8. Kathleen Tullie on the Power of Aligned Missions Between Nonprofits and Business

Purpose and Profit with Kathy Varol

Kathleen Tullie leads Social Purpose at Reebok International, and is also the Founder & Executive Director of BOKS, a nonprofit on a mission to make physical activity and play part of every child’s day. Since its humble beginnings in 2009, BOKS has empowered 500,000 kids to make movement a part of their schooldays, contributing to their physical health and mental well-being.

Kathleen’s major accomplishments with BOKS include partnering with the Partnership for

Healthier America, American Council on Exerciseand Let’s Move Active Schools where she was honored by First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative in 2013 and 2014.

BOKS has partnered with The Reebok Foundation, adidas, , Toyota, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and CVS Health to fiscally support BOKS’ growth.

I met Kathleen while I was leading global purpose strategy at adidas. I was so impressed by Kathleen’s passion and the movement she’s championing every single day to get kids moving, I knew she had to be a guest on Purpose and Profit.

Connect with Kathleen on LinkedIn.

In this episode we cover:

• The failure of the sports industry
• The most valuable form of “word of mouth” there is
• The surprisingly easy way to boost kids grades
• The power of collaboration across a shared mission (between a nonprofit and a business)
• The overlooked connection between physical and mental health

Key Takeaways:

1. The importance of integrating impact initiatives into the overall business strategy and having shared metrics between impact and business. This ensures that impact programming is a long-term commitment, and that impact can be seamlessly scaled with the business.
2. The power of Word of Mom’s to create and demand change in our communities, schools, businesses and governments.
3. The importance of shifting our culture from sport viewers to sport participants. About one in three elementary school students in the US is overweight or obese. The prevalence of obesity increased almost threefold among children 6 to 11 years old between 1980 and 2010. And approximately 50% of elementary school kids do not meet the minimum recommendations for physical activity. Getting kids moving can establish a life long relationship with fitness, and equip kids with a tactic to naturally manage stress, anxiety and depression.

References:

• Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by Dr. John J. Ratey
• Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
• “Impact of BOKS on Children’s Physical Activity and Wellbeing During the COVID-19 Pandemic” Dalhousie University research study
• World Health Organization’s Global action plan on physical activity 2018-2030
• Florida’s “recess moms”, help get recess bill passed
• “An ESG Reckoning Is Coming” by Michael O’Leary and Warren Valdmanis, Harvard Business Review
• United Nations’ Sustainable Development goals
• The Social Dilemma documentary on Netflix

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If you want to work with me to embed purpose into your business, go to www.KathyVarol.com.