Why Social Purpose is Good For Business

Last year Alan Jope, Global CEO of Unilever, caused a stir when he said the company would get rid of brands in their stable without a higher purpose. Opining that companies with purpose endure, that brands with purpose grow, and that people with purpose thrive, Jope made the case for social purpose leading to good business sustainability. He warned, “We will dispose of brands that we feel are not able to stand for something more important than just making your hair shiny, your skin soft, your clothes whiter or your food tastier”.

Well, in July 2017 Lewes Football Club raised their women’s playing budget to equal the men’s and promptly became the first and only club in the world to achieve gender parity. Same budget, same marketing, same pitch. It’s now March 2020 and Lewes FC is still the only football club to use the game to directly correct one of the most Zeitgeist issues of our time.

Since 2010, when the club was pulled from the brink of financial disaster by a collective ownership scheme, it has been tackling social change. The club is a community force with some 100 volunteers dedicating time and skills to Lewes FC. ‘Football Therapy’ sessions promote mental wellbeing; women’s walking football is played for women over 40; competitive Vets football takes place for over-35s men and women; the club hosts an annual Artists United Show; and, of course - this being Lewes - an annual Bonfire Cup tournament happens at the home ground, The Dripping Pan, too.

Today the club has around 1500 equal owners across 26 countries. Each owner can own just one share, thereby lowering the risk of becoming too dependent or overly influenced by one or two single rich individuals. The board is elected from among the owners and run their campaigns as well as the football.

Witness both the 'FA Cup Prize Money campaign', (asking the FA to close the vast gender-based gap in prize monies), and the ‘Gambling With Lives’ campaign (pressurizing the government to help change football’s dangerous relationship with gambling). All of these areas are based in social purpose.

Well, Lewes can report a quadrupling of its women’s gate figure in two seasons as a result of targeted marketing on the back of the equality campaign. Both men’s and women’s teams have been promoted since the introduction of ‘Equality FC’ (the name of the campaign whereby budget parity was introduced). The Club has made headlines locally, nationally and internationally for its strong social responsibility ethic, and people come to matches, become owners of the club (for just £40 a year), or sponsor to align with the purpose-led stance. The extra revenue generated from social purpose leads to improvements in game quality, allowing the teams to climb higher up their respective leagues, and gaining the largest possible platform for the club’s messages. It’s a virtuous circle in which equality and game quality, and social purpose and commercial success, go hand in hand at Lewes.

Knowing that if we can change things for women in this male bastion, we can change things for women full-stop, drives us to act. We offer all our owners - be they feminists or more traditional fans - a surefire way of changing the world for women with repercussions way beyond the pitch. And as the turnstiles turn, and more and more people buy into the idea that it’s cool as cool to own a club that wears it’s social purpose on its sleeve, it doesn’t take a VAR recap to see that leading with purpose is, at the end of the day, very good for business…

Interested in becoming an owner or gifting a share to someone else? Join here for just £40/year!

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk