Gwen Lim, Head of Bridgespan's Southeast Asia Office, on High-Impact Corporate Giving
- Admin
- Oct 5
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 6
Corporate giving is evolving — from charitable donations to a powerful lever for sustainable social impact. In this episode, we explore how companies can think strategically about their philanthropy, align it with their core strengths, and contribute meaningfully to solving global challenges.
Our guest, Gwen Lim, Head of the Southeast Asia office and Partner at The Bridgespan Group, joins us to unpack findings from her new paper, “High-Impact Approaches to Corporate Giving” (published September 2025).
Drawing from research and real-world examples, Gwen explains how corporations can navigate trade-offs between risk and impact, leverage their unique assets, and collaborate with governments and philanthropists to achieve greater outcomes for society.
Key Discussion Themes
1. Rethinking Corporate Giving
Corporate giving is growing globally and remains a critical funding source for NGOs and civil society organizations.
The conversation explores what makes corporate giving distinct — and why it’s vital in a world of shrinking government budgets and reduced official development assistance (ODA).
Gwen highlights how corporates can rise to the challenge by applying the same strategic rigor they use in business to their social investments.
2. Navigating Trade-Offs: Impact vs. Risk
How can companies maximize social impact without exposing their core business to reputational or political risk?
The episode delves into how corporates balance strategic focus with flexibility, avoiding the “peanut butter effect” of spreading donations too thinly.
Gwen shares insights into how firms are defining priorities — focusing 80% of resources on long-term strategies while leaving room for ad-hoc community needs.
3. Leveraging Corporate Assets for Social Good
The most effective corporate giving isn’t just about money — it’s about capability-led giving.
We explore examples such as Bloomberg, MasterCard, Tencent, and DHL, who are using their core assets — data, technology, logistics networks, and platforms — to drive exponential social value.
When companies deploy their unique strengths, 1+1 can equal 10.
4. Balancing Corporate and Foundation Models
What’s the right structure for corporate giving — in-house initiatives, an independent foundation, or both?
Gwen discusses examples such as the MasterCard Foundation and the Center for Inclusive Growth, showing how corporates can balance autonomy and alignment for maximum impact.
5. Who Really Cares About Corporate Purpose?
The conversation digs into how different stakeholders — employees, shareholders, customers, and communities — perceive corporate social impact.
Employees, Gwen notes, care deeply. They take pride in purpose-driven work, as seen at DHL and LEGO.
While shareholder reactions may vary, customers and communities increasingly expect corporations to act responsibly and transparently.
6. Employee Volunteering and Engagement
Is employee volunteering genuine impact or just an HR exercise?
Gwen argues for smarter engagement: aligning employee skills with social needs. Bloomberg’s data-focused volunteering, for instance, allows staff to contribute specialized expertise that creates lasting change.
7. The Role of Collaboration: Corporates, Philanthropy, and Government
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires a three-way partnership among philanthropy, business, and government.
Each has unique strengths — catalytic capital, scale, and policy — that can drive systemic change when combined effectively.
About Gwen Lim
Gwendolyn Lim is a partner and the head of Bridgespan's Southeast Asia office, based in Singapore.
She has more than 20 years of consulting experience with Bain & Company spanning South-East Asia, North Asia, and the US. While at Bain, Gwen led the customer practice for more than eight years and was an active member of the retail and financial services teams. She has worked closely with multinational and local clients on topics such as customer transformations, corporate and business-unit strategy, performance turnarounds, and due diligence. Some of her past projects include helping major department stores in SEA to identify, retain, and drive share-of-wallet amongst their most loyal customers, redesigning the customer experience for one of the largest Asian banks around fraud, and articulating the process and playbook around corporate mergers and acquisitions for an industrials conglomerate.
In the social impact space, Gwen has worked with a leading Singaporean university to outline its five-year strategy across academics, research, and entrepreneurship as well as tackling its fundraising and endowment needs. Additionally, she has led a project with a major field-building NGO in the Philippines to identify sectors that would generate the largest number of high-impact entrepreneurs within the next three to five years.
In her personal capacity, Gwen has previously aided the Community Foundation of Singapore to articulate its three-year strategic plan–identifying target donor segments and delineating criteria to identify high-potential charitable organizations.
Gwen earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. She is a graduate of Stanford University, where she received her bachelor's degree in economics. Gwen is a novice Crossfitter, a slow-but-steady reader of biographies, and an avid fan of all things related to professional sports.