IT’S NOT ABOUT MONEY.
IT’S ABOUT VALUE.
Our world is grappling with the transformation away from a system designed to create profit at any cost, toward a fairer, more equitable system designed to create well-being. Since 2001, SVT has partnered with leaders to understand who is affected by their work, account for the social and environmental value they create, hone their strategy for impact, and drive results.
We equip leaders with the knowledge, tools, skills, and incentives to realize a more prosperous future for all.
Who We Are
SVT is a pioneering force in defining and managing impact, broadening the scope and assessment of value creation.
Our diverse team works to create tailored solutions that align with your unique requirements. Our human-centered approach is both informed by and contributes to the latest developments in impact management and disclosure standards, ensuring that our efforts yield meaningful, practical and influential results.
What We Do
We partner with our clients to define their purpose, strategically reposition with confidence, and unleash their potential for a more influential and prosperous future.
We help answer questions like:
What is the Social Return on Investment of our work?
How do we get decision-makers aligned with our values to invest in our work?
What risks do we face related to social and environmental issues?
How do we demonstrate and grow our social value?
How do we improve the way our industry does business so that the way we profit is fair to all?
Our tailored approach is rooted in first-principles thinking and informed by our deep understanding of emerging standards.
Who We Work With
We work with a wide range of clients, from NGOs looking to assess the Social Return on Investment (SROI) of their initiatives, to venture capital firms aiming to optimize the social or environmental performance of their portfolios alongside financial gains, to corporations genuine about understanding the true economic, social and environmental value they create and how to shape it for the future.
Our clientele spans a wide array of entities, including corporations, foundations, institutional investors, private equity firms, individual investors, savings and loans, governmental bodies, nonprofit organizations, social enterprises, and startups.
What We’re Up To
Our New Podcast: Unlocking Value
In the first episode of our podcast, Unlocking Value, we sat down with Catherine Goetz, Global Head of Inclusion Strategy at Live Person, to discuss the benefits of completing a Social Return on Investment of their DEI initiatives.
SVT worked with Live Person to calculate both the SROI and business value of Live Person’s DEI programs. This approach makes the value created or lost to all the affected parties tangible. It enables a measured, broader discussion than “the usual” about both business benefits and costs to the business in the short and long term, and the potential benefits or costs for employees in various seats, customers and community members. The analysis enables internal champions like Catherine to demonstrate the blended value of these programs to the business and build the case to meaningfully incorporate diversity into core company strategy and operations.
If you would like to learn more about translating the impact of your corporate programs into language that not only your board speaks, but that your people can relate to - get in touch with us.
Impact + The Metaverse
SVT’s Sara Olsen led an exciting workshop at Shift 2022 on the intersection of web 3.0 and the global goals. The participants explored ways gamification can enable massive, decentralized communities with a shared mission to get paid to accelerate the solving of problems such as marine ecosystem die-off, racial inequity, ESG-washing and more. Participants left energized with the potential to engage their audiences more deeply in their work.
“The Era of Cause Marketing is Over”
The creatives that manage a company’s branding are critical in bringing the firm into the new sustainability paradigm. But business-as-usual marketing isn’t enough to tackle the wicked problems posed by understanding and managing the ways a company affects the environment and society. Enter Impact Strategists, experts in impact management best practices. With their powers combined, these teams create impact strategies and systems that go beyond ‘greenwash-y’ stories to capture market share, attract talent, drive real impact, and de-risk the turbulent future ahead of every business. Check out this discussion with SVT Group, Ecotone, Mess Hill, Little & Co., that was hosted by the American Sustainable Business Network.
How to do Judo on Capitalism
Pioneering sustainable investing champion Robert Rubinstein of TBLI Group hosted a conversation with Sara Olsen on the state of agreement in the impact management industry about what matters to measure, and how the global capital markets are beginning to see what matters to people beyond shareholders. The takeaway? We’re closer than it seems to the transformation of the capital markets.
Shift 2021
Shift 2021 was the impact event of the season, building cutting edge skills and networking with some 1000 professionals. As a core content partner to the event, SVT hosted three sessions with amazing co-presenters:
Rediscovering the Why: Staying true to impact in a world that doesn't always embrace your reality, with Teju Ravilochan
Scenario Modeling for Impact and Risk: A 2-hour workshop in which we’ll get our hands dirty and show how you can respond to the growing numbers of investors who are asking for this, with Timothy Roman and Chris Motley
From Voluntary to Required: ESG and impact reporting trends, and how we as a movement can shape them, with John Sherman and Eric Israel
The organizers also offered group passes and heavily discounted Equity Passes, so that everyone had the chance to attend. Find out more about the Shift Equity Pass program here.
Does Impact Data Help Your Case?
It’s 2021: what has been learned about how SROI data helps or hurts when you’re trying to make the case for system change? We asked some of the folks with the most experience using SROI to inform decisions, in this case about ensuring that everyone has a home. This video of our session with The Case Made, Just Tati, Enterprise Community and Ecotone Analytics summarizes those key takeaways.
We’d love to talk with you about how this applies in your work.