Natalie Burg

Eighteen months ago, corporate social responsibility programs were gaining increased popularity in the business world. According to the Governance & Accountability Institute, 90% of S&P 500 companies published corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports in 2019 – up from 20% just a decade ago.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) had a monumental and busy year in 2021. How busy? Thirty-five million dollars in new multi-year funding for more than 260 blood cancer research programs. Over $241 million in financial assistance to 42,000 cancer patients. More than 26,000 interactions between patients and trained oncology professionals...

As the world races to ramp up spending to address climate change, one question looms large: Where will the money come from?
As a global society, we must increase spending to at least $4.13 trillion every year by 20301 to fund an energy transition sufficient to keep the planet below a temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to a 2021 report by environmental think tank Climate Policy Initiative. That’s a lot. Especially compared to current spending. The annual global climate investme...

Only 57% of Americans are financially literate, according to the most recent S&P Global FinLit Survey. In November 2020, 35% of U.S. adults reported in a Federal Reserve survey they would not be able to cover an unexpected $400 expense.

“When women thrive, humanity thrives.”

This sentiment, expressed by Cartier president and CEO Cyrille Vigneron, is a founding belief behind the Cartier Women’s Initiative. The project, which began 15 years ago as a one-time event celebrating women driving social and environmental change, has since evolved into an annual international entrepreneurship program that helps to grow women-led businesses through financial, social and human capital. The mission? To empower women whose ideas are makin...

Farming is, at the risk of stating the obvious, incredibly hard work.

And for the 671,000 small-acreage farmers in the U.S., it’s not very financially rewarding. A 2021 Pasa Sustainable Agriculture report found that direct-market vegetable farms, 85% of which were 12 acres or less in size, had a median net income of $18,500.

The 2022 AgeTech Market Map identifies more than 230 tech companies across 15 categories targeting elderly users and their caregivers. Gerontologist, agetech author, and TheGerontechnologist.com founder Keren Etkin began developing the map in 2017, when U.S. funding to startups focused on eldercare, elderly populations, and home health care totaled $278 million, according to Crunchbase data. Funding peaked in 2020, with a record $1.1 billion in investment; in 2021, that funding was a still-healthy $519 million.

Something curious is happening in seven fast food restaurants between San Diego and Los Angeles. Rather, something curious isn't happening: no meat is being grilled or served.

What if, instead of crossing your fingers that your used wine bottle ends up among the 40% of glass put into recycling bins that actually gets recycled, you could ensure it got back to the winemaker for them to use again?

As Steve Edwards and his wife approached the arrival of their second child, one of the biggest challenges was, well, their first one.
"We had a rambunctious 18-month-old running around needing a lot of attention," said Edwards, a senior manager of corporate security for Ann Arbor-based Duo Security, which is now a business unit of Cisco. "My wife was having trouble keeping up and couldn't lift him, so my boss said, 'Why don't you work from home until the baby shows up?'
"It was really great t...

Plenty of people are deeply enthralled with drones: hobbyists, scientists, engineers … criminals. From disrupting sporting events to making assassination attempts, a range of nefarious actors have been showcasing the dangers of this burgeoning technology.
Naturally, one potential response has emerged in the form of more technology.
Mo Rastgaar, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan Technological University and director of the schools’ Human-I...

When you can see what’s coming, it’s easier to be prepared. And Michigan has a better view of the developing mobility future than anywhere else. While the state’s researchers, engineers and designers work on the technology that will bring us driverless cars and utilitarian drones, they’re also partnering with public entities to ready communities for the major societal shifts to come.
“We’re on the cusp of a revolution in mobility that will re-form cities and how cities function for the next 1...

Every small business merger is unique, but they all share a few common challenges, from choosing the right partner, to managing the transition, to branding and post-merger management. Here's how five small business owners pulled it off.
Search engine optimization firm Chicago Style SEO merged with two one-person businesses: a pay-per-click expert and a website designer and developer.
Holmes was clear about what he wanted in advance of entering negotiations. He put out the word that he ...

Recently, Linea Johnson’s supervisor did something remarkable. He sat down with each employee and asked, “How are your projects going? What do the timelines feel like? How’s it working out?”

Johnson, an information specialist at the Americans with Disabilities Act National Network, was surprised when her conversation revealed that the deadlines she’d set for her own work were unnecessarily aggressive. She’d been putting undue stress on herself — a big deal for Johnson, who is the author of “P...

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