Audacious Impact: Nikki Clifton Of The UPS Foundation On Leading An Audacious, Visionary, Impact-Focused Program
An Interview With Russ McLeod
Test and Learn — Don’t be afraid to deploy multiple new innovations to support communities and be open to failing fast and pivoting using data-driven decision making.
In an era where social and environmental challenges are increasingly pressing, certain organizations stand out for their bold and innovative approaches to creating meaningful impact. These trailblazing organizations are not just meeting the status quo but are setting new standards for what can be achieved through dedicated, impact-focused programs. What does it take to pioneer such transformative initiatives, and what can others learn from their successes? I had the pleasure of interviewing Nikki Clifton.
Nikki Clifton leads UPS’s global philanthropy, social impact, and international community affairs, leveraging the company’s partnerships and logistical acumen to respond to the world’s most pressing social, humanitarian, and environmental needs. Bringing nearly three decades of litigation, legislative affairs, and philanthropic expertise to her role, Nikki oversees The UPS Foundation’s work delivering health and humanitarian aid, eliminating systemic barriers to economic opportunity, building local capacity, and advancing sustainability around the world.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you share a bit about your background and what has led you to your current role?
As the President of Social Impact and The UPS Foundation, I lead UPS’s global philanthropy, social impact, and international community affairs, leveraging the company’s partnerships and logistical acumen to respond to the world’s most pressing social, humanitarian, and environmental needs. I also oversee The UPS Foundation’s work delivering health and humanitarian aid, eliminating systemic barriers to economic opportunity, building local capacity, and advancing sustainability around the world.
I’ve had the pleasure of spearheading several signature initiatives at UPS, including our anti-human trafficking awareness and advocacy initiatives, which is the largest training initiative in the private logistics industry. I’m also proud of the work The UPS Foundation has done to advance the in-kind distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and cold chain freezers to underserved countries. A big part of my focus has been aligning our philanthropic strategy more closely with UPS’s strengths and priorities and centering its work on equity and justice.
What inspired you to start or join your organization, and what is its core mission?
Our mission at The UPS Foundation is to create a more equitable and just world and combatting human trafficking is one way we are fulfilling that mission every day. After serving as the Vice President for Global Public Affairs and Labor & Employment Counsel at UPS, I was inspired to take on a new role as the President of Social and The UPS Foundation because I was deeply passionate about building on UPS’s longstanding commitment to the communities where we live and work. We are a trusted brand and part of that trust stems from our legacy of reliably showing up to deliver goods while doing good around the world. I wanted to help make a difference, work with and grow an amazing team and help continue the service mindset that is in UPS’s DNA.
At UPS, we find purpose in moving our world forward by delivering what matters. In all we do, we’re driven by an unwavering commitment to our values. They guide how we proudly provide best-in-class service to millions of customers, how we take care of our people, and how we bring hope and help to communities around the world.
Could you tell us about your journey in the industry and any significant experiences that have shaped your approach to impact-focused programs?
As a Black woman and mother, equity and social justice is deeply personal for me and my family. My parents instilled an abiding sense of faith and service in me. They were both educators and first-generation college students who attended Tuskegee Institute, an HBCU. I selected Howard University as my undergraduate institution and my education there additionally inspired me to champion equitable access to opportunity, especially for those in marginalized and underserved communities.
My engagement with community and civic organizations has also helped shape my approach to impact-focused programs. I’ve had the pleasure of serving as an inaugural National 4-H Luminary, and as a member of the National Black Child Development Institute. I currently serve on the Board of Directors for the Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital, U.S. Global Leadership Coalition and Points of Light. I was also appointed to the Department of Transportation Advisory Committee on Human Trafficking and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid (ACVFA). These experiences opened my eyes to some of the most pressing issues society is facing and how the public and private sectors can collaborate to make a positive impact.
Can you describe your company’s mission? Does your organization solve societal problems? If so, tell us how. What customer problems are you solving?
The UPS Foundation’s mission is to deliver pathways to empower resilient, just and safe communities. We do this through our philanthropic approach which centers on four focus areas: health and humanitarian relief, equity and economic empowerment, local engagement and planet protection. To UPS, giving means more than writing a check. It means combining employees’ skills, passion and time with the company’s logistics expertise, transportation assets, and charitable donations to make a measurable difference in society. Our commitment to communities extends beyond our employees to our customers and the places where we live and work around the globe. Our employees and partners around the world work together to support disaster relief efforts, encourage volunteerism, reduce our environmental impact and give back to underserved communities.
Do you have a big hairy audacious goal for your organization and its impact on the planet?
One of The UPS Foundation’s biggest and most audacious goals is to positively affect 1 billion lives by 2040. To achieve this goal, we have committed to record 30 million volunteer hours and plant 50 million trees by 2030. In 2020, we pledged 1 million volunteer hours in support of justice, reform and equality for Black Americans. I am proud to say we achieved our goal of 1 million volunteer hours in support of underserved Black communities nearly a year ahead of schedule. And we are well on our way to achieving our commitments — to date, UPSers have volunteered over 26 million hours to local and national nonprofits and planted more than 34 million trees, with a focus on greening urban communities.
Can you describe one of the most audacious impact-focused programs your organization has pioneered? What was the inspiration behind it?
One of the most audacious impact-focused programs at The UPS Foundation is our vaccine equity work. By aligning UPS’s logistics capabilities, the dedication and expertise of its people, with the mission of partners such as CARE®, Gavi, UNICEF, and Zipline, The UPS Foundation plays a critical role in helping to accelerate vaccine equity and health systems’ capacity.
Remote and hard-to-reach communities face unique logistical challenges in delivering vaccines and other cold-chain products. However, when UPS experts collaborate directly with country leadership and non-profit partners, we can implement innovative and scalable solutions that can significantly improve health outcomes. As part of the UPS Experts on Mission program, our logistics experts also host trainings and provide resources on how to solve supply chain challenges, including how to develop cold chain proficiency in remote areas across Africa. So far, we’ve trained 340 ministry workers in Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia, Malawi and Mauritania, and we are working to develop safe vaccine waste management solutions across the continent.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, UPS and The UPS Foundation delivered more than 1.5 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines globally with more than 50 million of those going to vulnerable areas with limited resources. To continue building healthy, resilient communities in a post-pandemic era, The UPS Foundation deployed UPS’s cold chain infrastructure for the Africa Last Mile healthcare equity program and delivered over 175 million vaccines in 2023 alone. This includes lifesaving early childhood vaccines to zero-dose children who don’t receive routine immunization services and are more likely to suffer from disease and illnesses.
What were the biggest challenges you faced while developing and implementing this program, and how did you overcome them?
Developing and implementing vaccine delivery programs requires strong public-private partnerships. Success hinges on effective collaboration with non-profits, government entities, and aviation authorities, especially when operating drones. However, several challenges hindered progress. Political instability, including changes in leadership and corruption, impacted our ability to respond, disrupting partnerships and operational plans. Additionally, some countries with low vaccination rates were hesitant to accept help due to mistrust or political reasons, requiring persistent diplomatic efforts and trust-building with local leaders. Safety concerns also arose, as operating medical drones in certain regions was unsafe; some countries feared unidentified aerial objects as potential weapons of war, prompting us to conduct thorough risk assessments and engage in dialogue with local authorities to ensure safe operations. To effectively assist as many people as possible, we prioritized building trustworthy partnerships and maintaining strong relationships with the countries we served.
Tell us how your program has been received by customers. What struggles have you had generating customer interest? Please share what successes you’ve had with customers.
In general, UPS customers enjoy the expansion of our vaccine equity program, because we are creating shared value. As we build new infrastructure and implement new innovative solutions, they can benefit from the additional tools and increased health outcomes for their community. When TUPSF deploys new innovations in the philanthropic space, we have the benefit of testing in small communities allowing us to refine and perfect them before scaling up. The lessons learned from these applications are then transferable to our business operations, enhancing overall efficiency and effectiveness.
For example, our efforts to deliver medical supplies by drones were initially developed in collaboration with NGOs back in 2015 (nearly a decade ago). These early partnerships provided invaluable insights and experience, which eventually were leveraged to help lead us to the creation of UPS Flight Forward, our own drone delivery company. This progression from philanthropic innovation to business application highlights the mutually beneficial relationship between our social impact initiatives and our core business activities. By fostering these connections, we ensure that both our customers and the broader community reap the benefits of our ongoing commitment to innovation and health equity.
How do you measure the customer success, business success and impact of your programs? Can you share any specific metrics or outcomes?
UPS has a 73-year history of giving back. Service is not only in our name, it’s also in our DNA and part of our core values. Service also means growth — when we reinvest in our communities, we reinvest in our customers. One of the ways we have been successful at creating a culture of giving back is by enhancing the visibility and accessibility of volunteer opportunities. We created Community Connections, a platform that makes it easy for our employees to search online for volunteer opportunities based on their passions, location, availability and service type. It also helps us log and track volunteer hours which is especially important when establishing an accountability mechanism for our goals. Without Community Connections, we wouldn’t have had visibility into the progress toward our goal of 1 million volunteer hours dedicated to Black communities — which we met an entire year ahead of schedule.
How do you ensure that your programs are sustainable and scalable over the long term?
To ensure that we’re delivering what truly matters and that our initiatives are sustainable in the long term, we work with local governments, NGOs and non-profit partners to get a proper assessment of the affected community’s needs and help identify where to focus our response. This cycle of trust ensures resources are allocated properly and distributed equitably, and that our efforts have a long-lasting impact. This approach also powers long-term recovery by establishing stronger infrastructure and better systems to reinforce communities’ resilience against future challenges.
What are your “5 Things You Need To Bring An Audacious Idea to Fruition”?
- Listen intently — Ideas turn to impact when they are developed from carefully listening to the needs of your intended stakeholders and determining how your capabilities can work in service of those articulated needs.
- Work together — Public-private partnerships are critical for driving innovation, collaboration and efficiency in achieving audacious impact goals.
- Think beyond the dollar — Businesses can provide other resources like their expertise, access, a forum to raise awareness, an ecosystem to overcome policy hurdles and much more.
- Test and Learn — Don’t be afraid to deploy multiple new innovations to support communities and be open to failing fast and pivoting using data-driven decision making.
- Tell your story — Sharing your process, success, failures and impact is critical to closing the loop on your audacious ideas. Do the work and share the story so others can learn.
What piece of advice would you give to other organizations looking to pioneer their own impact-focused programs?
I’d encourage other organizations to build trust-based relationships and leverage their networks. As social impact leaders, we feel like we must be experts on the complex societal issues we’re facing and carry the burden of fixing these challenges alone, but the truth is, none of us are experts on the issue. Our networks offer a wealth of knowledge, and we shouldn’t be afraid of leaning on them for help. Regardless of what issue you’re trying to tackle, there are many nonprofits, NGOs and philanthropic organizations entrenched in the same work, who are eager to collaborate and learn from each other. Another piece of advice I would offer is to ground your efforts within the context of systemic inequity. Approaching social impact through this lens makes us better positioned to address the root causes of inequity and create lasting change.
Can you share a story of someone who has inspired you in your journey?
My parents, Ivery and Patricia Clifton have been the wind beneath my wings and a major source of inspiration. They taught me early on that to whom much is given, much is required. They were educators and servant leaders in our community of Athens, Georgia, who demonstrated the power of giving back, building friendships and alliances based on values and character and the importance of being informed, prepared and kind. I lost both of my parents over the last four years, and their love and example fuel me to help create a more equitable and just world for their grandchildren and all children.
How can our readers further follow your work or your company online?
To learn more about the work we’re doing at UPS and The UPS Foundation, check out our 2023 Sustainability and Social Impact report: Delivering for our communities (ups.com)
This was great. Thanks for taking time for us to learn more about you and your business. We wish you continued success!
Thank you! And thanks for having me.
About the Interviewer: Russell McLeod is an experienced business leader, social entrepreneur, and mentor. A champion of profit with purpose, the circular economy and of collaboration for positive progress.
Russell is the founder of Mightyhum a Toronto-based impact enterprise dedicated to supporting growing organizations. And, while it’s not a requirement, the Mightyhum team has a passion for collaborating with purpose-driven businesses. Mightyhum specializes in providing consulting services and turning hairy audacious concepts into achievable ventures & projects. The Mightyhum team work with C-suite executives and leaders, developing new product offerings, effective go-to-market strategies, building for profitability, and streamlining operations. Before Mightyhum, Russell was involved in the world of social enterprise as the Executive Director of ME to WE, one of Canada’s best known and most awarded social enterprises. While at ME to WE, the team demonstrated that being profitable and impactful was indeed possible. During his tenure, ME to WE delivered $20M in cash and in-kind to WE Charity, helping transform the lives of over 1 million people through access to clean water; the lives of 200,000 children with access to education; and 30,000 women-led businesses launched globally.
Russell’ personal mission is to inspire others that there is ‘a better way to do business,’ ‘that through business we can solve some of the world’s problems at the same time.’ You can follow Russell’s work at https://www.linkedin.com/in/russell-mcleod1/ or www.mightyhum.com.
