Huffpost Impact: CSR in Action

“People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.” – Simon Sinek

Has someone recently sent you a link to a well-written short article about something funny or informative or enraging or weird? Chances are it came from The Huffington Post, the Pulitzer Prize-winning online destination for breaking news from all over the web. But, until I attended the workshop on “Driving Impact Through Digital Media” at the Social Innovation Summit (November 19-20) in Silicon Valley, I didn’t realize that The Huffington Post publishes a section devoted to social impact called Huffpost Impact. And, Huffpost has partnered with companies to sponsor the distribution of that content as part of their CSR programs. I sat down with Brian Sirgutz, Senior Vice President of Social Impact at The Huffington Post, to learn more about it.

Social media for social change Sirgutz started Huffpost Impact in October 2009 when he was President of Causecast. “I did not have a typical media background when I co-founded Causecast,” Sirgutz told me, “but I wanted to build a platform that would let people tell stories that would drive impact for social change.” With more than 90,000 bloggers posting content to Huffington Post, and an every-second news cycle, it can be difficult to hold people’s attention on the stories that matter the most. It’s even harder to translate those stories into action for social change. Sirgutz wants to change that. The rapid explosion of the Internet as a primary distribution point for content has challenged many businesses but it has also created new opportunities to engage people in topics they really care about. “Social media allow people to express their integrity,” Sirgutz noted. “Huffpost Good News took off like a rocket – it’s twice as likely as other content to be shared. People want to share it because it represents their values. We want to evolve the publishing model to become the next way we will connect with each other.” Values-based marketing Scanning the Huffpost Impact categories – Opportunity, Impact^x, Global Motherhood, Food for Thought, Millennial Impact, Everyday Heroes, Inspiring Leaders, Love Matters, and Veterans – you notice that many of these channels are sponsored by companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Chipotle, NRG, and Cisco. “This is a step beyond advertising,” explains Sirgutz. “Companies can sponsor a distribution channel dedicated to topics they care about.” Huffpost Impact editors retain all editorial control over what content is published, but mission-aligned sponsors (and they do have to be mission-aligned with the topic) can underwrite a channel. Cisco’s Impact^x Sirgutz’s co-panelist at the summit, Mary Anne Petrillo, Global Senior Manager of CSR Digital Strategy at Cisco, is an Impact sponsor. Impact^x , “where people, technology, and social impact converge,” provides an editorial hub where like-minded nonprofits can scale their mission. According to Petrillo, providing a high-impact vehicle for others to tell their story has been a very successful and satisfying way for Cisco to meet its objectives in corporate social responsibility. “Huffington Post drives eyeballs,” she noted, “and that drives funding dollars.” The future of CSR Many of the social media producers and architects I talked with at the summit agreed that in an era when consumers expect all content to be free, distribution is the new currency of the online marketplace. If companies want their audiences to pay attention to their message, they must deliver something those audiences care about. Which begs the question, is sponsorship of online information distribution channels a good way for companies to inspire others to act with conscience and charity? In this era when rapid response to global climate, energy, and human health concerns are vital, my hope is that the answer is yes. Images appear with permission. Julie Noblitt is Community Manager at Benetech, a nonprofit that develops and uses technology to create positive social change, and an MBA candidate at Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco.