Introduction to Community Engagement and Investment

Sustainability is about the long-term wellbeing of society, an issue that encompasses a wide range of aspirational targets including the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by world leaders that went into effect on January 1, 2016. The SDGs, which include, among other things, ending poverty and hunger, ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for all, ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all, are based on the recognition that society in general is vulnerable to a number of significant environmental and social risks including failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation, major biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, man-made environmental planning and disasters (e.g., oil spills), failure of urban planning, food crises, rapid and massive spread of infectious diseases and profound social instability. Clearly the challenges described above are daunting and for most businesses it may be difficult for them to see how they can play a meaningful role in address them. While it is common for “society” to be identified as an organizational stakeholder, the reality is that one company cannot, acting on its own, achieve all the goals associated with societal wellbeing. However, every company, regardless of its size, can make a difference in some small, yet meaningful way, in the communities in which they operate, and more and more attention is being focused on the impact that companies have within their communities. Focusing on the community level allows an organization to set meaningful targets and implement programs that fit the scale of its operations and which can provide the most immediate value to the organization and its stakeholders.