Across the corporate social impact community, the conversation in 2026 keeps coming back to the same anxious question: how do we maintain budgets when the economic and political pressure is threatening to cut them? Teams are being downsized. Targets are being quietly walked back. Many companies have gone silent on commitments they made publicly two years ago.
It would be easy to read that pattern as a signal of where the corporate social responsibility (CSR) sector is heading, but new research suggests the opposite. The most progressive companies in the world are not cutting their corporate social impact initiatives right now. They are increasing them. Many are doing it quietly. But the data on what they are doing, and why it works, is now too strong to ignore.
The source of this analysis is from the Project ROI study, an aggregation of more than 640 peer-reviewed academic studies on the business case for corporate social impact and sustainability, led by Steve Rochlin at Impact ROI, with sponsorship support from MassMutual, MODO, and Loomis Sayles.
What the research shows
When corporate social impact programs are designed well, the financial returns are large enough to change any C-suite conversation: firm valuation up to 36% higher than peers, profitability up to 21% higher, sales up to 20% higher, employee turnover down by as much as 57%, productivity up 21%, and a 12% wage discount that strong social impact companies command in the talent market.
These are not guarantees. They are the demonstrated upper edge of what is possible when companies execute well against four conditions Steve calls fit, commit, manage, connect: aligning programs with what stakeholders actually expect, committing explicitly to both community and business outcomes, measuring with discipline, and communicating two-way with the communities and partners involved.
Why high performers lean in during downturns
Across competitive industries and down cycles, the highest-performing companies have consistently increased their investment in CSR during periods of uncertainty, not pulled back.
The reasons are concrete. When margins compress and competitors look interchangeable, trust becomes the differentiator. Steve’s research is clear that the value-creation engine behind every social impact return is trust. Advertising no longer builds it (only about one-third of consumers find corporate advertising credible). Corporate social impact has become the most credible signal of trustworthiness companies have left. There are also intangible benefits, including a memory effect: customers, employees, and investors remember which companies stayed committed during hard moments. That memory drives market share for years afterward.
That is the rallying call for corporate leaders right now. The slow drift toward social impact contraction is short-sighted. The real innovators are leaning in and investing. And the research now backs their decision with the strongest academic foundation the field has ever had.
What this means for the wider community
For practitioners across the Business Fights Poverty network, including the nonprofits, intermediaries, and impact investors who build partnerships with corporate counterparts, there is a second message in this research. The contraction in CSR funding is not a signal to give up on corporate partners. It is a signal to get more strategic about how you build the business case for collaboration.
If you are approaching a corporate partner this quarter, the Project ROI numbers are the strongest evidence you have that the engagement is worth keeping, and worth growing. The conversation shifts when the partnership is framed as part of how the company is going to outperform during a hard cycle, not as charity that needs to be defended in a budget review.
Who you pitch to also matters. With more CSR initiatives embedding into core business strategy, you can find new inroads via marketing, HR, procurement, supply chain, and more.
Get the data. Use it.
The full Project ROI report and slides are available directly through Impact ROI. The webinar recap and recording, including the four-part framework and practical guidance on metrics, strategic alignment, and program design, is here.
The corporate social impact community has the strongest research backing the case for our work that it has ever had. The work now is to use it. Whether you sit inside a company defending a budget, or outside it building a partnership, the data is on your side.
Discussion question for the community: What is one specific way you are using the business case for corporate social impact in your conversations this quarter, and where is it landing or falling flat?
MovingWorlds, a member of the Business Fights Poverty community, recently hosted Steve Rochlin, lead author of the Project ROI research referenced below, for an open webinar to discuss what the findings mean for practitioners. The full analysis and recording are here.
