New Profit Announces a New Board Director, Deloitte’s Chief Purpose Officer Kwasi Mitchell
New Profit announced that Kwasi Mitchell, chief purpose officer at Deloitte*, has joined the organization’s Board of Directors. Kwasi, the first person to hold the chief purpose officer title at Deloitte, brings decades of cross-sector consulting and leadership experience to the board.
“Kwasi is one of the private sector’s most influential and visionary leaders on social impact, and we are honored that he agreed to join New Profit’s board,” said Co-CEOs Vanessa Kirsch and Tulaine Montgomery in a joint statement. “Kwasi’s passion for New Profit’s mission of creating equity and opportunity for all, and his deep experience with helping address complex challenges at scale, will play a critical role in our upcoming work building a multiracial, intergenerational, cross-sector collaboration for change.”
As chief purpose officer, Kwasi is responsible for leading the organization-wide strategy that powers Deloitte’s commitment to purpose, executing its mission to make an impact that matters by creating trust and confidence in a more equitable society. Recently, Kwasi spearheaded Deloitte’s 10-year, $1.5 billion social impact investment to help increase social and economic mobility for those facing the greatest barriers to equity.
New Profit and Deloitte have been collaborating to support the work of social entrepreneurs in the New Profit portfolio since 2013, with the goal of providing these leaders with the caliber of strategic support that Fortune 500 companies can access. Each year, Deloitte professionals provide dedicated pro bono project support for a set of New Profit portfolio organizations, working alongside New Profit staff who are deeply engaged with leaders and leadership teams at these organizations. To date, Deloitte has worked with more than 60 New Profit portfolio organizations to focus on catalytic capacity building in the form of strategy, leadership and board development, learning and measurement, financial sustainability, and impact modeling.
New Profit and Deloitte have collaborated on several specific initiatives:
- Based on a New Profit analysis in 2020 that found that organizations led by Black, Latinx, and Indigenous leaders received only 4% of total grants and contributions in philanthropy, an initiative called Proximate Capital was launched to mobilize capital and support for these leaders, who are often closest to the problems and are meaningfully guided by the expertise, needs, assets, and experiences of their communities. Deloitte collaborated with New Profit in the design of the initiative and provides support to Proximate Capital grantee partners through both capacity-building support and an investment in the Proximate Capital Fund. To view New Profit’s portfolio of grantee partners, click here.
- In Spring 2022, New Profit and Deloitte’s Health Equity Institute (DHEI) collaborated to launch an inaugural Health Equity Catalyze Cohort. The cohort includes eight social entrepreneurs and other leaders whose organizations are working to transform the conditions that create health inequities, which have been highlighted in stark relief as the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted racially and ethnically diverse communities and individuals from low-income backgrounds. New Profit provides these organizations with a one-year, $100,000 investment of unrestricted resources, in-kind capacity-building support, and participation in a peer learning community. New Profit and Deloitte recently announced that a second cohort of health equity leaders who specifically focus on mental health and wellness will be supported in 2023.
- Deloitte also sponsored “The Well: Reflect. Renew. Refound.,” the first convening of New Profit’s community of social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and other social impact leaders since before the pandemic. The convening drew more than 400 leaders from across ethnicities, geographies, experiences, generations, and sectors to Washington, DC, for deep dialogue on the biggest issues facing America and the social sector today.
“I’m honored to join the cohort of New Profit’s Board of Directors, each of whom is focused on creating a more equitable society and helping remove social barriers to prosperity,” said Mitchell. “New Profit’s approach to supporting social entrepreneurs and catalyzing change has the ability to create lasting, tangible change. I value Deloitte’s long-standing relationship with New Profit and am proud of the work we’ve done together so far, but I believe our work is just getting started. I look forward to contributing to the collective effort of their Board and seeing all that we can achieve together.”
As chief purpose officer at Deloitte, Kwasi is responsible for leading the organization-wide strategy that powers Deloitte’s commitment to purpose and drives a broader impact for clients, people, and the communities in which they live and work. In his role, Kwasi creates pathways of opportunity for Deloitte’s people and clients to find purpose in their work and harness their skills to drive a collective impact that addresses systemic societal issues. Kwasi’s leadership brings focus to the shared impact and lasting change we can have on society at large when we put our purpose into action and embrace the differences that unite us.
Kwasi joins two colleagues on the New Profit board, including Deloitte’s Chief Growth Officer Stacy Janiak and Deloitte Consulting LLP Principal Stephen Jennings.
*Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of Deloitte’s legal structure.
About New Profit
New Profit is a venture philanthropy organization that backs social entrepreneurs who are advancing equity and opportunity in America. New Profit exists to build a bridge between these leaders and a community of philanthropists who are committed to catalyzing their impact. New Profit provides unrestricted grants and strategic support to a portfolio of organizations led by visionary social entrepreneurs to increase their impact, scale, and sustainability. It also partners with social entrepreneurs and other cross-sector leaders to shift how government and philanthropy pursue social change to ensure that all people can thrive. Since its founding in 1998, New Profit has invested over $350M in 200+ organizations and, through the America Forward Coalition’s collective advocacy efforts, has unlocked over $1.7B in government funding for social innovation.
