Mutually-Beneficial Corporate Citizenship

Meaningful Impact recognizes outstanding achievements in mutually-beneficial corporate citizenship — because we believe that companies can do the greatest good when project leaders leverage their corporate budgets to create alignment between:

  1. The strategic priorities of their company
  2. The critical needs of a cause
  3. The self-fulfillment goals of project team members, personally and professionally

Meaningful Impact award winners achieve a triple win-win-win:

  1. a win for their for-profit business
  2. a win for a cause
  3. a win for the individual(s) on the project team

The 3 Steps to Recognition

STEP 1: Request your complimentary Award Entry Kit.

STEP 2: Order your Award Entry.

STEP 3: Fill-out the Award Nomination Form.

Quickly Actionable

Unlike annual award competitions, nominees for Meaningful Impact Awards can get the credit they deserve much sooner. Meaningful Impact award entries are typically reviewed within two weeks — and there is an even faster, expedited review option, if needed.

Award Tiers

Meaningful ImpactTM Goodwill Award

The Meaningful Impact TM Goodwill Award is an esteemed honor, while remaining accessible for many corporate projects which make a meaningful difference for a cause.

Qualifications for a Goodwill Award include:

  • A significant win for a cause, based on resources contributed or target-audience engagement
  • A significant win for a company, by accomplishing a business goal
  • A significant win for the project leader(s), personally or professionally

Meaningful ImpactTM Leadership Award

The Meaningful Impact TM Leadership Award recognizes the achievements of purpose-driven leaders who align the strategic interests of their company with the critical needs of a cause — at a scale and level of importance felt company-wide.

Qualifications for a Leadership Award include:

  • A substantial win for a cause, by improving the quality of life of beneficiaries
  • A substantial win for a company, by accomplishing a challenging business goal that is aligned with the C-Level suite’s strategic imperatives
  • A substantial win for the project leader(s), personally and professionally

Meaningful ImpactTM
Paragon Award

The Meaningful Impact TM Paragon Award, the highest honor, is reserved for exemplary projects which demonstrate that a corporate initiative can generate a higher return on investment by integrating social-good into the implementation — at a scale and level of importance which inspires peers industry-wide.

Qualifications for a Paragon Award include:

  • A transformational win for a cause, by improving the quality of life of a large segment of the cause’s beneficiaries
  • A substantial financial win for a company, yielding higher ROI than alternative uses of the same budget
  • A substantial win for the full project team, personally and professionally

Note: ‘Significant’, ‘substantial’, and ‘transformational’ are evaluated relative to the size of the nominee’s organization or department.

All Meaningful Impact TM Awards are a prestigious honor for high achievement in corporate citizenship. Respectively, the Goodwill, Leadership, and Paragon Awards are approximately equivalent to Silver, Gold, and Platinum at an annual awards competition.

Honorable Mentions

In cases where a nominated project does not meet the full requirements for a Goodwill Award but did make considerable progress towards that goal, those projects will receive an Honorable Mention to acknowledge their admirable merit and corporate citizenship.

Special Commendations

The Meaningful Impact TM Paragon Award is reserved for projects which are an exemplary demonstration of the highest achievement in mutually-beneficial corporate citizenship.

Occasionally, a project which wins a Paragon Award is so influential that the nominee is further considered for a special commendation — when extraordinary social good is achieved by creating new best practices in corporate citizenship.

Meaningful ImpactTM
Paragon Innovator

A Paragon Innovator creates new CSR tactics that:

  • Are innovative for their industry
  • Improve substantially on previous best practices
  • are likely to remain the ‘gold standard’ for the foreseeable future and have been adopted by peers

The Paragon Innovator commendation is similar to being recognized as the Grand Prize winner at an annual awards competition.

Meaningful ImpactTM
Paragon Laureate

A Paragon Laureate has all the qualities of an Innovator and also:

  • Motivates the highest possible rates of project participation among relevant staf
  • Mentors others within their own company to successfully lead similar projects in the future
  • Inspires others within their industry to successfully lead similar projects in the future

The Paragon Laureate commendation is similar to being inducted in a corporate citizenship Hall of Fame.

Award Eligibility

Eligible Nominees

Meaningful Impact TM Award entries are welcome on behalf of:

  • Individuals
  • Project Teams
  • Companies
  • Trade Associations

Since Meaningful Impact honors excellence in corporate citizenship, eligible individuals and project teams must work for, or represent, a for-profit company.

Partnerships which include a 501c(3) charity are also welcome when at least one of the partners is a for-profit company.

Eligible Projects

An award-winning Meaningful Impact project can be any one of the following types of activities:

  • A marketing campaign, for a product or service, which also supports a cause
  • An education, advocacy, or outreach initiative for a cause which also enhances a company’s brand or reputation
  • An employee volunteer initiative
  • A product or service which has both a for-profit and social-good purpose
  • A corporate initiative which gives back to the community
  • An internal company initiative to improve sustainability or equity practices

Timing

Projects are eligible if at least a portion of the activity occurred within the past 12 months.