In the field with Ikea Belgium's Welcome Home project

At a glance

• Welcome Home project: IKEA Belgium launched the project to support single-parent families, initially by donating funds and furniture to shelters.
• Employee engagement: As the program expanded, employees volunteered during working hours – helping with home setups and small renovations for single-parent families – which fostered a stronger sense of involvement.
• Advocacy: The project evolved to include collaboration with social welfare organizations to advocate for policy changes to better support single-parent families.
• Challenges: Key challenges included overcoming skepticism from nonprofits, maintaining employee volunteer participation, and navigating cultural and value differences between corporate and nonprofit organizations.

IKEA launched the Welcome Home project in Belgium to make a meaningful impact by supporting single-parent families. Originating from a cross-departmental brainstorming session, the program initially focused on donating funds and furniture to shelters. As the project developed, IKEA employees began volunteering their time and expertise during work hours to help set up homes and shelters. As the initiative grew, IKEA collaborated with various social welfare organizations and collectively they worked toward policy changes to create a fairer and more supportive environment for single-parent families.

The broader issue

A fundamental cornerstone of IKEA’s sustainability strategy is balancing economic growth with positive social impact. The company believes that its size and influence bring a responsibility to create positive change for many people. To achieve this, IKEA actively engages with local communities to support vulnerable groups. Although it initially focused on financial donations, IKEA’s sustainability strategy now aims to move beyond corporate philanthropy, creating deeper social impact by leveraging its business strengths.

Creating meaningful impact requires navigating the delicate balance between corporate obligations and the realities of nonprofit work. Transitioning from traditional donation models to innovative strategies like employee volunteering or advocacy programs demands courage and adaptability. Companies must also overcome skepticism from nonprofits, which may question the sincerity of corporate motives and suspect economic self-interest over genuine altruism. Involving employees boosts their sense of empowerment, but raising awareness and recruiting volunteers requires ongoing effort. Additionally, collaborating with nonprofits, which operate under different principles, requires perseverance and flexibility.

The new impact strategy at IKEA Belgium

In line with IKEA’s global sustainability vision, IKEA Belgium sought to refine its social strategy to better leverage the company’s strengths. The existing approach across Belgian stores lacked cohesion and needed a more coordinated effort. To address this, the sustainability team formed a cross-functional working group to identify a meaningful social initiative that aligned with IKEA’s expertise in home furnishing. Single-parent families, a vulnerable group often overlooked by existing programs and at risk of poor housing conditions, emerged as the focus. This led to the launch of the Welcome Home project, which aimed to help these families access decent housing.

The three dimensions of the Welcome Home project

First dimension: Donating money and furniture to charitable organizations

Initially, IKEA supported families through two types of corporate giving. The first approach involved providing financial aid to charitable associations that used the money to provide starter kits of essential furniture for vulnerable single-parent families who were transitioning into new homes. The second approach involved in-kind donations, whereby IKEA partnered with nonprofit organizations to provide furniture for shelters across the country, tailored to local needs.

Adding a second dimension: Donating time

In addition to financial and furniture donations, IKEA sought to actively engage its co-workers to strengthen their involvement in the company’s commitment to supporting single-parent families. It expanded opportunities for co-workers to participate by volunteering in the field, helping with small renovations in temporary housing projects or shelters and offering their home-furnishing expertise.

Adding a third dimension: Advocacy

To broaden its impact on the lives of single-parent families, IKEA aimed to increase visibility and raise political awareness of the challenges this vulnerable group faces. With the help of a social innovation agency and a strategic political and communications consultant, IKEA organized a hackathon. The event brought together experts, including local nonprofits and single-parent families, to focus on addressing their specific challenges. Together, they identified the most pressing issues and developed ten proposals for structural assistance, which were consolidated into a “Memorandum” and presented to key politicians.

Overcoming the challenges

However, the journey from simple donations to intentional impact had its share of challenges.

Challenges related to co-workers volunteering

Despite the workforce’s initial positive feedback about the volunteering program, maintaining employee interest proved challenging. Out of approximately 4,400 IKEA co-workers, only about 5% actively participated as volunteers. This meant a continuous effort was required to recruit new volunteers. Encouraging volunteering was particularly difficult due to the nature of the workforce, many of whom were engaged in direct client interaction in stores or warehouses rather than desk-based roles. Additionally, effectively reaching employees who were inundated with daily information through newsletters and intranet postings posed a further challenge.

The team discovered that simplicity was key. Leveraging the power of satisfied participants as ambassadors, they encouraged volunteers to recruit at least one colleague. Furthermore, dedicated sustainability managers actively spread the word and recruited new volunteers in person, primarily in the canteen during more relaxed times, which ensured a higher engagement rate.

Skepticism from social organizations

As the driving force behind a nationwide social impact initiative, IKEA played a pivotal role in uniting various nonprofits dedicated to a common cause. However, a significant challenge IKEA faced was persuading social welfare organizations to collaborate with it. Many were hesitant about trusting a company and reluctant to engage with it as a matter of principle. Skepticism lingered regarding IKEA’s motives, with concerns about potential business-driven agendas or the use of the organization’s brand image for green or social washing purposes.

To overcome these hurdles, IKEA prioritized open communication and alignment among all parties. Acknowledging its lack of expertise in the field, IKEA positioned itself as a facilitator, emphasizing the importance of the nonprofits’ expertise. Trust building was central, with IKEA demonstrating a genuine commitment to the cause and empowering nonprofits in the collaboration process. This approach aimed to convince nonprofits of IKEA’s altruistic motivations and foster genuine partnerships.

Success criteria for an effective partnership

Even after social welfare organizations were convinced to collaborate with IKEA, bridging the gap between them and a multinational corporation remained a challenge. Their differing cultures and core values made effective collaboration toward a shared objective difficult. Nonprofit organizations prioritize community service, whereas companies put profitability first. Disparities in goals, organizational structures and management styles further complicate matters.

IKEA ensured that its chosen cause aligned with its strategy. Potential nonprofit partners were carefully selected based on shared values and common goals. Ensuring strong commitment to the partnership from both the top and bottom layers of the organization was key for the success of such collaboration. Finally, strong communication channels helped overcome potential organizational differences and challenges between the two types of entities.

“The real challenge is to figure out how to create a common goal while at the same time having a different DNA.”

–  Bart Claes, Director, Center for Social Well-being (CAW) in Belgium

Did it work?

Several projects were successfully completed through the Welcome Home initiative: More than 40 shelters either received financial assistance to create starter kits for single-parent families who needed furnishings or obtained material and technical support from specific IKEA stores. These donations, whether financial or in-kind, benefited 2,500 people annually.

For the second dimension, with the active participation of more than 200 volunteers each year, over 670 co-workers have supported 17 nonprofits across Belgium since the project started, creating a better life at home for single-parent families.

Regarding advocacy, the memorandum resulting from the hackathon was signed by 13 nonprofits, two federations and IKEA. By 2024, 32 nonprofits supported the ten proposals, and three political debates had taken place across Belgium. Videos and digital articles related to the Welcome Home project garnered 6 million views (in a country with 11 million inhabitants).

Takeaways

• Building trust with nonprofits takes time: Open communication and acknowledging their lack of expertise helps corporations earn the trust of nonprofit organizations, which in turn helps the nonprofits overcome their initial skepticism about corporate intentions.
• Aligning values and goals is critical: Ensuring that both corporate and nonprofit partners share values, goals and a long-term commitment is key to successful collaboration in spite of differing organizational cultures.
• Strong leadership and communication are vital: Active participation from all levels of the organization and maintaining strong communication channels are essential for navigating organizational differences between companies and social welfare partners.
• Dedicated, in-person communication is more effective: Engage employees through focused, face-to-face outreach rather than relying on digital channels. In particular, leveraging satisfied volunteers has proved to boost interest in volunteer work.

This article is based on the IMD case IMD-7-2549 available from The Case Centre at http://www.thecasecentre.org

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