Shareholders, employees, and customers expect companies’ social impact programmes to make a significant and meaningful contribution to the community. The question is, how can you achieve maximum impact?

Here are three examples of projects we have worked on and that are making a real difference to their communities:

Electronic Arts

How do you inspire young people to work in the video games industry? While the attractions of this fun and creative sector might seem obvious, not everyone feels it offers a career path that’s right for them. EA set out to correct this by bridging the gap between schools and the gaming industry. They developed an educational programme designed to inspire a lifelong interest in computer science and show children from different backgrounds the various career paths available in this field.

As part of EA’s Play to Learn programme, over 72 thousand 11-to-14-year-olds in UK and North American schools have participated in the digital Endeavour course, which builds core STEAM skills while helping students explore STEAM-based careers. The course covers today’s key scientific issues including recommendation algorithms, big data, and the future of design through fun, interactive lessons and activities. EVERFI also created an additional immersive simulation for EA that lets children experience how STEAM skills would be applied in a real-life Game Design team.

The programme has built-in measurement capabilities that enable EA to fully understand the impact it’s making, including data on student demographic, learning hours, knowledge gain, and behaviour change. The programme has seen a 95% increase in students’ knowledge of STEAM topics!

J.P. Morgan

Social inequalities often get in the way of young people accessing skilled and well-paying careers. To reduce those inequalities and increase access to opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, J.P. Morgan devised The Schools Challenge – an educational programme that encourages students from low-income neighbourhoods to develop a passion for science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) subjects – areas which open doors to rewarding careers the students might not have otherwise considered. The goals were clear: to improve interpersonal and STEM skills, create opportunities for innovative thinking, and help students prepare for future careers.

EVERFI is proud to have designed the teaching resources and to manage the delivery of this programme in 12 London schools. Over 6 months every year, almost 200 year 9 students participate in interactive workshops and are challenged to devise solutions to some of London’s key sustainability challenges, developing their own innovative concepts, creating prototypes, devising brands and business plans, and presenting their ideas to a panel of judges.

Through the programme, students develop skills to prepare them for the world of work:

• 97% have improved core skills valued by employers
• 89% increased problem-solving and teamwork skills
• 74% reported improved digital skills

Premier League Charitable Fund

Football is capable of magic off the pitch, too – that’s the belief driving the Premier League Primary Stars (PLPS) programme: that football can be used to inspire children to be active and develop important life skills.

Since 2016, the programme has been offering schools across the UK multimedia learning resources through which teachers can get students excited about not only sports and physical activity, but also PSHE, maths, and English. Football and footballers feature in films, classroom activities, lesson plans, quizzes, games, and competitions, sprinkling the stardust of sport across education.

Through the content shared via the programme’s digital platform and through live school events, PLPS increases students’ confidence in school subjects, improves physical and mental wellbeing, and promotes respect towards others. Among the subjects discussed with inspiration from the context of football are diversity and inclusion, anti-discrimination, respect, and kindness.

The results speak for themselves:

• Over 65K registered teachers from nearly 19K primary schools across England and Wales
• 79% of teachers think students now have a better understanding of how to look after their wellbeing
• 72% of teachers think their students now understand more about challenging prejudice and discrimination