Imagine a future where everyone enjoys a dignified standard of living for themselves and their families, our natural world is healthy and strong, and all communities are thriving. 

In this future, all institutions, including businesses, are dedicated to benefiting all stakeholders and harnessing their power to help solve society’s toughest challenges.

Businesses and investors have a leading role to play. While innovation and value creation soar, our shared prosperity has not materialized. Inequality remains a significant challenge, threatening our social foundations, our economic stability, and our very democracy. Today, nearly 100 million people in the United States struggle to make ends meet. As society grapples with growing inequality, so must the private sector.

It is time for a new definition of business — one that balances the heights we can reach with the roots we must nurture. Business and capital must evolve from tackling inequalities as an aspirational exercise to addressing them as business imperatives.

Animated by this vision, PolicyLink co-founded the Corporate Racial Equity Alliance with FSG and JUST Capital to develop groundbreaking new business standards as a core component of our efforts to change the rules of the game for a just and equitable economy. The standards will give U.S.-based businesses a common language and clear roadmap to advance equity and inclusion, combat discrimination, and embody the best of socially responsible business within the workplace and across society. The standards will also support investors, workers, consumers, civil society organizations, and the public in their efforts to influence corporate priorities on equity, inclusion, and socially responsible business.

• We equip business leaders and investors with tools to integrate equity, inclusion, and social responsibility into the heart of their purpose and their everyday operations. Beyond the business standards, we develop resources, programs, and partnerships to support business leaders, investors, and those who influence them to take concrete action to tackle inequality and advance shared prosperity.
• We engage all those who have a stake in business action at every step of our standards development process. From sharpening our case for business action to the development of the standards themselves, we engage with individuals and organizations across sectors and from all walks of life.
• We amplify the call from all corners of society for sustained and accelerated business and investor action. We continue to build the evidence base for businesses and investors to tackle inequality and advance shared prosperity, through research, case studies, and polling. We proliferate impactful narratives through our thought leadership, events, and insights. 
• We change the rules of the game. Our focus on performance and outcomes helps set new norms in business and investment, as well as the standards-setting field. Our tools serve the public good by supporting public sector leaders, civil society organizations, business leaders, and investors championing shared prosperity for all.

We are defining a new way of doing business.