Do Companies Really Care—or Just Want You to Think They Do?

By Rick Zwetsch, Founder – LiveImpact.io

"Now more than ever, we stand with [insert cause here].”
You’ve seen it. We’ve all seen it. But does it mean anything?

Over the past few years, we’ve watched a wave of corporate statements, social media solidarity posts, and branded activism campaigns wash over our feeds. Rainbow logos in June. Land acknowledgments at shareholder meetings. Emotional commercials telling us that “we’re all in this together.”

It’s called cause marketing—and while it can amplify awareness, it often raises a bigger question:

Do these companies actually care about the causes they align with? Or are they just trying to make us think they do?

When Good Deeds Look Like Great PR

Let’s be clear: companies can absolutely be a force for good.
They can drive donations, open up resources, shift culture, and scale change. But when the performance of caring becomes more important than the outcomes, we have a problem.

Because here’s what people are noticing:

• Brand support rarely comes with sustained investment

• The cause is often dropped once it stops trending

• There’s little transparency on what actions were actually taken

• And often—no accountability if the values don’t align internally

When a company profits from the aesthetic of caring without doing the work, that’s not allyship—it’s optics.

What’s the Harm in a Little Performative Support?

The problem isn’t just hypocrisy. It’s erosion of trust.

When people see causes reduced to merch lines, marketing hooks, or CYA statements, they get cynical. That cynicism doesn’t just stick to the brands—it spreads to the causes themselves.

Suddenly, people question the entire movement.
The real work gets dismissed as a trend.
And the nonprofits and community leaders doing the day-to-day grind lose credibility by association.

How LiveImpact.io Approaches Credibility Differently

LiveImpact.io isn’t for brands.
It’s for people.

There are no corporate campaigns. No sponsorships. No branded influence plays.

Instead, it’s a platform that tracks real-world action—one user at a time.
You pledge. You act. You show up. And it shows up publicly.
That’s the model. Simple, transparent, and built on earned visibility—not paid positioning.

We don’t monetize causes. We don’t promote issues for profit.
We just show what people are doing—because people, not PR, are the engine of change.

Change shouldn’t be a mystery. Let’s make it visible, together.
Join the build: www.gofundme.com/liveimpact

TL;DR

When companies care, they show it.
LiveImpact.io isn’t here to sell impact—it’s here to show it.