The year 2030 may seem like it is far off in the future, however as we sit at the outset of the kickoff to the UN General Assembly week, there has already been a lot of extraordinary dialogue around the immense amount of work that we all have done and need to continue to do as a global society working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), or as many of us know them more simply as the Global Goals, in the next 14 years.

Last week, I had the incredible opportunity to attend and participate in both the inaugural IMPACT 2030 Summit (#IMPACT2030) and the Social Good Summit 2016 (#2030NOW). The IMPACT 2030 Summit was a gathering of organizations from across the private, public, and social sectors, looking at the opportunities for effective tri-sector partnerships in support of the Global Goals and the 17 SDGs through volunteer engagement. Although there are a lot of efforts that are being focused globally around the SDGs, this particular initiative is focused at the role corporate engagement programs play in having a tangible impact on the 17 Global Goals through volunteer engagement, and measuring those specific efforts. The Social Good Summit was a two-day event that highlighted the impact of technology and media on social good initiatives, bringing together global citizens from across the private, public, and social sectors to discuss the incredible work already being done, as well as the unlimited potential and possibilities ahead as we all work toward shaping the world that we all would like to see and live in by 2030.

As we look at the impact each of us individually and through our corporate engagement programs can have on our world, I believe it is critical for all of us to take a step back and look at our giving & engagement more holistically and strategically. In doing so, we will see that there is a tremendous opportunity to align and map the work that we are already doing and plan to do, to the larger global goals and efforts.

Many speakers at both the IMPACT 2030 Summit and Social Good Summit  posed the following question in various ways, if we close our eyes for a moment and think ahead to the future can we imagine a world where there is no abject poverty, zero hunger, and clean water & sanitation available worldwide? The answer should absolutely be yes! However, the road to get there may seem unclear to many of us until we gain a deeper understanding of the plan set forth through the Global Goals.

At first glance the 17 Global Goals may seem too large and more like a set of challenges that are potentially insurmountable. Yet, if you dig deeper you will see that there is a comprehensive, actionable plan in place with each larger goal being broken down into key targets and each target being mapped to a set of key indicators that can be used to track progress on the goals from now through 2030. In addition, it is important to remember that all of the Global Goals are interconnected and to achieve success on any one of the goals, will require the incorporation of work typically associated with one or more of the other goals.

The SDGs work in the spirit of partnership and pragmatism to make the right choices now to improve life, in a sustainable way, for future generations. They provide clear guidelines and targets for all countries to adopt in accordance with their own priorities and the environmental challenges of the world at large. The SDGs are an inclusive agenda. They tackle the root causes of poverty and unite us together to make a positive change for both people and planet. – UNDP

So where do we stand today? One year after world leaders committed to and adopted this new sustainable development agenda and signed the historic global agreement on climate change at the Paris climate conference (COP21) in December 2015, we have an opportunity to reflect on what progress has been made in this first year and what next steps each of us can take. To start, we can look at the recently released People’s Report Card from Global Citizen that was designed to give everyone a sense of the progress each country, as well as the larger global initiative has been making. So when we look at the questions of Do you feel safe? Do you feel healthy? And do you feel free? The People’s Report Card for 2016 reports that as a global society we currently score a C+. In some key areas such as Nutrition and Basic Medical Care, Access to Basic Knowledge, and Access to Information and Communications we are making some clear progress, yet in other areas such as Tolerance and Inclusion, as well as Environmental Quality, we have a lot more work to do.

All that said, there are a tremendous amount of cross-sector, global initiatives under way, several of which were highlighted at the recent Social Good Summit. The following is a short list highlighting just a few of the extraordinary efforts already underway:

• The United Nations, in partnership with Save the Children, is doing some extraordinary work around the refugee crisis – as highlighted at the summit this week “we must remember refugees are human beings & 50% of them are children” and “refugees are not just people with needs, they are people with rights, opportunities, and skills! An extraordinary untapped resource!”
• The Elders in partnership with the United Nations is doing incredible work in the area of Good Health and Well-being, imploring all of us to remember that universal access to healthcare is not just a health issue, it is also an issue of human rights, inequality, and prioritization.
• The Case Foundation, along with organizations such as Happy Family, are changing the face of what it means to fund entrepreneurship and be a successful female entrepreneur, reminding all of us that one of the keys to successful entrepreneurs is extraordinary role models, hard work, and persistence.
• Not Impossible Labs, through their Hunger Not Impossible initiative, launched a mobile app connecting those in need (hungry) with restaurants that have a surplus in their local community and can provide a judgement free meal. A great example of an organization that is changing the world through a combination of technology and story for the sake of humanity.
• Conservation International, in partnership with The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, are working to galvanize a whole new audience around ocean conservation through a short virtual reality film: Valen’s Reef.
• Finally, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance) are working to spotlight and more broadly educate everyone around superbugs and the threat to antibiotics, including the rise of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and the fact that we are losing our ability to effectively treat infection.

It is a tremendously exciting time and for the first time ever we have an actual collaborative, global plan and commitment in place to shape our world through a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. So that begs the question, what’s next and what role does my corporate philanthropy and employee engagement program play? The answer is that each of us through our own individual philanthropic efforts as well as through the broader efforts across the private, public, and social sectors can and should contribute to the achievement of the Global Goals. To get started, I would encourage you to take the following initial steps:

1. Start by learning more about the Global Goals and the vital role that the private sector plays in achieving them.
2. Access resources such as the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) – Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Development.
3. Map your current Corporate Philanthropy, Giving & Engagement efforts to the larger Global Goals, targets and key indicators.
4. Launch a campaign to educate both your internal and external stakeholders on the Global Goals, calling out which goals your programs are explicitly contributing toward.
5. Research key initiatives such as IMPACT2030, which is bringing together corporations across the private sector to see how we can more effectively partner to achieve the global goals and specifically work to measure the impact of volunteer engagement on those goals.

As I mentioned at the beginning, the year 2030 may seem like it is far off in the future and the global goals may seem like challenges that are too overwhelming and impossible to achieve, however for the first time in history we have a unique opportunity to be the generation to collectively come together and execute upon a global, unified commitment to our world, to future generations, and the future of humanity.

As Sir Ken Robinson noted at the IMPACT 2030 Summit, we must remember that “the planet is going to be fine, it’s been around for ~5 billion years; human life on the other hand has only been here for a flicker, ~150 thousand years” so we should think of sustainability in terms of how we are going to build a sustainable world and society for generations of humanity to come.

Image: Saba Hamedy and Chelsea Handler speak at the Social Good Summit in New York on September 18, 2016. Stuart Ramson.