“Society is demanding businesses change the way they operate by acting more sustainably and with greater transparency – all while generating a positive impact on the world,” said Givewith CEO Paul Polizzotto during the last year’s Sustainability Summit at SAP Ariba Live Barcelona.
Today more than ever, in the B2B universe, buyers and suppliers are transforming into a more conscious community giving more attention and purpose in their organisations’ social impact. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and sustainability goals are gaining more traction in most companies in recent years.
SAP Ariba, which runs the Ariba Network known to connect millions of buyers and suppliers across 190 countries, has already addressed this opportunity by partnering with Givewith, a social impact technology company last November 2019. By making Givewith available as an application extension in the SAP App Centre, companies in the Ariba Network can now embed programs with social impact directly into their sourcing and procurement processes to fund nonprofit organisations.
Spend Matters Brand Studio shared its recent interview with Sean Thompson, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Network & Ecosystem, SAP Procurement Solutions about the collaboration with Givewith.
“Our partnership with Givewith reflects a desire to work with a new generation of problem-solvers and business leaders who understand that social impact and commercial gains are not mutually exclusive,” said Thompson.
In the discussion, he stressed that SAP’s goal to help the world run better and improve people’s lives are made possible by Givewith changing how buyers and suppliers do business sustainably.
In addressing the changing digital landscape of procurement, Thompson commented:
“Forward-thinking companies not only focused on driving financial value but realizing social impact through a variety of efforts.”
The
SAP leader explained how Givewith solutions add great value to Ariba Network’s
customers by advancing social impact and corporate social responsibility
initiatives in their day-to-day procurement operations. The integration
promises a unique and beneficial means of corporate giving that is accessible
and scalable.
When asked about the business impact of the collaboration, Thompson shared that in a global sustainability study from SAP Ariba, over 68% of consumers would be more favorable to a brand that adheres to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
SAP Ariba and Givewith are committed to advancing the UN SDGs. The collective nonprofit funding opportunities of Givewith advance all 17 of the UN SDGs and companies can easily see exactly which SDGs are advanced through their specific program’s funding.
“SAP works daily with buyers and suppliers across Ariba Network to address risks in their supply chain, suggest opportunities for sustainability and point out challenges related to forced labor and other human rights violations. As an SAP Ariba application extension partner, Givewith will take our own purpose-driven initiatives to the next level. By creating compelling social impact incentives through sales proposals and procurement RFPs, Givewith will help customers drive business value at scale and with precision,” he explained.
The
Givewith Platform
For the buyers in the Ariba Network, the Givewith platform helps them identify nonprofit programs in the Givewith network that have goals like theirs by analysing their sustainability and CSR performance data. After selecting their chosen nonprofit programs, they can add the content into their existing RFP process using SAP Ariba Sourcing. In doing so, they will be able to request the supplier to allocate a percentage of the transaction to one of the pre-vetted nonprofit programs. Then, suppliers can choose to support one of the buyer’s selected nonprofit programs in the RFP response.
Similarly, suppliers can also subscribe to the Givewith platform and add social impact to any RFP response. They can include in their sales propositions the unique social impact opportunities, which will differentiate them from competitors aside from generating new business value for themselves and their clients.
Once the buyer and supplier have agreed on the nonprofit program to fund, Givewith facilitates the funding and reports the precise impacts achieved. Data reports will be provided to the organisations’ key stakeholders, including the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) rating and reporting agencies. Companies can also be given high quality, audience-specific storytelling and reporting content assets pertaining to their social initiatives to highlight and share within and outside the organisation.
