Name: Recognizing Companies Shaping a Better Future at Fortune Impact Initiative 2024
Uploaded: 2024-10-10
Duration: 11 min 58 s
Description: The Impact Innovator Awards were introduced this year at the Fortune Impact Initiative 2024 conference. These awards honor standout companies from our Change the World list with under $1 billion in revenue but immense potential to create a transformative global impact.

The Impact Innovator Awards were introduced this year at the Fortune Impact Initiative 2024 conference. These awards honor standout companies from our Change the World list with under $1 billion in revenue but immense potential to create a transformative global impact.

Recognizing Companies Shaping a Better Future at Fortune Impact Initiative 2024

Photography by Rebecca Greenfield/Fortune

Conferences

The Impact Innovator Awards were introduced this year at the Fortune Impact Initiative 2024 conference. These awards honor standout companies from our Change the World list.

Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us this evening and thank you for making the 2024 impact initiative. A fabulous gathering so far. Our conversations today have been the perfect blend of fresh perspectives and actionable concepts and we appreciate all of your cellar insights. So, thank you. We would also like to thank our founding partner Fi from Black Bod for Cohos tonight's program. This evening, our focus is on people and organizations that are having a positive impact on their worlds and beyond. In just a short while, we'll talk about the effort to end the epidemic of gun violence in America. We'll hear from three people who have had heartbreaking and alarming personal stories on how gun violence changed their lives forever. Family members of the rapper takeoff who was shot and killed almost two years ago. And Greg Jackson junior, the first ever Deputy Director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. We'll learn how they're using their experiences to help create safer communities for us all. Also, this evening, we're pleased to recognize organizations that have been doing notable and impactful work every year. Fortune releases our change. The world list, which is we're proud to say is now in its 10th year, this year's list just published on September 25th. So please check it out online and you can also find it in our latest magazine issue which is on newsstands next week. The change the world list highlights companies that have achieved measurable, innovative, sustainable social impact as part of their profit making activities. This year, Fortune selected 52 companies out of a pool of more than 250 nominees. They're making a difference by protecting the planet, enhancing public health and expanding human rights and economic opportunity. Congratulations to all of the organizations on our list that have done so. And in addition to this year's list, we are thrilled to announce the Fortune Impact Innovator Awards. The recipients of these awards are up and coming innovators actually, from our change, the world list that have under $1 billion in revenue but have the potential to make a big impact globally. This is the first year that these awards are being presented and we're pleased to have with us, Dale Strange, president and SVP of corporate impact at Black Bod to do the honors. So welcome Dale to the stage. Thank you, Kristen. Thanks so much and hello, friends. It's great to be with you all. As Kristen mentioned, my name is Dale Strange and I have the honor of being the president of Black fd's Corporate Impact Division, which is made up of two amazing companies ever five from Black Bod, as well as your costs from Black FWD. And it is an honor to be with you all. Uh Tonight. One thing that we know is that social impact is not about just one particular initiative. True, social impact is comprehensive. It's holistic and it's engaging communities as well as engaging employees. And I think we could all agree in this room that a corporation has an obligation, not just to its shareholders, but also to all of the other stakeholders, customers, employees, suppliers and members of the communities that we all live in and serve within Black Bod. We have an institute, the Black Bod Institute and that institute does a lot of work on the trends of particular giving. And we've recently done work to examine the behaviors and trends of Gen Z stop by our booth. By the way, if you want to learn more about that, we have an amazing team here who would love to talk with you about it. But one of the things that we know is younger generations agree and are absolutely expecting companies to be serving their communities, millennials as well. Millennials and Gen Z want to buy from and work for companies that share their values uh within the work that we do as an institute. We recently learned that after learning a brand supports a social calls or is socially responsible. 85% of Gen Z consumers are likely to trust it. 84% are likely to buy its products and 82% are likely to recommend that brand to friends and family. But millennials also care about this work. 64% of millennials won't take a job if their employer doesn't have a strong CS R policy, and 83% would be more loyal to a company that helps them contribute to social and environmental issues. So the work that all of you are doing is so incredibly important. We also know that almost eight in every 10 gen Z workers say it's important for them to work for an organization for which the values are aligned, making purpose. The number one driver in career decisions amongst this group, so never has the work that we all do been more important than where we are today. And the work that you all are doing day in and day out for all of us here at Black Ball. It has been an incredible honor over the last few years to be a founding partner of the Fortune Impact Initiative and to be part of this group of amazing and dedicated professionals like all of you, we believe that social impact is a business imperative and that's why I am so incredibly honored tonight to be here with you and to be able to present the winners of the Fortune Impact Innovator Awards. Our first recipient this evening is a company that works to protect pollinators. And in turn is working to help sustain the global food supply. Be wise, uses artificial intelligence and precision robotics to monitor and care for bee colonies in real time in autonomous beehives. And in doing so, the company says that its hives have saved more than 150 million bees which are helping to pollinate more than yes, we can applaud for that. And that work is helping to pollinate more than 250,000 acres of crops every year. Joining us to accept the award tonight is Ty Nikolopoulos, Vice President of Marketing at Be Wise Ty. Please join me on stage. Congratulations for you. Perfectly placed. Thank you so much to Fortune for recognizing be Wise's work to save bees. It's such an honor to be in this room full of so many leaders doing so much to impact our world positively. So what am I doing here with you? I think that we all have heard that we have to save the bees. But why? Well, 75% of the crops that we eat depend on bees for pollination. But every year, 50% of those commercially managed hides that pollinate your food collapse. And it's a lot of things that's causing it. We all experienced extreme weather as we were planning our trips here to Atlanta, that kind of climate change related once in a lifetime event and it happens all the time. It's catastrophic for bees. But it's other things too. It's monoculture, it's pesticides, it's poor nutrition. It's really contagious pests and parasites. And what's worse is beekeepers aren't in a good position to help. They have a skilled labor crisis where they can't find the right talent to help them and their hives can be hundreds of miles apart. So, the help that they get is bees get is always too little or too late. And, you know, that's been devastating until today at BW. We're using computer vision and advanced robotics to be able to remotely scan and inspect hives, take action when there's threats automatically and respond in real time. The net results that we've seen is a 70% reduction in colony loss and we've been able to save millions of bees and what's even better and what makes me so happy to come to work every day is that we do well by doing good. So I want to dedicate this award to the growers who pollinate with us, to the beekeepers who produce honey with us and to the Corporates who are bringing our bee homes to their campuses as part of biodiversity initiatives. Thank you and good night. Thank you Ty for that. Amazing and impactful work. Congratulations. Our next recipient is a digital platform that helps consumers compare prescription drug prices. You probably are all very familiar with the name that I'm about to mention. Good Rx, collaborates with insurance providers and pharmacies to secure discounts for its customers. And according to Good Rx, these efforts resulted in $15 billion worth of savings for patients. In 2023 alone, we congratulate Good Rx on making the list and we are so pleased to honor the company's impact this evening. Accepting the award is Good Rx co founder, Doug Hirsch Doug. Please join me on stage. Thank you up here. Yes. Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you everybody. Thank you, Fortune for this, this wonderful award. Um You know, I've heard a lot this week just or today about just how people teach this and how people learn and bring it and make it part of your company. And I guess we were just born that way. I mean, I started go X because I walked into a Walgreens in Santa Monica, California and they wanted 500 bucks for a prescription. And I just said that's crazy. And I went to the Rite Aid down the street and I went to the CV S and found out the prices varied and my first thought was ok, you know, 500 bucks is a lot for me. But think about how many Americans simply just won't fill their medications and then have all the follow on effects, which is not just about them. It's about the entire economy, it's about, I mean, literally the entire populations. And so here we are 15 years later, good or excess, save consumers. I think about 75 billion now. Um we, uh you know, um we are just literally doing our part every day. We work very closely with doctors. We work very close. We have a, a nonprofit arm called Good X helps. That helps people who just can't even afford the few dollars when we can help you. Even when we can help you save, there's more that can be saved. But for me, it all just comes down to that initial experience. You know, I'm just trying to connect people with the health care because we all deserve quality health care. And we're just going to continue to do that. And that's really the mission of the company will always be the mission of the company. So thank you guys and I'm going to get back to work.