Our Approach
Solve problems at their root
Future 500 focuses on carefully-planned engagement strategies, with a preference for personal one-on-one or small group engagements with truly strategic stakeholders, to build the genuine trust that leads to understanding, mutual support, collaboration, and breakthrough solutions (see RAN/Mitsubishi Stanford case study, for example).
We engage a broad range of stakeholders - corporate campaigners, grassroots and mainstream organizations, foundations, socially responsible investors (SRIs), academic experts, government bodies and officials, journalists, as well as corporations, industry associations, and legislative advocates. We strive to transform fruitless ideological battles by redirecting corporations and stakeholders to understanding the systemic roots of problems and their solutions.
We have offices in San Francisco, Tokyo, and Beijing, and a global network of engagement professionals in Brazil, Ecuador, India, Russia, South Africa, and the EU. We have worked to bring together the world's leading corporate brands and its most influential stakeholders - companies like Coca-Cola, Dell, Disney, DuPont, HP, Home Depot, Intel, Nestle, Owens Corning, Visa, and Wal-Mart; and NGOs like Amnesty International, Friends of the Earth, Global Exchange, Greenpeace, Live Earth, Natural Resources Defense Council, Public Interest Research Group, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, and World Wildlife Fund.
Because we are committed to advancing solutions, we have cultivated an extensive network of corporate and NGO executives who trust us and willingly share the value of their experiences and expertise in labor, human rights, and the environment with us and our network. We leverage our network, using a systematic but readily adaptable engagement approach that is more effective at identifying and aligning areas of common ground between corporations and stakeholder influentials than the too-formal processes often pursued by companies, PR professionals, and NGO consultancies.
Our staff comes from business and NGO backgrounds, giving us impeccable credibility and integrity in both the corporate and NGO spheres. Because NGOs are highly trusted institutions, our 501c3 non-profit status bolsters our credibility. Our work, guided by our values and practices, can initially cause discomfort, since we suggest engagements between companies and stakeholders who may strongly disagree with one another at first. But such work is essential to move past the politics of demonization to find solutions.
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