How Social Impact World Is Building A Global Network Of Corporate Changemakers

In the world of social impact, where corporate responsibility intersects with purposeful leadership, Jeremy Brown has forged a unique path. The founder of Social Impact World, Brown’s journey began with a vision to bring together those who champion corporate social impact. In our recent interview, he shared with me his journey, insights, and the story of building a thriving global community for social impact professionals.

Reflecting on his career, Brown explained that the concept of corporate responsibility hadn’t been part of his original plan. After graduating from college in 2011, he entered the corporate world with excitement. “Like many of my peers at the time, I entered corporate America eager to start my professional career. I was fortunate to join a large company right out of college, one that had abundant resources—plenty of money in the bank and a substantial workforce. However, we never gave back as a company; there were no donations and no volunteering,” he noted, describing the culture of a corporate environment that, while resource-rich, left him feeling disconnected from a sense of greater purpose.

It wasn’t until he moved to a small Series A startup in San Francisco that Brown began to see what a socially responsible company could look like. The company’s executive, a former Salesforce employee, brought with him a culture that emphasized giving back. “During my first week on the job, our team volunteered together,” he recalled. This experience allowed him to connect with colleagues outside of traditional team-building activities like happy hours, and it sparked his interest in the role of social responsibility in the workplace. “I quickly realized we volunteered for two reasons. Firstly, it’s a great way to build team camaraderie through shared experiences, and secondly, giving back to the community as a business is the right thing to do, even on a small scale,” he added.

Brown saw firsthand the benefits of volunteering, and this realization led him to found his first organization, Startups Give Back. The initiative aimed to encourage companies to give back through volunteer events, bringing together companies to support nonprofits and fostering connections within the business community. “It turned into an incredible experience that combined networking and volunteering,” he recalled.

After several years organizing volunteer events with Startups Give Back alongside his 9-to-5 job, Brown noticed an increasing demand for spaces where social impact professionals could network, share insights, and grow together. He began hosting meetups featuring panels with leaders in the field to discuss building and scaling careers in social impact. Each meetup attracted a larger audience, signaling a strong appetite for more dedicated platforms focused on social impact.

In 2019, Brown decided to try his hand at organizing an annual conference, which he called Social Impact World. However, as he began planning, COVID-19 hit, forcing him to reconsider the conference’s in-person format. Instead, Brown pivoted Social Impact World into an online community, which allowed him to extend its reach globally and create a network where social impact leaders could connect and collaborate despite the challenges of the pandemic. “Fortunately, this move has paid off into a thriving community of social impact leaders, practitioners, and champions from around the world,” he reflected.

Now, Social Impact World is a community designed for leaders and practitioners in corporate social impact, ESG, and related fields who often find themselves as a team of one. It eliminates the isolation that tends to accompany this meaningful work by providing members with a global network of peers to lean on for support and opportunities to learn and grow professionally. The community’s members primarily consist of corporate social impact, ESG, and related field leaders, but also include nonprofit professionals and leaders from companies that build impact technology and provide services to the corporate sector. Social Impact World’s mission is simple yet powerful: to support the passionate changemakers dedicated to making the corporate world a force for good.

The focus is on creating both online and offline opportunities for the Social Impact World community to connect and learn from the collective expertise of their peers. This includes in-person and virtual events, as well as tools like virtual Networking Lounge, designed to help community members build their professional network one coffee chat at a time. Social Impact World’s ultimate mission is to back “the passionate changemakers who work tirelessly to turn the corporate world into a force for good,” according to Brown.

Brown’s journey hasn’t been without its challenges, but certain achievements have stood out. One of his proudest moments was building a community of over 2,000 members (and counting), a milestone reached organically through referrals since Social Impact World’s founding in 2020. “It’s the impact the community has had on its members,” he shared, describing how connections within the community have led to partnerships, in-person meetups, and even career-changing opportunities. Members often share stories of professional growth and collaborative projects that stemmed from relationships formed in Social Impact World’s virtual lounges. “It’s incredible to watch the community thrive with minimal prompting on my end,” he added.

The second moment Brown cherishes is the successful launch of Social Impact World’s inaugural conference, the Social Impact World Forum, held as an invite-only event. Organizing the forum was a monumental task, as Brown handled everything himself—from recruiting speakers to managing logistics. He saw the event as a full-circle realization of his initial vision. “I mentioned that Social Impact World started as an idea for a conference, but because of COVID, I wasn’t able to bring it to life. Holding the inaugural Social Impact World Forum four years later was a true full-circle moment that I’m extremely proud of,” he shared.

In today’s complex and often challenging landscape, Brown offered practical advice for fellow impact professionals. He emphasized the importance of demonstrating the tangible business value of social impact work, especially for those in companies where corporate social responsibility may be viewed as a cost center. “For every Salesforce or Twilio, there are countless companies that see impact work as a cost center versus something additive to their business. As a result, leadership teams don’t take the work as seriously as they should,” he observed.

This is a challenge that corporate impact leaders must be prepared to overcome. To succeed long-term, Brown advised them to showcase how their work aligns with core business goals, whether it’s improving employee retention or generating new market opportunities. “Leave no doubt about the impact your work has not only beyond your company’s four walls but also within,” he advised.

By framing social impact as a strategic, business-aligned effort, professionals can secure leadership buy-in and integrate purpose into the company’s mission. “Corporate impact professionals need to evolve their approach into a strategic, business-aligned effort if they want to secure long-term leadership buy-in,” he emphasized.

Jeremy Brown’s journey from corporate America to founding Social Impact World highlights the potential of purpose-driven work. Social Impact World offers social impact professionals a space to connect, share resources, and collaborate, breaking the isolation many face in their roles. For Brown, the journey has revealed a key lesson: social impact gains real momentum when it aligns with core business goals and fosters a supportive community, allowing professionals to drive lasting change together rather than in isolation.

For Brown, Social Impact World isn’t just a network—it’s a movement proving that community and shared purpose can drive meaningful change, helping corporations become a greater force for good.