The League of Corporate Foundations (LCF) gathered business and industry leaders at the 2025 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Conference and Expo on July 1 at Dusit Thani Manila, to promote inclusive growth as a key driver of sustainable development. Held during National CSR Week, the event highlighted how diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are reshaping business strategies—reflecting the shift in CSR from traditional philanthropy to strategic, systemic efforts that contribute to society and support nation-building.
With the theme “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity for Shared Prosperity,” the conference highlights DEI as a core strategy for companies seeking to promote development and economic resilience as the country recovers from recent economic setbacks and global uncertainties.
According to Shem Jose Garcia, Chairperson of LCF and Executive Director of Vivant Foundation, Inc., inclusion requires recognizing how identities like gender, ability, ethnicity, and income overlap and affect people’s experiences. “As CSR practitioners, most of our projects seek to uplift those left behind in poverty, finding solutions that would benefit the greatest number of people. However, when creating and implementing projects that aim to benefit the many, there remains a challenge that this can often leave behind those with special needs or limited capability to benefit from these programs,” he said. “It is important not just to identify these groups as a category on their own, but to understand the importance of intersectionality – that a person may be disadvantaged not just because of one category to which they belong but how those categories overlap.”
In her keynote session titled “Shared Prosperity, Shared Responsibility: The DEI Mandate in Nation-Building,” Senator Risa Hontiveros, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, underscored the need to embed DEI into nation-building efforts across all sectors. She discussed that working towards equity and social justice is not only right but also good for business. For example, women in leadership foster inclusive work environments that value diversity and equality—principles essential for sustainability and growth.
Opening day sessions featured discussions on inclusive corporate supply chains, enterprise development for underserved groups, and the shift toward measuring CSR performance based on community-level outcomes. Speakers emphasized that inclusive practices are not simply acts of goodwill—they are strategic approaches that strengthen business resilience, drive innovation, and contribute to long-term national development.
This call for systemic inclusion carried over into the first plenary session, “The Intersection of Financial Inclusion & Resilience: Protecting the Vulnerable and the Marginalized Sectors in the Philippines,” where its featured Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Director Mynard Bryan Mojica, Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association Deputy Executive Director Michael “Mitch” Rellosa, and Insurance Commission Deputy Commissioner Atty. Reynaldo Averilla Regalado.
The discussion highlighted how access to credit, savings, and insurance can help marginalized communities reduce long-term risk and build resilience to disasters—reinforcing the broader message that inclusive systems are not just equitable, but essential to national development.
Alongside the conference kick-off, LCF opened the CSR Expo 2025 at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati, where member organizations and partners showcased high-impact programs across education, health, livelihood, environment, and disaster resilience. Designed as an interactive and educational space, the Expo engaged the public with grassroots initiatives—from youth skills training and education access to coastal conservation and social enterprise development—demonstrating how responsible business practices respond to social and environmental needs.
LCF also highlighted key milestones of its flagship league-wide program called ”LCF’s Initiative for Food Security, Nutrition, and Empowerment” or LIFE at the Expo, including one of its first programs inaugurated in Basilan last June 26—the Busog, Lusog, Talino (BLT) Community Kitchen. Designed to prepare 600 to 1,000 nutritious, Muslim-friendly meals daily, the kitchen serves as a centralized facility for food to be distributed to schools in alignment with local feeding programs. Present during the inauguration were Former Governor of Basilan Jim Hataman Salliman, Dr. Joyce Ann Arandia-Viar, Project Manager of the Zuellig Family Foundation, and LA Cruzat, Senior Program Manager of the Jollibee Group Foundation.
According to LCF, this pilot effort is an opportunity for more corporate foundations to take part in the LIFE program and for the private sector to be involved in community development. “Inclusion and sustainability should be built into how companies operate, grow, and engage with communities,” said Edric Calma, Vice Chairperson of LCF and Vice President of Knowledge Channel Foundation, Inc..
The 2025 CSR Conference and Expo is co-presented by Cebuana Lhuillier Foundation, Inc. and co-organized with Metro Pacific Investments Corporation Foundation, Inc., and The SM, Henry Sy, and Felicidad T. Sy Foundations, Inc. It is also made possible through the support of BPI Foundation, Inc., Manila Water Foundation, Inc., Metrobank Foundation, Inc., Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc., and Vivant Foundation, Inc., with special thanks to Energy Development Corporation, Inc., Lopez Group Foundation, Inc., and Jollibee Group Foundation, Inc. LCF also thanks Ayala Foundation, Inc., BDO Foundation, Inc., and Citizen of the World Philippines Foundation, Inc. and acknowledges Aboitiz Foundation, Inc., Don Antonio O. Floriendo Sr. Foundation, Inc., Gokongwei Brothers Foundation, Inc., ICTSI Foundation, Inc., Ronald McDonald House Charities, SEAOIL Foundation, Inc., Security Bank Foundation, Inc., Toyota Motor Philippines Foundation, Inc., Unilab Foundation, Inc., and Zuellig Family Foundation, Inc. for their support. These and other partners help foster collaboration and knowledge-sharing on sustainability and inclusivity.
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League of Corporate Foundations 