ABOUT US
We exist for one reason: to help people thrive.
OUR MISSION
The Corporate Impact Lab advances economic mobility and job quality by partnering with business leaders to build workforce strategies that remove barriers, create opportunities, and strengthen competitive advantage. We work with senior leaders and teams that believe great jobs build great businesses. Through peer networks, proven methodology, and hands-on implementation support with our Impact Partners, we help transform how millions of people work and thrive.
OUR STORY
BUILT INSIDE THE WORK, NOT BESIDE IT.
The Corporate Impact Lab began as the Worker Financial Wellness Initiative, co-founded by PayPal and Just Capital in October 2020, engaging 14 companies around making financial wellness a C-suite priority.
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In 2022, at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center, feedback from business leaders and experienced technical advisors led to a broader focus that included financial wellness among other measures: economic mobility and worker well-being. That convening, along with three years of co-development with IDEO, inspired and tested the methodology that would become the Corporate Impact Lab, founded by Tolu Lawrence, inaugural Chief Impact Officer at Just Capital, and Kelley Frances Fenelon, former Managing Director of Corporate Actions & Research at Just Capital.
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CIL began operating independently in July 2025 and launched its first Fellowship cohort, bringing together leaders from companies including AstraZeneca, Bank of America, Lucasfilm, Trane, and Walmart.
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Our marquee offering, the Strategy Accelerator, has run consistently for three years with a 92 NPS from executives. Since transitioning to independent operation, we've kept that momentum: our first independent Fellowship cohort alone maintained our 92 NPS while adding 1.4 million workers impacted, nearly triple the 500,000 workers reached before our transition.
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Unlike programs that end with recommendations, the Impact Lab, with our vetted partners, provides ongoing support as leaders concretize big ideas, navigate internal systems, build business cases, and drive change with and for their people. Over 1.9M workers have already benefited from implemented investments advancing economic mobility and job quality.
WHY EXECUTIVES CHOOSE US
WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT.
WE STAY THROUGH IMPLEMENTATION
We, our peer community, and Impact Partners meet executives where they are, help them solve for particular organizational challenges and their specific context, and stay connected as they navigate internal systems and drive change.
WE CREATE TRUSTED PEER COMMUNITIES
Discuss what you can't always raise inside your own organization, with the psychological safety and practical support that sustains follow-through.
WE BRING BUSINESS ACUITY AND IMPACT
We understand P&L pressures, board dynamics, and operational constraints. Our frameworks are built for the enterprise, not the classroom.
WE BUILD ON PROVEN METHODOLOGY
Co-designed and refined with IDEO over three years of programming, our approach was seeded during a corporate executive convening at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center. Our origin funders included Annie E. Casey Foundation, Families and Workers Fund, the Gates Foundation, Omidyar Network, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
DIG DEEPER
GET TO KNOW THE IMPACT LAB.
STRATEGIC ADVISORY COUNCIL
Leaders across business, philanthropy, and workforce strategy who keep the Impact Lab sharp.
IMPACT
Who we've worked with, what it added up to for workers, and how we measure it.
WE ARE POWERED BY
OUR PARTNERS.
