Our social responsibility

Our commitment to making a difference in society is embedded in everything we do

Our purpose as a firm is to help create positive, enduring change in the world.

Our approach to social responsibility includes empowering our people to give back to their communities, operating our firm in ways that are socially responsible and environmentally sustainable, and working with our clients to intentionally address societal challenges.

Acting responsibly

We are committed to managing our firm in ways that are socially responsible and environmentally sustainable. As a participant in the United Nations Global Compact we support and respect the Ten Principles on human rights, environment, labor, and anti-corruption, and we reflect these principles throughout our policies and practices. We bring this commitment to life through our Values, our Code of Professional Conduct, and our policies and practices related to the environment, our supply chain, our people, and our professional standards.

MORE ABOUT OUR PRACTICES

Our Client Selection Process
We regularly evaluate and update our governance process, including the policy determining which clients we serve and on what topics.

Diversity and Inclusion
Our commitment to inclusion and diversity is embedded in our firm’s history and daily practice.
About us page

Environmental Sustainability
Our strategy helps us minimize the impact our firm has on the environment.
About us page

Our Code of Professional Conduct
See how we bring our values to life for our colleagues and clients.
About us page

Supplier Standards
We hold our suppliers to the same high standards of social responsibility that we hold ourselves.

2020 Social Responsibility Report

Learn how we are helping create positive, enduring change in the world
Read our report

600+

nonprofit organizations

supported each year

100%

of our GHG emissions offset

since 2018

39K

graduates

of our nonprofit Generation, which we founded in 2014

Giving back to our communities

Every year we work with more than 600 nonprofits and other organizations that are addressing some of the world’s most pressing societal challenges. Through pro bono service, board membership, and volunteering, we work to strengthen their impact and help them grow. We have also founded two nonprofits, Generation and McKinsey.org, focused on addressing some of the world's most pressing issues. We help these nonprofits solve critical problems at a global scale by providing funding and support from our most valuable and unique resource: our people.

Tackling global social challenges through firm-founded nonprofits

Generation
In 2014 we founded Generation, an independent nonprofit, to tackle the global youth employment challenge. Today it is the world’s largest demand-driven employment program in number of annual graduates.

Rethinking Recycling
An initiative of McKinsey.org, an independent nonprofit we founded in 2018, Rethinking Recycling aims to empower every community to build green, inclusive, and economically viable recycling systems.

Supporting nonprofits around the globe

Inside a project that used AI to help survivors of modern slavery
Noble Intelligence, which uses advanced technologies to help address social and humanitarian crises, worked with a nonprofit to understand the best ways to help survivors recover and reintegrate into society.

How our partnership with Foster America is creating change for kids
McKinsey began serving Foster America as a pro bono client in 2016, helping design the fellowship process and supporting a number of strategic initiatives, including its purpose strategy.

Expanding national parks in Chile
We helped Tompkins Conservation make the economic case for Chile's new national parks, resulting in ten million acres of stunning new national parklands, which provide habitats for hundreds of plant and animal species.

In India, McKinsey teams up with Pratham to help millions of children learn to read and write
Our partnership with India’s largest youth-literacy and vocational-skills organization is helping build a brighter future for children across the country.

Featured Collection

Food Security
This collection of articles and multimedia draws together McKinsey’s thinking on food security. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect access to food for many, what can food banks, distribution partners, philanthropic foundations, and the private sector do to increase resilience and ensure that people across North America have reliable access to nutritious meals?

Working with clients to address societal challenges

We recently launched Serving all Stakeholders as one of the pillars of our social responsibility approach. Our goal is to weave societal impact throughout all of our client engagements across three themes, environment, workforce and community, and consumer well-being. By incorporating these themes into all facets of our client work—from client counseling conversations to our analyses and recommendations—we help clients achieve their goals while improving society. It's just one more way we help create positive, enduring change in the world.

Featured initiative

Center for Societal Benefit through Healthcare

We collaborate with other organizations to drive positive innovation to ultimately improve overall health and well-being and reduce healthcare disparities.

Example partnerships and commitments

Downloads

2020 Social Responsibility Report
2019 Social Responsibility Report
2018 Social Responsibility Report
2019 Social Responsibility Report Appendix
2018 GRI Index