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00:00

Hey guys and welcome back to the tattoo business show the best place for actionable entrepreneurship advice. This is Ted, your friend and host speaking and today we’re talking about a subject I’m very passionate about corporate social responsibility. Now to shed some light on this subject I’ve brought in my friend Ben Samson, who is the co founder and CEO of re hero.

 

Wehero is a company that focuses on helping corporates accomplish their social missions through powerful giving and volunteering programs to create a better culture, a better brand and a greatest social impact with their corporate and social responsibility programs.

 

Wehero helps his clients develop new programs and technologies that make giving and volunteering powerful and effortless for these companies and tracks impact data so that these companies know the exact impact that they’re making. On today’s show, Ben shares about the external and internal benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility programs for companies, how companies can do it better, and the importance of tracking impact data.

 

So with the world in chaos, and our warming planet, this is definitely a good time to think about implementing your corporate social responsibility programs in your company, or to improve your CSR game.

 

So guys, if you ever received any value from the show, they don’t deserve to get your support, the best way you can do this is to subscribe to the show, leave a review on Apple podcasts, and to share the show with somebody who will find it useful as well. And if you’d like to stay up to date with the latest episodes, tools and resources, then make sure you log on to Ted to.com. That’s t Ed teo.com. And now let’s dive right in. Hey, Ben, thank you so much for joining us today. It’s such a pleasure to have you here.

 

01:27

Thanks for letting me be here. Ted, great to be on and looking forward to the conversation.

 

01:31

So Ben, let’s do a very simple icebreaker. So we can all get to know you a bit better. Please share verse, who is Ben Samson, when he isn’t working.

 

01:40

I think that’s a little bit of a deep icebreaker. But I’m, when I’m not working huge outdoor enthusiast. I like to spend a lot of time mountain biking, skiing, hiking, surfing, usually outdoors as much as possible. I live in beautiful Bend, Oregon here in the US. And we have a lot of that at our fingertips. And so when I’m not working, that’s what I’m doing.

 

And usually working on any other creative projects or helping other companies with their ventures as well. So but that’s kind of what I do in the downtime Ted.

 

02:11

Yeah. Well, Ben Samson de outdoor junkie. So Ben, you are the co founder and CEO of V hero, a company that helps corporates accomplish their social missions through volunteering programs to create a better culture, a better brand, and the greatest social impact. But could you share with us in your own words, what it is exactly that we he wrote us? Yeah, we

 

02:32

help companies accomplish their social missions to keep it really simple Ted, and there’s with any of these companies, now a lot of employees and a lot of niches to give back and make a social impact, you know that companies are looking for a bigger purpose and employees and consumers are looking for these companies have a bigger purpose, besides profits and our jobs to really be the execution partner.

 

So there’s a division in these companies called CSR or corporate social responsibility, and ESG, which stands for environmental, social, and governance. Now, some companies have both some companies have one of the two. And some companies don’t have any of those roles or teams within the company. But when CSR ESG does exist, they often have pretty big goals to reach their social impact metrics, goals around number of volunteer hours, number of employees engage number of grants, you know, given out and number of nonprofits impacted.

 

And when those goals Get set, it’s really hard for those companies to reach those goals. And we oftentimes get brought in as an execution partner. So we work as an extension of these teams for companies, and we really help them reach their volunteer goals, their given goals, and to maximize their social impact in a really scalable way. And on the flip side of that,

 

Ted, obviously is, you know, we are kind of the connective tissue between companies and nonprofits, our job is to identify what we think of as some of the best nonprofit organizations in the world and understand their gaps, their challenges, and understand their goals, and then unite them with companies and teams to help them reach those social goals. And so we can dive in any piece of that. But to give you the big picture, that’s what we here is doing every single day. So Ben,

 

04:06

if I understand correctly, there are CSR programs, and they are CSR programs. So not every CSR program is made equal and most of the time, sometimes the CSR programs that by corporates are not executed properly. And I’ve heard you speak about this issue before. But what exactly are corporates not doing so well in the CSR and ESG programs and what can they do to make it better? Yeah, I

 

04:28

think when we work with companies, and we get a breakdown of their CSR programs, one of the things we notice is opportunities to increase impact and opportunities to increase their engagement goals with their employees.

 

So what a couple areas is let’s just talk about volunteerism for a moment. We have a lot of companies that are having trouble having really hard time reporting and recording data in regards to the impact that’s actually generated through volunteer efforts and part of that’s because volunteer And companies sometimes are very siloed.

 

So one things that one of the things that companies can do really easily and they lean on heavily is something called vt o or volunteer time off. And you know, it’s really hard to get employees to use that time off quite often because, you know, it’s great, we’re gonna give some money time off, but we are really leaving it to the employee to find a nonprofit that they feel comfortable with, set up a volunteer opportunity with that nonprofit,

 

and take the time to actually be there and show up. Now there’s some people, obviously, that they have a nonprofit they work with all the time. But for many, you know, sometimes they’ve never really volunteered in that capacity before. But what’s really challenging with volunteer time off as an example,

 

Ted is, it’s really hard to get people to record the actual impact that was generated with that time off and with those volunteer efforts. And so one thing that we really work with companies on is how do we create curated volunteer opportunities, where rather than having employees go out to, you know, 1015, different cause areas and volunteer, we have focused cause areas. And I’d like to use the analogy that we have all the employees rowing in the same direction, because we have all the employees 1000s plays rowing in the same direction,

 

06:06

and to get them aligned with a common goal early set by the company itself. Yeah,

 

06:11

we can maximize impact that way. So that’s one of many areas, Ted, that when we come in, and we see there’s an opportunity to increase impact and, and make the life easier of those CSR professionals doing that reporting that data.

 

And we kind of execute and build out those curated programs for them. And I’m happy to go into other examples today. But just to give you one example that we see quite often,

 

06:31

actually, let’s explore this whole idea of volunteering time of being recorded. So when companies start their CSR programs, and I guess, as you say, they silo it to a specific person, he may not really have the knowledge or skill sets to know how to go about recording the data properly. And so wondering about the objectivity someone within an organization will have when they’re recording their own data. So it can really see the benefit of a third party coming in with that level of objectivity. And maybe as a teaching some of the skills and the knowledge in order for the company to do this in house.

 

06:59

Yeah, it’s 100%, it’s really hard to get people to actually record those hours. But what’s even harder, Ted and one thing that we focus a lot of time and energy on is what we call the impact data. So it’s one thing to go, we volunteered an hour and a half, that’s great. But what that doesn’t translate to is the actual impact that was generated for that cause area and a more granular level for that nonprofit organization.

 

And so we really tried to create simple ways to extract impact data, it’s really hard to do that with volunteer time off, it’s really easy to do it when we are curating volunteer programs that employees can participate on one time as a team or at any time throughout their company. But curating and actually organizing those volunteer efforts and creating a very specific selection of opportunities allows us to get that impact data.

 

And examples of that is like how many trees were actually planted? What’s the success rate or the survival rate of those trees? What kind of carbon sequestration can we expect in 10 years, like, that’s the kind of impact data that we can get to and will can become really powerful and reporting for companies, especially as we see ESG reporting, becoming really substantial and important at a company right now. Just to give the example of you know, there’s hours but there’s so much more than that, that we can bring into reporting to understand how we can make an impact.

 

08:18

I see. In fact, you know, you’re talking about impact data and reporting. So if I understand correctly, this is something that a lot of stock exchanges around the world are really taking a more active stance towards encouraging the listed companies to disclose their CSR efforts, their ESG efforts. So with the impact data that you’re referring here, so apply to this Mr. Companies, can they take it and include it as part of the reports in the maybe annual disclosures on this basis as well.

 

08:45

100%. And that’s kind of where we’re seeing a driver for increased attention to that data. Because it is really valuable in the reports and, and rightfully so investors are looking for investment opportunities of socially minded companies. And the same thing with employees and consumers. We know we know that employees want to work for companies that give back in a powerful way. And customers want to buy from companies that give back and it’s way easier to convince those audiences when you can tell the story and you have the data to tell that story.

 

To show back to you, if you’re a brand new go like oh, we volunteered this many hours last year, that’s great. But that won’t attract too many people. But saying, you know, we had this kind of impact. We have this data and actually building a story around that that’s much more powerful. we’re wired for stories like humans love stories. And that’s what we try to build with that impact data. And that’s why those reports are becoming so important

 

09:39

now been everything to it that we keep always putting so much emphasis on the impact data, it really helps to understand the longer term effects of a CSR program that a company’s implementing. So I think that’s really one of the big emphasis or questions that are really being posed in the minds of the consumers sometimes when they’re thinking about the reports, they’re being published by the companies.

 

Okay, let’s say they did participate in this In CSR program, but the question is, is there really any lasting impact? Or was this really a one off event that accompanies just, you know, following through the motions with, you just wanted to get it done? And then they want to milk the whole story behind it. So here’s my question, does the hero actually take an active role in ensuring that maybe there’s a longer term impact in the work that’s being done?

 

10:19

Yeah, it’s a really good question, Ted. And the reason it’s a good question is because you’re right, there’s a lot of we need to knock out a volunteer program, you know, and we need to check that box because we commit to that goal. But one of the things we really try to work on with our nonprofit partners and with our corporate clients, is building lasting long term relationships, we really view you it is really important.

 

Yeah, we really view a volunteer initiative and volunteer engagement as what I like to call point of activation, if we can get 100 200 1000 employees activated around a cause and educated and tell that story, build empathy, and have them feel and understand the impact that’s being created. Our goal is that they come back over and over again. And that company can be more and more involved with that nonprofit. And we’ve seen really good examples where we did a one time volunteer event, the company came back, volunteered again, and then again, and then kept expanding the number of teams that were volunteering for that nonprofit.

 

And then the company came back and started issuing grants to that nonprofit. And I love this story, because it just shows the power of having that activation, getting the employees activated around the cost, because the employees many times of deciding where the grant money goes. And now this company is supporting this nonprofit at an extensive level. And I think that’s our goal.

 

Really, Ted? Yes, there are still companies that come through and they do that one time volunteer effort, it makes a difference still doesn’t make as much of an impact as we’d like it to.

 

No, it doesn’t. But our goal is always that we can build long term connections, relationships, and that’s really why we think of ourselves as connective tissue between companies and nonprofits.

 

11:51

Yeah, it must be super satisfying to actually see that longevity that you created between the relationships of the corporates and the nonprofits that you worked with and link them together. Now, Ben, I want to circle back to the idea of how maybe corporates are siloing a certain function of a CSR to maybe a person in the company itself, it really sounds like when corporates are starting out the CSR programs internally,

 

they actually take it as a secondary function, and they offload it onto somebody who already has a primary job role. And it may be a bit stressed out by it, or they don’t have the right skill sets or knowledge on how to even run a proper CSR program. Is that right to say so

 

12:24

one of the most popular roles within a company that winds up starting CSR programs, if they don’t have a CSR professional is office administrators is actually one of the biggest ones. Office admins and executive assistants many times get tasked with doing CSR efforts and initiatives, just because there is not a CSR function. And to your other point, 10 around around the silos is with much larger companies. There’s employee resource groups, or er G’s, and there’s also DNI groups. So we have a number of different D and AI groups within companies, which is beautiful, wonderful to see. And they host their own different volunteer initiatives.

 

And they’re happening in silos, and the data is not getting pulled together in one synchronized fashion. And so those are some of the gaps and challenges that we notice. And that’s really where we try to build a strategy for the company to really focus on how do we engage our employees. And again, same analogy of and get our employee resource groups, get our DNI groups and get all of our employees rowing in the same direction, so that we can maximize that impact. I don’t know if that answered your question, Ted, but some of the silos that we notice,

 

13:33

yeah, because I, I felt that maybe sometimes corporates are not providing a lasting impact in some of the CSR programs they did, because the function is really something that is passed down as a secondary thought. And I’m guessing that the person or the individual or the team working on the CSR program at the start, may not have the right skill sets.

 

But I have a sensing that maybe when we hero comes in, you say you implement that strategy for them, you actually give them a certain framework and the skills to actually work on it, and to do it properly. And that kick starts that whole ability to do it properly, internally within the organization as well, is that a correct interpretation of the hero’s role?

 

14:08

That’s a really good interpretation. And it’s a bit a lot of the work that we do when we’re doing strategic partnerships with companies. So a lot of our programs are designed to will go and execute this volunteer program for you. And we’ll do the reporting on the back end. But many times we’re really helping with the strategic initiatives and actually establishing what the CSR program at a company could look like.

 

And you’re right, that you know, some individuals get just thrown into this role all of a sudden, just by default, and we they lean on us heavily to make sure that they’re doing it the right way to guide them in the right direction. It’s one of the reasons why we actually spun up what we call our we’re a Learning Center. It’s a way it’s a free resource to just educate people that are new to CSR and ESG. And do our best to give them content that can help them in that role. And so we see that I understand

 

14:52

now, Ben, let’s take a step back. So let’s talk about the benefits of a CSR programming run by a company, of course, the x Benefits are very obvious. It helps them to improve their brand recognition, it helps to probably increase sales and customer loyalty. But what are the less obvious internal benefits for running a CSR program for a company? Could you share with us what they are from your experiences? Yeah, it’s

 

15:15

a really good question, Ted. There’s so many internal benefits. And the inherent benefits are only growing especially, you know, at the time that you and I are recording this. And right now, at least in the US, we have a lot of people resigning, from their jobs, the great resignation, the great resignations, when we’re calling it, we have a huge amount of turnover. And so but you know, data really speaks and our data showing that we have 50%, lower employee turnover, for companies that engage in socially activated projects.

 

That’s a huge number. And you know, there’s a huge amount of cost for that turnover. As you know, there’s also obviously, we have a lot of millennials that are coming into the workforce still. And while those are making a huge portion of our workforce today, and when we survey millennials, we noticed that 77% of millennials, they listed that their company’s commitment to community and social niche initiatives really influenced their decision to work at that company and stay at that company. And so those are just two metrics right out the gate that we like to talk about, because employees are really saying that this is important.

 

They’re really deciding, making decisions on where they work based on what they’re seeing in regards to social impact initiatives. Within these companies. I was working with a company, and they said they were interviewing a number of candidates. And they were telling me that for all their job openings, they noticed that every one in three candidates in the interview was asking about the social initiatives at the company. And they’re not used to that happening.

 

They said, Candace used to never care about that. But today, it’s coming up in the interview process, where they’re interviewing the company, almost asking if these things are taking place. So it is very important. And it is really important for creating a really good culture and just retention I think it’s the biggest thing that we look at right now in regards to internal benefits.

 

17:00

So guys has been has just shut down both external and internal benefits of running a CSR program in your company externally, it can improve your brand recognition and increase the sales and customer loyalty. In addition, you also may be able to attract investors who are looking to be more involved in CSR initiatives and companies as well.

 

And furthermore, there’s so many internal benefits as well, as Ben has just shared, it’s a huge benefit in terms of employee retention. So if your company has initially started his CSR program, and maybe now is the time to start now, Ben is actually very heartened to hear that just from the job application process itself, companies, I’ve been feeling the soft pressure from applicants to step up their CSR game.

 

So for all the flack that millennials have been getting, I do think that the way that they are treating the CSR programs is really going to change the way that companies look at environmental social issues moving forward.

 

17:45

Yeah, no, I think it is important. And when I think about it, and why this generation is very much minded that way, is you know, we grew up with so much technology. And you know, this technology is amazing in the sense of it enabled us to connect with people, and with countries and communities across the globe.

 

And we saw different cultures, we saw different experiences taking place and But what we also were exposed to through that technology is all the challenges and the problems that were occurring. And we grew up observing this through technology and understanding that there are demographics and, and community people that are really struggling. And we are very much minded this way. And that’s just a personal observation of mine.

 

And I might be wrong in that in regards to why Millennials are so minded this way and are so socially minded, but it’s something we notice, and I have reason I believe Millennials are so passionate about this. Yeah, 100%

 

18:38

Man, I think it’s because we’ve been able to grow up in a world where everything is very interconnected. And I still think that we’re the first generation that’s really seeing the effects of climate change as we grow. And these are the factors they’re probably really shaping the way that millennials are thinking about the issues today.

 

Now Ben says we’re talking about how Millennials are actually taking an active step to contributing back to society and environment share of us your story, what sparked your desire and passion to help others? Yeah,

 

19:05

it’s a great question. I think just like many of us were human, and I’ve just always had that internal instinct to want to give back and help people and I can remember early on in high school, just having that urge. I actually started that socially minded company in high school. It was called aspect and I started selling organic athletic apparel.

 

And we donated 50% of our profits to the save the rain foundation to fund clean water projects. And that was my first time in high school, dabbling in entrepreneurship as well as just social impact work. And from there I throughout my college career, I did volunteer projects, and one of the things that I did, or one of the my favorite memories of volunteering as I was actually in Peru, and I was staying over there in working in very remote communities.

 

I would be in the Andes mountain range at 14,000 feet and going Community community in each one of these communities were like 1000 to 2000 people in size. And I was there volunteering to teach. And I was also there volunteering to help with business development. And I think just seeing the impact that I could make with my time and energy just really was got me hooked on volunteering, just it was just life changing, working, it has changed my life still the day like that’s one of the pivotal moments in my life.

 

And I did a number of things and entrepreneurship and working at other companies as well and noticed in a job that I had that this function of CSR was growing quite quickly. But they were also struggling. And at the time, when we hero first started, we were trying to solve the gap that companies were really struggling to have high impact volunteer programs that could scale. And they were having a really hard time with the reporting and just finding really good opportunities.

 

And so I felt like just through some of my past experiences that we could solve that, like we could create these highly immersive volunteer experiences that were really impactful, and we could scale them. Today, we do that through shipping volunteer experiences across the globe, and hosting 1000s of employees, sometimes at a time to do volunteer experiences. And so you know, long story short, Ted, that’s kind of how I got into this job. And how we started we hear on the name comes from this idea of, you know, we together,

 

United can change the world, and we unite hundreds of companies and 1000s of employees. And when we do that, and again, my same analogy, and roll the boat in the same direction, when we all focus together on those 17 sustainable development goals that the UN set out. We can do incredible things. And so I remain really hopeful. And I’m remain incredibly inspired by the the companies and the nonprofits and the employees and the people that are really trying to do something and make an impact. And we really want to give them those tools to do that.

 

21:55

Mm hmm. So Ben, could you share with us some of the examples of the past clients you’ve worked with? And the nonprofits that you’ve connected with? What were some of the programs that you implemented for them? And what would the results like?

 

22:06

Yeah, I can share a few I’ll try not to name names of companies, folks want to go to the we hero site, you can see clients that we work with quite often, we work with a number of Fortune 500 companies, as well as small, medium sized businesses as well. But some examples of projects that I think I really love Ted is we were working with Heifer International, which is an incredible nonprofit Heifer International.

 

They really support a number of developing countries in regards to agriculture, and generating businesses through agriculture, and just incredible nonprofit highly recommend taking a look. But one of the things we do is really try to partner with the nonprofits, right? I’m a big believer that we shouldn’t do things too. And for nonprofits, we should do them with nonprofits. I think that’s where true impacts made. And so we work with this nonprofit to develop a program and one of the things that many of us have probably heard in the media is that we have a challenge with our current bee populations, our bee populations are declining.

 

And so many of our crops, much of our food resources we rely on on bees. They’re so important to our ecosystem. And so, heifer, and I, we were meeting and they’re saying one of the reasons our bee population are struggling because we have a huge shortage of bee habitats. And so we started brainstorming, well, what can we do and obviously, we needed to create more bee habitat. So we created a volunteer program, where employees are planting pollinators specific for bees.

 

And they’re also creating bee houses which are critical for make sure we have enough habitat for bees. And so we are creating 1000s of bee habitats and 1000s of bee pollinators, they’re getting distributed across the globe. And I think it’s just an exciting example of just doing something at scale that’s making a difference and supporting billions, literally of bees that are coming back into these different communities, through the power of employee volunteerism, and just working with really good nonprofits. And we have so many stories like that.

 

I think the other stories that I love hearing is we do something called skills based volunteering. So one of the company’s greatest resources is their talent, their people, they’re incredibly skilled. And when we can match really talented people with challenges that a nonprofit might be having. That’s an amazing way to create impact. And that’s something that’s really exciting for us. And so we were working with a nonprofit called abl, which stands for American indigenous business leaders.

 

And it’s incredible that this volunteer group came in for a few weeks, dedicated their time, revamped their donor strategy, their marketing strategy, their branding and their entire website. And that’s making huge impact for the nonprofit in the way that they tell stories of the people that they impact the indigenous populations that are really struggling the way that they increase their donor funds, and the way that they’re reaching new donors and staying in touch with their alumni that they’ve been working with.

 

And I think seeing that, and the connections and the long term relationships built out of those projects is really exciting for me. And something that gets me very excited. So two examples, happy to share more. But it’s amazing to see the work that companies and nonprofits are doing right now.

 

25:20

Well, just really quite amazing. Now, Ben, let’s talk a little bit more about the nonprofits that you work with. Are you industry agnostic? I assume so. And is there a specific size that a nonprofit will have to be before you will be able to work with them,

 

25:33

we work with really large nonprofits. And we also work with a really small nonprofits, we work with nonprofits that have four person teams, we work with nonprofits that have multi hundreds, sometimes 1000 person teams. And I think the key thing that we look for Ted, when we work with nonprofits is a few things.

 

One, we look for the best nonprofits in the world. And sometimes they’re small, sometimes they’re large. So we look at the amount of impact that they are making every year with their programs. And so that’s something we study pretty heavily. The other thing that we look for, too, is that companies have different cause areas that they like to focus on.

 

We have companies that are very focused on poverty, we have companies that are very focused on sustainability, we have come to they’re very focused on health. And so we really tried to create programs and work with nonprofits that can cover all those areas. And the 17 Sustainable Development Goals are really our map for that we want to have volunteer programs that map with those 17 SDGs. And so we identify nonprofits and work with nonprofits that we believe in, and that we’ve really done our due diligence on.

 

And we really try to support those nonprofits to make them better, and to do everything we can to help them with their mission. And so just a little bit about how we work and identify nonprofits and how we think about that relationship.

 

26:51

Okay, Ben, I’ve been going easy on you this whole time during the conversation. But let’s talk a little bit about a trickier subject. Let’s talk a bit about greenwashing by large corporates. So there’s a lot of talk about greenwashing these days, and how large corporates are actually

 

not really doing their part when they’re doing maybe an ESG program, and they could actually be exploiting it for their own benefit. What are your views on this? And is V hero taking any steps or at the moment to help prevent the situation from happening?

 

27:22

Yeah, amazing question, and definitely a hot topic. And my personal opinion, Ted is that greenwashing is absolutely happening. I mean, and we just we can see is that there is this huge boom, in CSR, ethical investing ESG. I mean, the numbers are very clear, like investors in 2020, contributed $51 billion to sustainable funds compared to $5,000,000,000.05 years ago, when we look at just millennial investors, 90% of millennial investors, they believe in sustainable investing. And when we look at ESG funds, how much they grew last year, they grew $285 billion.

 

That’s double what they grew in 2019. And so this space is growing quickly. And it’s really easy to hide programs that are working in programs that are not working and greenwashing is very real in that next, it’s really hard to sift out and find what’s working, what’s not working. I think these are really positive science, seeing the amount of money and funds that are going into these green programs going into ethical investing. I think the next step for us is really having clear, standardized criteria to assess ESG investments and measure impact and keep these companies accountable.

 

I think that’s absolutely critical. And I think we’re starting to see that. And that’s an area obviously, Ted that we focus heavily on as we focus again, on the impact reporting in that data. Hosting accountability. Right. Exactly. And I think you see a lot of companies that are struggling with these ESG reports, some companies are doing it for their very first time. Same thing with CSR reports. And so I think we’re going to see better reporting better data and analytics and a way to better analyze how companies are actually performing.

 

And so But to answer your question, Ted, yes, it’s really sad. greenwashing is very much a thing. We need to do everything we can to hold companies accountable to the goals that they set. And we’ll start seeing progress. But it is great to see the energy that’s going into the space and the attention that it’s getting. I think it’s a very positive sign. And it’ll work itself out. I hope, and I think there’s just some key steps we need to take.

 

29:31

I’m wondering how much of it is actually a systemic problem of the amount of money going in at the same time. But the fact that a lot of the individuals who are tasked you know, as we spoken before, we’re running a CSR and ESP programs that are having the right skill sets, so they end up allocating resources in the wrong places. And this may be actually increasing the significance or the phenomena of greenwashing.

 

29:51

Yeah, goal setting is really easy. It’s really easy to say we’re going to be carbon neutral by 2030. It’s really easy to say we’re going to have a 80% of our workforce engaging in volunteering four times a year. That’s all really easy things to say. And that’s where the greenwashing comes from right? Ted is just really easy to say, put out a press release. Yeah, getting that work done is really challenging, takes a lot of time and energy. And doing the reporting takes a lot of time and energy.

 

And finding good nonprofits takes a lot of time and energy and working with those nonprofits. And so these things take time. And I think that’s sometimes when the greenwashing comes up, and you’re right, that some of these areas, they’re they’re under resourced, and we’re really pushing to get them resource so we can get these jobs done. And it’s a big reason why we come into these companies to help because these goals are amazing. And we want to see these goals be met. And that’s really where we come in to help.

 

30:44

Now, Ben, I’m glad that you mentioned the idea of a carbon footprint. So let’s talk about carbon hero. I understand this is a sister company to we hero, and it focuses on funding projects that helps reduce carbon footprints. No, your website actually claims that he only takes 84 seconds to offset your carbon. So please explain yourself.

 

31:03

Yeah, no, great question. So we are always looking for gaps and challenges in this ever evolving world of CSR and ESG. And one of the things that’s really complex Ted is carbon offsetting, we say that we say carbon offset and go offset your carbon. But like, what that actually is, and how that actually works. It’s really complicated carbon credits, and the way that carbon credits are used, and when the carbon is actually offset. And when it’s retired. It’s a huge complex matrix. And so what we’re trying to do is two things, one, make it really easy for individuals to understand how much carbon they’re emitting, and how to offset it. And the bigger area for us right now, Ted is how we can help companies do that really successfully, and have really good reporting. And what we do Ted is, let’s just use the compass, for example, if a company is looking to offset their carbon become carbon neutral or negative, our jobs, then to work at that company do identify really good projects, projects where we can offset that carbon that again, align with that company’s values and align with their offsetting projects. We’re working with a company right now.

 

And the way that we are offsetting that carbon is we’re protecting grasslands and Colorado, or bison can go and graze and we’re restoring that land. And that’s a really positive way to you know, and it’s a really powerful way to offset carbon. It’s also a really powerful way because it aligns so much with that company’s values. And so I think finding projects that have been highly customized, and aligned with that company, as well as something that we focus highly on. And our job is to really again, like the nonprofit in the corporate world, be that connective tissue, if you’re looking to offset that carbon, and to do it the right way.

 

And to measure that impact. We want to help you do that successfully. That survey you’re referencing where takes 84 seconds, that what we are doing for individuals is if you want to see how much carbon an estimate that you’re emitting every single year, we have a form that you can fill in and ask questions like, you know, what do you what are your dietary habits? How much do you drive and then get given your, how many flights Do you take average length of those flights, we ask a lot of questions to basically get an estimate of how much carbon you’re emitting.

 

And if you’d like we give you a really easy subscription plan to offset all that carbon or offset some of it. Right now I’m offsetting all of my carbon, and I’m paying the $17 a month to be carbon neutral and have that offset. And I think it’s just a really easy way for people if they want to live a green life they can. And the last thing I’ll say on that is that we also provide tips for people, just lifestyle adjustments that people can make, even things that people can do in their homes, around how they use their outlets, different outlets, they can use insulation, so on and so forth, how they use their heat in the winter.

 

And I think just educating people on what can be done and how we can all work together is something that we really enjoy doing and doing everything we can to make a difference there.

 

33:57

So Ben, if the listeners only remember one thing from today’s conversation, oh, you’d like it to be

 

34:02

have hope. I think there’s so much negativity in the media today. And I think it’s really easy to fixate on what’s wrong and what’s not working. But I I’m so hopeful and inspired and I just want people to know that there are so many companies and there are so many nonprofits and there’s so many employees and people that are working to solve these challenges and truly care and are showing up every day supporting really good nonprofits doing everything they can with their time resources to learn to have empathy towards people and situations and to be a part of the solution.

 

And so I would just say to people be hopeful because there’s a lot of people out there that are trying to do the right thing and it’s not going to take one person it’s not going to be one company it’s not going to be one solution it really takes everybody that’s why our name is we hero it’s week together can change the world and we all can be heroes together and that’s what’s gonna take and that’s the the message I just would love to have people take away from this.

 

34:58

So Ben, how can they This is getting contacted view, if they want to work with you as well

 

35:03

go to our website, you can google we hero or go to we hero.co. There’s a lot of resources there. Also on that website is our Learning Center. So if you want resources around CSR ESG things we’re noticing right now, how to be a better CSR leader or get into a job like that, those that’s a free Learning Center for people to just go and educate themselves.

 

Also very easy ways for us to get in touch there. For people to get in touch with me, you can just find me on LinkedIn, probably the easiest and if you reach out through the we hear a website, you can usually get patched through to me. And then for carbon hero, it’s just my carbon hero comm you can go on and check that out as well. And there’s easy ways for you to get ahold of us there as well.

 

35:42

And I’ll place all the relevant links for the listeners in the episode page. So if you guys are interested in getting contact with Ben, then head on to the website to check out links, you know, you can get connected really easily. Now Ben, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing with us about v hero and carbon hero.

 

35:57

Thank you so much, Ted, appreciate you having me here guys. Thank

 

35:59

you so much for joining vanaya. Today’s episode, notice so many opportunities out there to get involved with CSR programs. And there’s so many external and internal benefits for doing so as well. I highly encourage every company who has the resources to get involved with CSR programs and try to make the world a better place. So if you made it to the end of this episode, thank you very much for staying on. If you’ve ever had a question or you want to speak to me, then feel free to reach out to me at hello at Ted teo.com.

 

Now guys to stay up to date with all the latest episodes, tools and resources that make sure to log on to tatio.com that’s tt.com calm and even better yet, sign up for our newsletter and you’ll hear from me directly. And as before, if you’ve received any value from the show, then I’d love to get your support. The best way you can show this is to subscribe to the show, leave a review on Apple podcasts and to share the show with somebody who will find it useful as well. That’s all for me today. I’ll see you next time.

[This transcript has been automatically generated by a digital software and will therefore  contain errors and typos. Please kindly take note of this and only rely on the digital transcript for reference.]

00:00

Hey guys and welcome back to the tattoo business show the best place for actionable entrepreneurship advice. This is Ted, your friend and host speaking and today we’re talking about a subject I’m very passionate about corporate social responsibility. Now to shed some light on this subject I’ve brought in my friend Ben Samson, who is the co founder and CEO of re hero.

 

Wehero is a company that focuses on helping corporates accomplish their social missions through powerful giving and volunteering programs to create a better culture, a better brand and a greatest social impact with their corporate and social responsibility programs.

 

Wehero helps his clients develop new programs and technologies that make giving and volunteering powerful and effortless for these companies and tracks impact data so that these companies know the exact impact that they’re making. On today’s show, Ben shares about the external and internal benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility programs for companies, how companies can do it better, and the importance of tracking impact data.

 

So with the world in chaos, and our warming planet, this is definitely a good time to think about implementing your corporate social responsibility programs in your company, or to improve your CSR game.

 

So guys, if you ever received any value from the show, they don’t deserve to get your support, the best way you can do this is to subscribe to the show, leave a review on Apple podcasts, and to share the show with somebody who will find it useful as well. And if you’d like to stay up to date with the latest episodes, tools and resources, then make sure you log on to Ted to.com. That’s t Ed teo.com. And now let’s dive right in. Hey, Ben, thank you so much for joining us today. It’s such a pleasure to have you here.

 

01:27

Thanks for letting me be here. Ted, great to be on and looking forward to the conversation.

 

01:31

So Ben, let’s do a very simple icebreaker. So we can all get to know you a bit better. Please share verse, who is Ben Samson, when he isn’t working.

 

01:40

I think that’s a little bit of a deep icebreaker. But I’m, when I’m not working huge outdoor enthusiast. I like to spend a lot of time mountain biking, skiing, hiking, surfing, usually outdoors as much as possible. I live in beautiful Bend, Oregon here in the US. And we have a lot of that at our fingertips. And so when I’m not working, that’s what I’m doing.

 

And usually working on any other creative projects or helping other companies with their ventures as well. So but that’s kind of what I do in the downtime Ted.

 

02:11

Yeah. Well, Ben Samson de outdoor junkie. So Ben, you are the co founder and CEO of V hero, a company that helps corporates accomplish their social missions through volunteering programs to create a better culture, a better brand, and the greatest social impact. But could you share with us in your own words, what it is exactly that we he wrote us? Yeah, we

 

02:32

help companies accomplish their social missions to keep it really simple Ted, and there’s with any of these companies, now a lot of employees and a lot of niches to give back and make a social impact, you know that companies are looking for a bigger purpose and employees and consumers are looking for these companies have a bigger purpose, besides profits and our jobs to really be the execution partner.

 

So there’s a division in these companies called CSR or corporate social responsibility, and ESG, which stands for environmental, social, and governance. Now, some companies have both some companies have one of the two. And some companies don’t have any of those roles or teams within the company. But when CSR ESG does exist, they often have pretty big goals to reach their social impact metrics, goals around number of volunteer hours, number of employees engage number of grants, you know, given out and number of nonprofits impacted.

 

And when those goals Get set, it’s really hard for those companies to reach those goals. And we oftentimes get brought in as an execution partner. So we work as an extension of these teams for companies, and we really help them reach their volunteer goals, their given goals, and to maximize their social impact in a really scalable way. And on the flip side of that,

 

Ted, obviously is, you know, we are kind of the connective tissue between companies and nonprofits, our job is to identify what we think of as some of the best nonprofit organizations in the world and understand their gaps, their challenges, and understand their goals, and then unite them with companies and teams to help them reach those social goals. And so we can dive in any piece of that. But to give you the big picture, that’s what we here is doing every single day. So Ben,

 

04:06

if I understand correctly, there are CSR programs, and they are CSR programs. So not every CSR program is made equal and most of the time, sometimes the CSR programs that by corporates are not executed properly. And I’ve heard you speak about this issue before. But what exactly are corporates not doing so well in the CSR and ESG programs and what can they do to make it better? Yeah, I

 

04:28

think when we work with companies, and we get a breakdown of their CSR programs, one of the things we notice is opportunities to increase impact and opportunities to increase their engagement goals with their employees.

 

So what a couple areas is let’s just talk about volunteerism for a moment. We have a lot of companies that are having trouble having really hard time reporting and recording data in regards to the impact that’s actually generated through volunteer efforts and part of that’s because volunteer And companies sometimes are very siloed.

 

So one things that one of the things that companies can do really easily and they lean on heavily is something called vt o or volunteer time off. And you know, it’s really hard to get employees to use that time off quite often because, you know, it’s great, we’re gonna give some money time off, but we are really leaving it to the employee to find a nonprofit that they feel comfortable with, set up a volunteer opportunity with that nonprofit,

 

and take the time to actually be there and show up. Now there’s some people, obviously, that they have a nonprofit they work with all the time. But for many, you know, sometimes they’ve never really volunteered in that capacity before. But what’s really challenging with volunteer time off as an example,

 

Ted is, it’s really hard to get people to record the actual impact that was generated with that time off and with those volunteer efforts. And so one thing that we really work with companies on is how do we create curated volunteer opportunities, where rather than having employees go out to, you know, 1015, different cause areas and volunteer, we have focused cause areas. And I’d like to use the analogy that we have all the employees rowing in the same direction, because we have all the employees 1000s plays rowing in the same direction,

 

06:06

and to get them aligned with a common goal early set by the company itself. Yeah,

 

06:11

we can maximize impact that way. So that’s one of many areas, Ted, that when we come in, and we see there’s an opportunity to increase impact and, and make the life easier of those CSR professionals doing that reporting that data.

 

And we kind of execute and build out those curated programs for them. And I’m happy to go into other examples today. But just to give you one example that we see quite often,

 

06:31

actually, let’s explore this whole idea of volunteering time of being recorded. So when companies start their CSR programs, and I guess, as you say, they silo it to a specific person, he may not really have the knowledge or skill sets to know how to go about recording the data properly. And so wondering about the objectivity someone within an organization will have when they’re recording their own data. So it can really see the benefit of a third party coming in with that level of objectivity. And maybe as a teaching some of the skills and the knowledge in order for the company to do this in house.

 

06:59

Yeah, it’s 100%, it’s really hard to get people to actually record those hours. But what’s even harder, Ted and one thing that we focus a lot of time and energy on is what we call the impact data. So it’s one thing to go, we volunteered an hour and a half, that’s great. But what that doesn’t translate to is the actual impact that was generated for that cause area and a more granular level for that nonprofit organization.

 

And so we really tried to create simple ways to extract impact data, it’s really hard to do that with volunteer time off, it’s really easy to do it when we are curating volunteer programs that employees can participate on one time as a team or at any time throughout their company. But curating and actually organizing those volunteer efforts and creating a very specific selection of opportunities allows us to get that impact data.

 

And examples of that is like how many trees were actually planted? What’s the success rate or the survival rate of those trees? What kind of carbon sequestration can we expect in 10 years, like, that’s the kind of impact data that we can get to and will can become really powerful and reporting for companies, especially as we see ESG reporting, becoming really substantial and important at a company right now. Just to give the example of you know, there’s hours but there’s so much more than that, that we can bring into reporting to understand how we can make an impact.

 

08:18

I see. In fact, you know, you’re talking about impact data and reporting. So if I understand correctly, this is something that a lot of stock exchanges around the world are really taking a more active stance towards encouraging the listed companies to disclose their CSR efforts, their ESG efforts. So with the impact data that you’re referring here, so apply to this Mr. Companies, can they take it and include it as part of the reports in the maybe annual disclosures on this basis as well.

 

08:45

100%. And that’s kind of where we’re seeing a driver for increased attention to that data. Because it is really valuable in the reports and, and rightfully so investors are looking for investment opportunities of socially minded companies. And the same thing with employees and consumers. We know we know that employees want to work for companies that give back in a powerful way. And customers want to buy from companies that give back and it’s way easier to convince those audiences when you can tell the story and you have the data to tell that story.

 

To show back to you, if you’re a brand new go like oh, we volunteered this many hours last year, that’s great. But that won’t attract too many people. But saying, you know, we had this kind of impact. We have this data and actually building a story around that that’s much more powerful. we’re wired for stories like humans love stories. And that’s what we try to build with that impact data. And that’s why those reports are becoming so important

 

09:39

now been everything to it that we keep always putting so much emphasis on the impact data, it really helps to understand the longer term effects of a CSR program that a company’s implementing. So I think that’s really one of the big emphasis or questions that are really being posed in the minds of the consumers sometimes when they’re thinking about the reports, they’re being published by the companies.

 

Okay, let’s say they did participate in this In CSR program, but the question is, is there really any lasting impact? Or was this really a one off event that accompanies just, you know, following through the motions with, you just wanted to get it done? And then they want to milk the whole story behind it. So here’s my question, does the hero actually take an active role in ensuring that maybe there’s a longer term impact in the work that’s being done?

 

10:19

Yeah, it’s a really good question, Ted. And the reason it’s a good question is because you’re right, there’s a lot of we need to knock out a volunteer program, you know, and we need to check that box because we commit to that goal. But one of the things we really try to work on with our nonprofit partners and with our corporate clients, is building lasting long term relationships, we really view you it is really important.

 

Yeah, we really view a volunteer initiative and volunteer engagement as what I like to call point of activation, if we can get 100 200 1000 employees activated around a cause and educated and tell that story, build empathy, and have them feel and understand the impact that’s being created. Our goal is that they come back over and over again. And that company can be more and more involved with that nonprofit. And we’ve seen really good examples where we did a one time volunteer event, the company came back, volunteered again, and then again, and then kept expanding the number of teams that were volunteering for that nonprofit.

 

And then the company came back and started issuing grants to that nonprofit. And I love this story, because it just shows the power of having that activation, getting the employees activated around the cost, because the employees many times of deciding where the grant money goes. And now this company is supporting this nonprofit at an extensive level. And I think that’s our goal.

 

Really, Ted? Yes, there are still companies that come through and they do that one time volunteer effort, it makes a difference still doesn’t make as much of an impact as we’d like it to.

 

No, it doesn’t. But our goal is always that we can build long term connections, relationships, and that’s really why we think of ourselves as connective tissue between companies and nonprofits.

 

11:51

Yeah, it must be super satisfying to actually see that longevity that you created between the relationships of the corporates and the nonprofits that you worked with and link them together. Now, Ben, I want to circle back to the idea of how maybe corporates are siloing a certain function of a CSR to maybe a person in the company itself, it really sounds like when corporates are starting out the CSR programs internally,

 

they actually take it as a secondary function, and they offload it onto somebody who already has a primary job role. And it may be a bit stressed out by it, or they don’t have the right skill sets or knowledge on how to even run a proper CSR program. Is that right to say so

 

12:24

one of the most popular roles within a company that winds up starting CSR programs, if they don’t have a CSR professional is office administrators is actually one of the biggest ones. Office admins and executive assistants many times get tasked with doing CSR efforts and initiatives, just because there is not a CSR function. And to your other point, 10 around around the silos is with much larger companies. There’s employee resource groups, or er G’s, and there’s also DNI groups. So we have a number of different D and AI groups within companies, which is beautiful, wonderful to see. And they host their own different volunteer initiatives.

 

And they’re happening in silos, and the data is not getting pulled together in one synchronized fashion. And so those are some of the gaps and challenges that we notice. And that’s really where we try to build a strategy for the company to really focus on how do we engage our employees. And again, same analogy of and get our employee resource groups, get our DNI groups and get all of our employees rowing in the same direction, so that we can maximize that impact. I don’t know if that answered your question, Ted, but some of the silos that we notice,

 

13:33

yeah, because I, I felt that maybe sometimes corporates are not providing a lasting impact in some of the CSR programs they did, because the function is really something that is passed down as a secondary thought. And I’m guessing that the person or the individual or the team working on the CSR program at the start, may not have the right skill sets.

 

But I have a sensing that maybe when we hero comes in, you say you implement that strategy for them, you actually give them a certain framework and the skills to actually work on it, and to do it properly. And that kick starts that whole ability to do it properly, internally within the organization as well, is that a correct interpretation of the hero’s role?

 

14:08

That’s a really good interpretation. And it’s a bit a lot of the work that we do when we’re doing strategic partnerships with companies. So a lot of our programs are designed to will go and execute this volunteer program for you. And we’ll do the reporting on the back end. But many times we’re really helping with the strategic initiatives and actually establishing what the CSR program at a company could look like.

 

And you’re right, that you know, some individuals get just thrown into this role all of a sudden, just by default, and we they lean on us heavily to make sure that they’re doing it the right way to guide them in the right direction. It’s one of the reasons why we actually spun up what we call our we’re a Learning Center. It’s a way it’s a free resource to just educate people that are new to CSR and ESG. And do our best to give them content that can help them in that role. And so we see that I understand

 

14:52

now, Ben, let’s take a step back. So let’s talk about the benefits of a CSR programming run by a company, of course, the x Benefits are very obvious. It helps them to improve their brand recognition, it helps to probably increase sales and customer loyalty. But what are the less obvious internal benefits for running a CSR program for a company? Could you share with us what they are from your experiences? Yeah, it’s

 

15:15

a really good question, Ted. There’s so many internal benefits. And the inherent benefits are only growing especially, you know, at the time that you and I are recording this. And right now, at least in the US, we have a lot of people resigning, from their jobs, the great resignation, the great resignations, when we’re calling it, we have a huge amount of turnover. And so but you know, data really speaks and our data showing that we have 50%, lower employee turnover, for companies that engage in socially activated projects.

 

That’s a huge number. And you know, there’s a huge amount of cost for that turnover. As you know, there’s also obviously, we have a lot of millennials that are coming into the workforce still. And while those are making a huge portion of our workforce today, and when we survey millennials, we noticed that 77% of millennials, they listed that their company’s commitment to community and social niche initiatives really influenced their decision to work at that company and stay at that company. And so those are just two metrics right out the gate that we like to talk about, because employees are really saying that this is important.

 

They’re really deciding, making decisions on where they work based on what they’re seeing in regards to social impact initiatives. Within these companies. I was working with a company, and they said they were interviewing a number of candidates. And they were telling me that for all their job openings, they noticed that every one in three candidates in the interview was asking about the social initiatives at the company. And they’re not used to that happening.

 

They said, Candace used to never care about that. But today, it’s coming up in the interview process, where they’re interviewing the company, almost asking if these things are taking place. So it is very important. And it is really important for creating a really good culture and just retention I think it’s the biggest thing that we look at right now in regards to internal benefits.

 

17:00

So guys has been has just shut down both external and internal benefits of running a CSR program in your company externally, it can improve your brand recognition and increase the sales and customer loyalty. In addition, you also may be able to attract investors who are looking to be more involved in CSR initiatives and companies as well.

 

And furthermore, there’s so many internal benefits as well, as Ben has just shared, it’s a huge benefit in terms of employee retention. So if your company has initially started his CSR program, and maybe now is the time to start now, Ben is actually very heartened to hear that just from the job application process itself, companies, I’ve been feeling the soft pressure from applicants to step up their CSR game.

 

So for all the flack that millennials have been getting, I do think that the way that they are treating the CSR programs is really going to change the way that companies look at environmental social issues moving forward.

 

17:45

Yeah, no, I think it is important. And when I think about it, and why this generation is very much minded that way, is you know, we grew up with so much technology. And you know, this technology is amazing in the sense of it enabled us to connect with people, and with countries and communities across the globe.

 

And we saw different cultures, we saw different experiences taking place and But what we also were exposed to through that technology is all the challenges and the problems that were occurring. And we grew up observing this through technology and understanding that there are demographics and, and community people that are really struggling. And we are very much minded this way. And that’s just a personal observation of mine.

 

And I might be wrong in that in regards to why Millennials are so minded this way and are so socially minded, but it’s something we notice, and I have reason I believe Millennials are so passionate about this. Yeah, 100%

 

18:38

Man, I think it’s because we’ve been able to grow up in a world where everything is very interconnected. And I still think that we’re the first generation that’s really seeing the effects of climate change as we grow. And these are the factors they’re probably really shaping the way that millennials are thinking about the issues today.

 

Now Ben says we’re talking about how Millennials are actually taking an active step to contributing back to society and environment share of us your story, what sparked your desire and passion to help others? Yeah,

 

19:05

it’s a great question. I think just like many of us were human, and I’ve just always had that internal instinct to want to give back and help people and I can remember early on in high school, just having that urge. I actually started that socially minded company in high school. It was called aspect and I started selling organic athletic apparel.

 

And we donated 50% of our profits to the save the rain foundation to fund clean water projects. And that was my first time in high school, dabbling in entrepreneurship as well as just social impact work. And from there I throughout my college career, I did volunteer projects, and one of the things that I did, or one of the my favorite memories of volunteering as I was actually in Peru, and I was staying over there in working in very remote communities.

 

I would be in the Andes mountain range at 14,000 feet and going Community community in each one of these communities were like 1000 to 2000 people in size. And I was there volunteering to teach. And I was also there volunteering to help with business development. And I think just seeing the impact that I could make with my time and energy just really was got me hooked on volunteering, just it was just life changing, working, it has changed my life still the day like that’s one of the pivotal moments in my life.

 

And I did a number of things and entrepreneurship and working at other companies as well and noticed in a job that I had that this function of CSR was growing quite quickly. But they were also struggling. And at the time, when we hero first started, we were trying to solve the gap that companies were really struggling to have high impact volunteer programs that could scale. And they were having a really hard time with the reporting and just finding really good opportunities.

 

And so I felt like just through some of my past experiences that we could solve that, like we could create these highly immersive volunteer experiences that were really impactful, and we could scale them. Today, we do that through shipping volunteer experiences across the globe, and hosting 1000s of employees, sometimes at a time to do volunteer experiences. And so you know, long story short, Ted, that’s kind of how I got into this job. And how we started we hear on the name comes from this idea of, you know, we together,

 

United can change the world, and we unite hundreds of companies and 1000s of employees. And when we do that, and again, my same analogy, and roll the boat in the same direction, when we all focus together on those 17 sustainable development goals that the UN set out. We can do incredible things. And so I remain really hopeful. And I’m remain incredibly inspired by the the companies and the nonprofits and the employees and the people that are really trying to do something and make an impact. And we really want to give them those tools to do that.

 

21:55

Mm hmm. So Ben, could you share with us some of the examples of the past clients you’ve worked with? And the nonprofits that you’ve connected with? What were some of the programs that you implemented for them? And what would the results like?

 

22:06

Yeah, I can share a few I’ll try not to name names of companies, folks want to go to the we hero site, you can see clients that we work with quite often, we work with a number of Fortune 500 companies, as well as small, medium sized businesses as well. But some examples of projects that I think I really love Ted is we were working with Heifer International, which is an incredible nonprofit Heifer International.

 

They really support a number of developing countries in regards to agriculture, and generating businesses through agriculture, and just incredible nonprofit highly recommend taking a look. But one of the things we do is really try to partner with the nonprofits, right? I’m a big believer that we shouldn’t do things too. And for nonprofits, we should do them with nonprofits. I think that’s where true impacts made. And so we work with this nonprofit to develop a program and one of the things that many of us have probably heard in the media is that we have a challenge with our current bee populations, our bee populations are declining.

 

And so many of our crops, much of our food resources we rely on on bees. They’re so important to our ecosystem. And so, heifer, and I, we were meeting and they’re saying one of the reasons our bee population are struggling because we have a huge shortage of bee habitats. And so we started brainstorming, well, what can we do and obviously, we needed to create more bee habitat. So we created a volunteer program, where employees are planting pollinators specific for bees.

 

And they’re also creating bee houses which are critical for make sure we have enough habitat for bees. And so we are creating 1000s of bee habitats and 1000s of bee pollinators, they’re getting distributed across the globe. And I think it’s just an exciting example of just doing something at scale that’s making a difference and supporting billions, literally of bees that are coming back into these different communities, through the power of employee volunteerism, and just working with really good nonprofits. And we have so many stories like that.

 

I think the other stories that I love hearing is we do something called skills based volunteering. So one of the company’s greatest resources is their talent, their people, they’re incredibly skilled. And when we can match really talented people with challenges that a nonprofit might be having. That’s an amazing way to create impact. And that’s something that’s really exciting for us. And so we were working with a nonprofit called abl, which stands for American indigenous business leaders.

 

And it’s incredible that this volunteer group came in for a few weeks, dedicated their time, revamped their donor strategy, their marketing strategy, their branding and their entire website. And that’s making huge impact for the nonprofit in the way that they tell stories of the people that they impact the indigenous populations that are really struggling the way that they increase their donor funds, and the way that they’re reaching new donors and staying in touch with their alumni that they’ve been working with.

 

And I think seeing that, and the connections and the long term relationships built out of those projects is really exciting for me. And something that gets me very excited. So two examples, happy to share more. But it’s amazing to see the work that companies and nonprofits are doing right now.

 

25:20

Well, just really quite amazing. Now, Ben, let’s talk a little bit more about the nonprofits that you work with. Are you industry agnostic? I assume so. And is there a specific size that a nonprofit will have to be before you will be able to work with them,

 

25:33

we work with really large nonprofits. And we also work with a really small nonprofits, we work with nonprofits that have four person teams, we work with nonprofits that have multi hundreds, sometimes 1000 person teams. And I think the key thing that we look for Ted, when we work with nonprofits is a few things.

 

One, we look for the best nonprofits in the world. And sometimes they’re small, sometimes they’re large. So we look at the amount of impact that they are making every year with their programs. And so that’s something we study pretty heavily. The other thing that we look for, too, is that companies have different cause areas that they like to focus on.

 

We have companies that are very focused on poverty, we have companies that are very focused on sustainability, we have come to they’re very focused on health. And so we really tried to create programs and work with nonprofits that can cover all those areas. And the 17 Sustainable Development Goals are really our map for that we want to have volunteer programs that map with those 17 SDGs. And so we identify nonprofits and work with nonprofits that we believe in, and that we’ve really done our due diligence on.

 

And we really try to support those nonprofits to make them better, and to do everything we can to help them with their mission. And so just a little bit about how we work and identify nonprofits and how we think about that relationship.

 

26:51

Okay, Ben, I’ve been going easy on you this whole time during the conversation. But let’s talk a little bit about a trickier subject. Let’s talk a bit about greenwashing by large corporates. So there’s a lot of talk about greenwashing these days, and how large corporates are actually

 

not really doing their part when they’re doing maybe an ESG program, and they could actually be exploiting it for their own benefit. What are your views on this? And is V hero taking any steps or at the moment to help prevent the situation from happening?

 

27:22

Yeah, amazing question, and definitely a hot topic. And my personal opinion, Ted is that greenwashing is absolutely happening. I mean, and we just we can see is that there is this huge boom, in CSR, ethical investing ESG. I mean, the numbers are very clear, like investors in 2020, contributed $51 billion to sustainable funds compared to $5,000,000,000.05 years ago, when we look at just millennial investors, 90% of millennial investors, they believe in sustainable investing. And when we look at ESG funds, how much they grew last year, they grew $285 billion.

 

That’s double what they grew in 2019. And so this space is growing quickly. And it’s really easy to hide programs that are working in programs that are not working and greenwashing is very real in that next, it’s really hard to sift out and find what’s working, what’s not working. I think these are really positive science, seeing the amount of money and funds that are going into these green programs going into ethical investing. I think the next step for us is really having clear, standardized criteria to assess ESG investments and measure impact and keep these companies accountable.

 

I think that’s absolutely critical. And I think we’re starting to see that. And that’s an area obviously, Ted that we focus heavily on as we focus again, on the impact reporting in that data. Hosting accountability. Right. Exactly. And I think you see a lot of companies that are struggling with these ESG reports, some companies are doing it for their very first time. Same thing with CSR reports. And so I think we’re going to see better reporting better data and analytics and a way to better analyze how companies are actually performing.

 

And so But to answer your question, Ted, yes, it’s really sad. greenwashing is very much a thing. We need to do everything we can to hold companies accountable to the goals that they set. And we’ll start seeing progress. But it is great to see the energy that’s going into the space and the attention that it’s getting. I think it’s a very positive sign. And it’ll work itself out. I hope, and I think there’s just some key steps we need to take.

 

29:31

I’m wondering how much of it is actually a systemic problem of the amount of money going in at the same time. But the fact that a lot of the individuals who are tasked you know, as we spoken before, we’re running a CSR and ESP programs that are having the right skill sets, so they end up allocating resources in the wrong places. And this may be actually increasing the significance or the phenomena of greenwashing.

 

29:51

Yeah, goal setting is really easy. It’s really easy to say we’re going to be carbon neutral by 2030. It’s really easy to say we’re going to have a 80% of our workforce engaging in volunteering four times a year. That’s all really easy things to say. And that’s where the greenwashing comes from right? Ted is just really easy to say, put out a press release. Yeah, getting that work done is really challenging, takes a lot of time and energy. And doing the reporting takes a lot of time and energy.

 

And finding good nonprofits takes a lot of time and energy and working with those nonprofits. And so these things take time. And I think that’s sometimes when the greenwashing comes up, and you’re right, that some of these areas, they’re they’re under resourced, and we’re really pushing to get them resource so we can get these jobs done. And it’s a big reason why we come into these companies to help because these goals are amazing. And we want to see these goals be met. And that’s really where we come in to help.

 

30:44

Now, Ben, I’m glad that you mentioned the idea of a carbon footprint. So let’s talk about carbon hero. I understand this is a sister company to we hero, and it focuses on funding projects that helps reduce carbon footprints. No, your website actually claims that he only takes 84 seconds to offset your carbon. So please explain yourself.

 

31:03

Yeah, no, great question. So we are always looking for gaps and challenges in this ever evolving world of CSR and ESG. And one of the things that’s really complex Ted is carbon offsetting, we say that we say carbon offset and go offset your carbon. But like, what that actually is, and how that actually works. It’s really complicated carbon credits, and the way that carbon credits are used, and when the carbon is actually offset. And when it’s retired. It’s a huge complex matrix. And so what we’re trying to do is two things, one, make it really easy for individuals to understand how much carbon they’re emitting, and how to offset it. And the bigger area for us right now, Ted is how we can help companies do that really successfully, and have really good reporting. And what we do Ted is, let’s just use the compass, for example, if a company is looking to offset their carbon become carbon neutral or negative, our jobs, then to work at that company do identify really good projects, projects where we can offset that carbon that again, align with that company’s values and align with their offsetting projects. We’re working with a company right now.

 

And the way that we are offsetting that carbon is we’re protecting grasslands and Colorado, or bison can go and graze and we’re restoring that land. And that’s a really positive way to you know, and it’s a really powerful way to offset carbon. It’s also a really powerful way because it aligns so much with that company’s values. And so I think finding projects that have been highly customized, and aligned with that company, as well as something that we focus highly on. And our job is to really again, like the nonprofit in the corporate world, be that connective tissue, if you’re looking to offset that carbon, and to do it the right way.

 

And to measure that impact. We want to help you do that successfully. That survey you’re referencing where takes 84 seconds, that what we are doing for individuals is if you want to see how much carbon an estimate that you’re emitting every single year, we have a form that you can fill in and ask questions like, you know, what do you what are your dietary habits? How much do you drive and then get given your, how many flights Do you take average length of those flights, we ask a lot of questions to basically get an estimate of how much carbon you’re emitting.

 

And if you’d like we give you a really easy subscription plan to offset all that carbon or offset some of it. Right now I’m offsetting all of my carbon, and I’m paying the $17 a month to be carbon neutral and have that offset. And I think it’s just a really easy way for people if they want to live a green life they can. And the last thing I’ll say on that is that we also provide tips for people, just lifestyle adjustments that people can make, even things that people can do in their homes, around how they use their outlets, different outlets, they can use insulation, so on and so forth, how they use their heat in the winter.

 

And I think just educating people on what can be done and how we can all work together is something that we really enjoy doing and doing everything we can to make a difference there.

 

33:57

So Ben, if the listeners only remember one thing from today’s conversation, oh, you’d like it to be

 

34:02

have hope. I think there’s so much negativity in the media today. And I think it’s really easy to fixate on what’s wrong and what’s not working. But I I’m so hopeful and inspired and I just want people to know that there are so many companies and there are so many nonprofits and there’s so many employees and people that are working to solve these challenges and truly care and are showing up every day supporting really good nonprofits doing everything they can with their time resources to learn to have empathy towards people and situations and to be a part of the solution.

 

And so I would just say to people be hopeful because there’s a lot of people out there that are trying to do the right thing and it’s not going to take one person it’s not going to be one company it’s not going to be one solution it really takes everybody that’s why our name is we hero it’s week together can change the world and we all can be heroes together and that’s what’s gonna take and that’s the the message I just would love to have people take away from this.

 

34:58

So Ben, how can they This is getting contacted view, if they want to work with you as well

 

35:03

go to our website, you can google we hero or go to we hero.co. There’s a lot of resources there. Also on that website is our Learning Center. So if you want resources around CSR ESG things we’re noticing right now, how to be a better CSR leader or get into a job like that, those that’s a free Learning Center for people to just go and educate themselves.

 

Also very easy ways for us to get in touch there. For people to get in touch with me, you can just find me on LinkedIn, probably the easiest and if you reach out through the we hear a website, you can usually get patched through to me. And then for carbon hero, it’s just my carbon hero comm you can go on and check that out as well. And there’s easy ways for you to get ahold of us there as well.

 

35:42

And I’ll place all the relevant links for the listeners in the episode page. So if you guys are interested in getting contact with Ben, then head on to the website to check out links, you know, you can get connected really easily. Now Ben, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing with us about v hero and carbon hero.

 

35:57

Thank you so much, Ted, appreciate you having me here guys. Thank

 

35:59

you so much for joining vanaya. Today’s episode, notice so many opportunities out there to get involved with CSR programs. And there’s so many external and internal benefits for doing so as well. I highly encourage every company who has the resources to get involved with CSR programs and try to make the world a better place. So if you made it to the end of this episode, thank you very much for staying on. If you’ve ever had a question or you want to speak to me, then feel free to reach out to me at hello at Ted teo.com.

 

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