste has been out of the tube for a long time. Customers and employees already expect companies to exist for more than just making money.

The question isn’t whether to do social impact—it’s whether you’ll do it with clarity, authenticity, and a strategy that drives measurable ROI. These times present an incredible opportunity to companies that are getting it right.

What the data says (and this isn’t changing):

• People buy (or boycott) based on values. Edelman’s 2024 Brands & Politics report found that 6 in 10 people choose or avoid brands based on politics—and 71% say a brand must take a position when pressured. Even more telling: 84% say they need to share values with a brand to buy it.
• Consumers will pay for better. PwC’s 2024 Voice of the Consumer survey shows shoppers are willing to pay an average 9.7% premium for sustainably produced goods—even in a cost-of-living crunch.
• Purpose shows up in the revenue mix. A McKinsey–NielsenIQ analysis of U.S. CPG found products with ESG-related claims grew 6.4% per year over five years vs. 4.7% for those without. In a low-growth category like CPG, that gap is huge.
• Employees want meaning, not just money. Deloitte’s 2025 Gen Z & Millennial Survey: 89% of Gen Z and 92% of millennials say a sense of purpose matters to job satisfaction and well-being.
• Business is expected to lead. The 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer shows business is the only globally trusted institution (63%), and employees expect CEOs to speak out on issues like job skills and the ethical use of tech (78–82% say it’s important).

Why the backlash feels loud (and why you should keep going)

Backlash is noisy because it’s emotionally charged, especially in an era where everything in our algorithm is political and designed to divide. But the market reality is steady: buyers reward brands that align with their values, and employees stay where the mission matches their own. The job, then, isn’t to “pick a side on everything.” It’s to operationalize your values where you have credibility, impact, and bottom-line outcomes.

How to move from “buzzword” to business value

1. Anchor your strategy to your brand.
   • Social impact should be a part of your brand, and it should remind your employees and customers (both current and potential) what you do and why they like you. It isn’t a standalone part of your business. Your company culture, your employer brand, your external brand, and your social impact need to be aligned to maximize the ROI of these investments.
2. Focus on what matters to your business, your employees, and your customers.
   • If you’re trying to do all the things, and be everything to everyone, you’re doomed to fail. Ask your stakeholders what matters, figure out where there is impact bang for your buck, and keep it simple. Doing something good is great, but focusing on your stakeholders and having an intentional strategy is even better. 
3. Start simple: Define KPIs, identify who owns what, and create a feedback loop
   • Create several agreed-upon metrics tied to revenue, cost, or risk. Identify who owns which metric, and empower them to drive their performance. Select a cadence to review quarterly scorecards, track progress, and correct performance. Create a feedback loop to receive customer and employee input and bake that into your planning and impact programming.
4. Progress over perfection: tangible action > generic adjectives
   • Stakeholders are over slogans, and our experience tells us that the loudest folks in the room are often the ones doing the least. Define your program, share the baseline, give progress updates (warts and all), and tell people what your next milestone is.
   • Authenticity and consistency beat headlines about big, audacious (and often unrealistic) moonshot goals. But avoid greenhushing; your employees and customers often take silence (and generic adjective based claims) to mean you’re either hiding something or doing nothing.
5. Measure ROI like any other initiative.
   • Pick a small set of revenue related metrics—employee engagement and retention, revenue mix from your purpose-linked products, customer NPS, cost savings from green initiatives—and review them just like you would your sales and revenue numbers.

Your call to action (the TL:DR version)

Keep going. The market has spoken: customers and employees expect you to stand for something—and they reward you when you do.

Your next steps:

• Have a clear strategy. Pick issues that are material to your business and authentic to your brand.
• Bring it back to the brand. Align your social impact to what you do, and what your stakeholders care about.
• Expect and measure ROI. It’s high time we stopped being afraid to talk about this. Doing good will become the norm when businesses can show the data that good business is good for business.

If the noise has you second-guessing, come back to the data. Purpose and performance aren’t opposites—they’re complimentary aspects that, when done well, can scale in lockstep. Be intentional with your strategy, align it to your brand, measure what matters, and consistently track and iterate based on performance and feedback.

Whether you’re ready to get started, or you’re ready to take your existing programs to the next level, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Profitable Purpose Consulting (PPC) is a full-service culture and social impact agency. A division of fellow B Corp karmadharma, PPC works with clients around the world to design and implement social impact strategies that positively impact their bottom line.