Market-Based Solutions: How Philanthropy Can Facilitate Sustainable, Scalable Impact through Markets
Funders working in the Global South can incorporate market-based solutions to widen the development resource pool and build pathways…
Less than a month into the year, an ever-shifting terrain and operating context is causing companies and purpose-driven leaders to reflect on how they will lead in 2025. The new U.S. presidential administration has issued a series of executive orders, directives, and other actions that will no doubt impact corporate sustainability, workforce development, and community engagement strategies and programs. The Los Angeles wildfires are the latest climate disaster to highlight the economic, health, and environmental disparities that accompany the climate crisis. And the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer showed that while trust in business remains high across the globe, multiple institutional failures across government, business, NGOs, and the media over the last 25 years have produced grievances around the world, stifling both growth and innovation. In short, business faces many opportunities and challenges in this moment and without a clear roadmap it may be difficult to know how to move forward.
We asked leaders across FSG’s U.S. corporate practice to share insights about how business and corporate changemakers can proactively prepare for the road ahead, align with stakeholders, and navigate and adapt to complexity in a polarized environment—all while staying true to their purpose, taking a long-term view on the company’s competitive advantage, and contributing to better societal outcomes for all.
Below are key considerations based on industry to help you navigate the potential opportunities and challenges on the horizon.
Consumer Products & Goods
Many consumer products & goods (CPG) companies have embraced being purpose-driven through their product portfolios, while advancing sustainability and human rights commitments. In an era of increasing polarization, varying regulatory landscapes, and uncertainty about U.S. policy changes, here are four ways that CPG companies can strengthen their social impact and contribute to social cohesion while continuing to advance their purpose:
- Use brands to shift narratives and build bridges. Consumers make purchasing decisions not only on price and convenience, but also on connection and values. Brands reflect and have the power to shape culture. CPG companies can leverage their platforms to convey key messages that align with their purpose, promoting unity, acceptance, and social cohesion in times of uncertainty and polarization.
- Strengthen supply chain and distribution networks. The COVID-19 pandemic and recent geopolitical conflicts exposed vulnerabilities in supply chains. Early 2025 is a great time to scenario plan and strengthen redundancy plans in ways that minimize disruption to suppliers and workers. Where possible, investing in local sourcing and distribution can reduce risks, increase local societal and economic outcomes, and establish a competitive edge for your company’s long-term success.
- Maintain a long-term view on sustainability commitments. While consumer demand for sustainability is anticipated to continue growing, experts predict that regulations may vary across markets in ways that both advance and detract from better environmental outcomes. Companies should consider how to build flexibility in their programs (e.g. across geographies) while staying true to their core goals. A clear vision and objectives will help navigate these complexities without losing momentum.
- Deepen investments in cross-sector partnerships and collaboratives. With potential public sector cutbacks in social and environmental efforts, companies can increase investments in cross-sector partnerships and collaboratives. Working within and across industries can fill gaps left by reduced public programs, strengthen ecosystems, and create a stronger enabling environment to create shared value for businesses and communities.
Energy & Utilities
Energy and utility companies continue to lead towards a green transition—in the midst of technological advancements, automation, AI, increases in federal funding flows, and the regulatory environment. While sentiment and language related to sustainability and equity continue to waver, we still expect that the clean energy transition will endure and remain a business and social imperative. Here are three considerations for the industry to sustain and enhance their social impact:
- Continue to equitably grow and support your workforce. World Economic Forum analysis shows that green jobs are growing nearly twice as fast as employers and employees can reskill and upskill to meet the demand. Without intention, a focus on growth alone may exacerbate disparities across jobs with the highest pay, best benefits, and lowest risk. Investing in training programs, fostering inclusive workplace cultures, and prioritizing belonging for frontline employees boosts economic mobility for traditionally under-resourced communities while reducing recruiting and hiring expenses, lowering turnover, and fostering a skilled, diverse workforce.
- Maintain commitments to communities even if incentives change. Energy and utility companies have been significant recipients of federal funding in recent years, particularly through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). It is unclear what the impact will be on these projects and programs, and it might be uncertain for some time ahead. Even if they continue, it is likely that the community benefit requirements originally tied to these dollars will be removed or not as closely enforced. Even without strict compliance measures, companies can continue honoring the intent of these dollars to drive equitable clean energy development to ensure long-term benefits for companies and stakeholders.
- Plan for the growing impact of climate-related disasters. Extreme weather events, including heat waves, storms, wildfires, and floods, will likely rise in frequency and scale, driving a continued focus among utilities on disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Low-income communities and communities of color are often most vulnerable to the impact of these disasters and face an inequitable distribution of recovery support, with long-term effects on health and economic status. Energy and utility companies can continue funding immediate disaster relief support while investing in long-term recovery and preparedness support that centers vulnerable and historically underserved communities.
Financial Services
Financial services companies will navigate a shifting landscape influenced by trends such as cooling inflation, increased fintech and AI adoption, cryptocurrency growth, and anticipated deregulation. Institutions committed to social impact can focus on three areas to foster financial resilience for their consumers, communities, and operations:
- Protect consumer trust in a fragmented marketplace. Potential deregulation alongside the rise of AI, fintech, and cryptocurrency create new vulnerabilities for consumers. Particularly if federal consumer financial protections are weakened, financial institutions will need to ensure that consumers’ household savings are secure and implement consumer protection against potentially harmful unintended consequences of innovations such as bias in AI. In a fragmented marketplace, protecting consumer trust in financial institutions as well as meeting diverse consumer needs will be key differentiators to strengthen a company’s long-term competitive advantage.
- Expand support for underbanked communities. Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) requirements could be weakened, causing financial institutions to reduce community development investments that have been instrumental in accelerating entrepreneurship and small business development, housing creation, renewable energy and weatherization deployment, and a wide range of other community projects. Purpose-driven financial institutions can reframe their community development approach from compliance to opportunity by more intentionally seeking to expand their reach in underbanked communities, source new innovations, and deepen their impact on community well-being and economic mobility. Doing so will help rebuild trust and position financial institutions as committed community partners, while strengthening the business case internally.
- Adapt and strengthen services and operations. As AI and technology adoption continues to accelerate, financial services companies will need to consider how they can reskill existing workers and ensure pathways to opportunity for the next generation. Within the business, these companies will need to thoughtfully navigate conflicting trends on sustainable and impact investing, where consumer demand continues to grow despite some political and cultural pushback. Similarly, with growing philanthropy advisory services, companies can deepen the roles they play in educating and connecting donors and intentionally foster broader charitable participation.
Healthcare & Life Sciences
The new federal administration will likely shape policy priorities that influence access, pricing, and technological advancements in healthcare. Critical issues such as funding for public health agencies and programs, health and regulatory policy, and innovation will drive decisions for healthcare and life sciences companies. Here are three considerations for these companies to continue advancing health equity:
- Deepen support for local health ecosystems. A potential restructuring of the CDC could impact its ability to support local public health agencies, including providing evidence-based guidance and funding to address health disparities. Anchor healthcare organizations, such as hospitals, health systems, and locally focused healthcare companies, can play a pivotal role in strengthening local health ecosystems. Efforts like data exchange, capability building, and long-term funding from place-based foundations can help improve community health and advance equitable outcomes.
- Remain steady on social determinants of health. By focusing on the social determinants of health in their communities, companies can be responsive to localized and emerging community needs. Strategies may include building a diverse healthcare workforce regardless of immigration or education policy changes; ensuring access to products and services even if Medicaid expansion is rolled back; supporting a healthy built environment, including clean air and water, even if EPA regulations are rolled back; or funding data collection with the ability to disaggregate by demographic characteristics to understand where there is variability in health outcomes if funding for census and equity-centered offices are reduced, such as the Office of Minority Health.
- Identify upstream opportunities and focus on prevention. Further changes in NIH and federal research priorities may increase attention on prevention research over curative treatments. This is an opportunity for companies that focus on managing and minimizing chronic diseases to differentiate themselves by addressing both prevention and treatment needs of historically marginalized populations. Through innovative preventive research—grounded in trustworthy patient and community partnership—companies may identify new upstream opportunities to intervene early and address patient barriers for improved health outcomes (e.g., improving preventative screenings, addressing diagnosis barriers, enhancing advocacy for policy change, and cultivating greater industry and cross-sector collaboration).
- Invest in evidence and partnerships to meet the needs of increasingly diverse patient populations. If the FDA moves toward streamlined approvals and reduced clinical trial requirements, life sciences and medical device companies can maintain a competitive edge by generating robust evidence that includes and builds an increased understanding of diverse populations, even as diversity action plan requirements for clinical trials may be scaled back. Strengthening data infrastructure and forming trusted community relationships and partnerships to collect real-world evidence on treatment effectiveness will be crucial to the long-term viability and success of healthcare and life science companies.
Retail
The rapid acceleration of technology and AI as well as the impacts of trade, immigration, and environmental regulations will shape the retail industry over the next several years. Here are three ways that purpose-led retail companies can act with resilience, innovation, and adaptability while continuing to protect employee well-being and advance talent amidst these changes:
- Advance skills-first talent practices. In 2020, the federal administration put skills over degrees in federal hiring, and this trend is likely to continue in the new administration. By focusing on capabilities, companies broaden their talent pools and create opportunities for individuals without degrees who struggle with economic mobility. At the same time, workforce availability may be affected by reduced employment visas and increased deportation efforts, and a potential rise in minimum wage could increase employer costs. Retailers, especially those with large frontline workforces, will need to navigate these changes thoughtfully by adapting policies and practices to sustain regulatory changes, managing operational costs, and maintaining a commitment to skills-first practices and employee satisfaction.
- Upskill and reskill workforces for the digital transformation. Technology and artificial intelligence (AI) are revolutionizing retail, with AI services in retail projected to grow from $5 billion to over $31 billion by 2028. De-regulation under the new administration could further accelerate innovation, creating new roles, skills, and career paths. To stay competitive, retailers must invest in upskilling and reskilling their workforce. Partnerships with educational institutions, workforce organizations, and tech coalitions can help develop robust and nimble training programs that benefit both businesses and employees.
- Strengthen value chains to reduce the impact of tariffs. Rising tariffs are expected to increase supply chain costs, particularly for apparel, electronics, and household items. Smaller retailers and frontline workers are especially vulnerable to the impacts of higher operating costs. Rather than passing costs onto consumers through higher prices or managing costs through layoffs and wage stagnation, retail companies can partner with others in their value chain on joint mitigation strategies. Retailers that diversify supply chains, embrace digital transformation, and stay aligned with shifting consumer preferences will be better positioned to navigate the challenges of evolving trade policies.
Technology
As the new administration sets its agenda for tech-related policies and priorities, companies must prepare for potential changes in areas such as cybersecurity, AI, supply chains, and more. With the AI revolution in full swing and shifts in regulation, workforce dynamics, and sustainability efforts, here are three key considerations for the technology industry to navigate in 2025 and beyond:
- Proactively take steps to ensure safe usage of AI. We know that AI platforms inherently have bias related to gender, class, and race. The new administration is expected to take a more light-handed approach to AI regulation. Companies should prioritize transparency, self-regulatory efforts, actively embed inclusion and equity in their product design, and deepen investments to manage inherent risk of bias in AI tools.
- Balance global, national, and state variance on data privacy and content moderation regulations. The new administration is expected to favor reduced federal oversight of content moderation, creating tension with state-level trends and international regulations, such as those in Europe and Brazil. Technology companies must balance these competing policy frameworks, particularly with states like California pushing for stricter data privacy protections and varying requirements in Europe and elsewhere.
- Deepen investments in responsible solutions for sourcing and infrastructure. The rapid demand growth for technology—including AI—requires significant processing power, impacting resource-intensive data centers, infrastructure and telecommunication networks, and tech supply chains. Data facilities account for 2% of global electricity consumption and consume large amounts of water, raising concerns in the communities where they operate, not to mention that tech companies’ supply chains are high-risk for human rights violations. To mitigate these impacts and potential deregulation, tech companies must continue investing in renewable energy and responsible transitions, sustainable operations, and transparent supply chain solutions that benefit local communities. Additionally, cross-sector partnerships and pre-competitive collaboratives help strengthen the enabling environment for sustainable and responsible business operations and the long-term horizon for the success of tech companies and the industry.
As corporate social impact leaders prepare for changes ahead, it’s essential to ground your company’s strategies in purpose and values while taking a long-term view. This can help companies identify how to continue driving meaningful societal impact while navigating potential changes under the new U.S. administration and building business competitiveness for years to come. Staying committed to and engaged with communities and stakeholders is also crucial and, where possible, pursuing collective action. There is strength in numbers, which will be critical to navigating industry changes, understanding local dynamics, responsibly elevating community voice, and strengthening the broader enabling environment to sustain long-term change for the issues your company is looking to impact. Finally, it’s important to remember that companies do have a voice and significant societal and political influence. Companies can use their voice alongside other assets in their purpose portfolio (e.g., philanthropy, products and services, supply chain, and distribution networks) to broaden their impact and catalyze others. By preparing and responding now, companies can not only navigate the potential changes of the new U.S. administration but also lead boldly in shaping a more equitable and sustainable future for all.
Note: FSG is a nonpartisan 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that does not endorse candidates for office or engage in any partisan political activities. The insights and recommendations provided are intended for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal, financial, or political advice.
