Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is now an essential component for many organizations. In general, companies raise funds for causes at cost centers, so the revenue left is relatively low. That’s where Paul Polizzotto’s for-profit company, Givewith, LLC, comes in. The company applies specific methods to clients’ standard buying and selling processes in order to increase sales and paint the world with significantly more contributions by addressing global environmental and social challenges. The company’s goal is to create social impact while adding value to their clients’ businesses.
"With others seeing the opportunity and innovating their own way, we will be able to create enough social impact to really make a difference."
Driving better business results
To put it precisely, Givewith is a SaaS company that delivers a unique sales and procurement differentiator in the form of curated social impact initiatives. It is focused on helping its clients create a competitive advantage in the selling process to strategically win business and promote procurement’s lead in sustainable social impact practices. As a technology company, Givewith assists businesses in matching their sustainability and ESG efforts with a nonprofit or social enterprise that benefits those areas. Givewith assesses hundreds of nonprofits and social enterprises and collaborates with businesses all over the world to help transform everyday business into a social benefit. Its corporate headquarters is in Austin, Texas, with an additional office in the United Kingdom.
Paul recognized the availability of untapped monetary assets from daily transactional business that can be redeployed to fund causes that benefit the planet and people. The assets that are procured post-buying and selling are in abundance; thus, Paul suggests their utilization for the greater good. He states that the key component is to add value to the flow of corporate revenue, eradicating the wastage of any significant assets. Currently, Givewith is the only company with this innovative business model. It adds value to businesses by assisting them in operationalizing the giving process, winning more business, and creating more sustainable procurement. The process is completed without costing them more than they already spend on social impact funds at cost centers. It specifically targets the market of B2B companies that have CSR goals that they fail to meet or integrate CSR into their RFP proposals in order to win more business. Some of its biggest clients include American Express, IBM, and the Metropolitan Police of London, UK.
“The innovation is not in projects, it’s in the concept of finding the world’s most pressing issue in a way that has never been done and building software to make it easy for corporations and their employees to give,” says Paul.
How it started
Paul was born and raised in Manhattan Beach, California. He first witnessed the gift of kindness through his mother Carolyn; seeing her spend the majority of her life trying to help others shaped his understanding of the value of giving. She used to volunteer with her sister at Head Start in Watts or worked with Paul’s stepfather to convert their dilapidated apartment building into a halfway house for children and teens going through difficult times. “She demonstrated to me the power that each of us can have in the lives of others,” says Paul. whereas his stepfather was a role model for him; he always used to guide Paul with the words, ‘Every day is Earth Day.’ He continues, “And I took that to heart. I was—and still am—a passionate and avid surfer, and I have a deep connection with the ocean that has motivated me to protect it”. Such influences and values eventually came together in his vision to create a sustainable business model that would provide resources to those in need as well as those attempting to preserve the planet.
Paul points out that believing people and the planet are getting enough help is demeaning. Corporations play a large part in funding various causes, but no substantial amount is funded as less money is left in the corporation’s revenue funnel to fund. To have a real impact, funding needs to come from the top of the revenue funnel, where business transactions are very large and where a small percentage is much larger than the percentage currently given from the bottom of the funnel. Paul emphasizes that corporations exchange trillions of dollars every year. He and his team have invented a method that advances CSR objectives and adds value to the business. This process taps into the top of the funnel where goods and services are bought and sold, which creates an opportunity for corporations to contribute billions more.
Honoring the legacy
Paul is passionate about his work and believes the company’s future in the industry is bright. With consistently growing markets, competition in this field is also increasing. Paul sees this expansion as a blessing in disguise because it will have a wider social impact. He says, “With others seeing the opportunity and innovating their own way, we will be able to create enough social impact to really make a difference.” However, from a company’s perspective, Paul and his team plan to implement effective measures to stay ahead of the upcoming competition and maintain its stature in the market. Being a pioneer in the sector, it will continue to scale its software and increase its social impact network of socially impacting companies, as well as lead this industry for many years to come.
Givewith shows us how compassion can be used to generate a business model that is both generous and profitable. Givewith is a perfect blend of Paul’s compassion and entrepreneurial passion that has significantly helped in creating social impact through CSR globally. This company is transforming Paul’s dream into reality; he and his team are on a mission to make CSR through Givewith the largest private channel of impact grants in the world. With such an impeccable journey, he feels assured that Givewith it is the perfect way to honor his parents’ legacy.
