The Importance of Social Impact for Startups

True innovation can take your startup far, but innovation paired with social impact might just take it further. Increasingly, investors, funders, and grant bodies are looking for more than just a great idea — they want to back businesses that are making a meaningful difference.

Take Innovate UK, for instance – their funding bodies support everything from CO₂ filtration and tidal energy technologies to alternatives to microplastics and beyond – all of which have the potential for significant economic, societal, and environmental impact.

The same is true for consumers, who are actively seeking out brands that demonstrate a genuine commitment to social impact. When people see their values reflected in a purpose-driven business, they’re more likely to engage, stay loyal, and advocate for it. Trust and purpose are proven drivers of purchasing decisions, and in a crowded market, that emotional connection can be the key to long-term growth.

For startups in particular, this creates an opportunity. By demonstrating a clear social or community impact, you not only improve your chances of securing vital funding but also build a more resilient, customer-driven business.

Consumers today are increasingly drawn to purpose-driven brands that demonstrate authenticity, transparency, and a genuine commitment to social and environmental impact. 

But don’t take our word for it. According to PwC’s 2024 Voice of the Consumer Survey, consumers are willing to pay a 9.7% ‘sustainability premium’, despite the cost of living increasing and inflationary pressures. Similar surveys by BusinessDasher have discovered that 92% of consumers trust brands that are socially responsible or environmentally friendly. The message is clear: social impact isn’t just good ethics — it’s smart business.

In a crowded market, trust matters. People want to support businesses that reflect their values and can show a tangible social or environmental impact. For startups, this is a major opportunity: those that lead with purpose and communicate it are better positioned to earn loyalty and grow sustainably.

When assessing applications, funders also want evidence that your project is solving real problems for real people. They’re looking for:

• Clear articulation of the problem and how your solution addresses it
• Tangible benefits to individuals, communities, or the economy
• Evidence of demand from your target audience
• Customer impact, showing positive social and environmental impact
• Ongoing engagement and vision, not one-off impact

Innovate UK’s action plans consistently focus on economic and social impact across the UK, with its most recent mission clearly outlining its strategy to build the future economy, stating that…

“Business-led innovation can play a leading role in solving global challenges, for example, around the environment, changing demographics, and inequalities.

“An increasing number of businesses, consumers, and investors are putting environmental and societal benefit at the front of their investment and spending decisions. They are considering the needs of all their stakeholders, rather than just their shareholders or immediate customers. Innovating businesses need a way of considering what these effects might be, and of taking them into account.”

- Innovate UK

In short, they want to see that your business isn’t operating in a vacuum, and that it listens, learns, and evolves in response to the community and solves the world’s pressing problems.

“For programmes like the EIC Accelerator, demonstrating social or environmental impact isn’t just beneficial — it’s closely aligned with the core vision of the fund. The EIC backs innovations that directly contribute to major societal goals, from sustainability and health equity to digital inclusion, many of which mirror the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

“It’s not enough to have a technically impressive solution; funders want to see clear market demand, evidence of real-world need, and measurable outcomes. If your innovation can prove it’s both commercially viable and meaningfully aligned with these broader impact missions, you’ll be in a much stronger position to succeed.”

Stephanie Ward

Senior Funding Consultant at Grantify

For startups applying for funding or looking for other types of investment, it's not enough to say you’re creating social or community impact. Instead, you need to prove it. That’s where customer experience (CX) tools can be highly beneficial.

Beyond streamlining support, Zendesk provides rich insights into how your product or service is making a difference. From analysing support volumes and satisfaction ratings to surfacing real customer feedback, these tools help quantify how you're solving real problems or supporting underserved communities. With reporting features that track customer sentiment with over 90% accuracy, Zendesk enables startups to measure and showcase social impact with confidence.

For example, a healthtech startup might use CX data to show reduced patient wait times or improved access to services in remote areas. A sustainability-focused business could track customer stories about reducing waste or carbon emissions.

These kinds of metrics — and the stories behind them — go a long way in showing funders that your impact is real, measurable, and community-driven. This will enable you to move away from generic mission statements and demonstrate real-world, user-backed outcomes — exactly what today’s socially conscious funders and consumers are looking for.

“Social impact starts with understanding your users, and Zendesk is built to help startups do exactly that. By unifying customer interactions across channels, we give you a complete picture of your community’s needs. Our AI tools surface real-time insights on what’s working and where support is needed most, while built-in metrics like CSAT and NPS help quantify your impact. With custom dashboards and engagement tools, startups can clearly demonstrate outcomes, foster trust, and back their funding applications with hard data and real human stories.”

Jeremy Ambrose

Senior Partnerships Manager at Zendesk

Customer experience data can help you iterate faster and grow smarter. By capturing feedback loops and user sentiment, startups can:

• Identify emerging needs and adapt their offering
• Prioritise product improvements based on real-world use
• Spot patterns that reveal gaps or new opportunities
• Build stronger community relationships

“We see customer experience as a rich source of insights, for both service optimisation and driving real-world impact. More than 200,000 organisations worldwide trust Zendesk to deliver seamless customer experiences, including startups.

“These startups can use our AI and analytics tools to identify underserved communities, surface the features delivering the greatest outcomes, and gather authentic success stories directly from users. It also helps them track feedback trends over time, so they can adapt and improve their social initiatives in a way that’s genuinely user-led.”

Jeremy Ambrose

Senior Partnerships Manager at Zendesk

When applying for funding, it’s not enough to simply state that your startup has social or community impact. You need to show it, with clarity and evidence. Funders want to see that your innovation is meeting a real need, that it’s benefiting people or communities in measurable ways, and that you understand the scale of the problem you’re addressing.

At Grantify, we help startups translate their impact into compelling, funder-ready language. Our unique AI-powered platform is designed to guide you through this process, with expert-built templates and smart prompts to surface the right information. We also integrate trusted data sources, such as Statista Enterprise and Data Gardener, to help you clearly define the market gap, validate the need, and quantify the potential scale of your impact.

For example, you can use verified statistics to show how many people are affected by a specific problem, and combine that with your own customer insights or testimonials to build a rich, evidence-led narrative. The platform helps you connect the dots between your mission, your market, and your measurable outcomes, making it easier to prove that your startup is not only commercially viable but socially valuable too.

Here are a few key ways to demonstrate impact in your application:

• Include user testimonials and support data to show how your product is helping people in real terms
• Reference customer satisfaction metrics, support volumes, or time saved as quantifiable benefits
• Use external data (via Statista, ONS, etc.) to evidence market need and the size of the problem you're solving
• Clearly explain how you track and respond to feedback, showing that your product evolves with your community
• Describe the social, environmental, or economic outcomes you’ve delivered and how you plan to scale them

“One of the biggest challenges startups face is proving the scale and significance of the problem they’re solving. That’s why we’ve built tools into the Grantify platform that help founders back up their claims with credible data. And when you can show both the human and statistical side of your impact, funders take notice.”

Alice Byrne

Senior Funding Analyst at Grantify

Social and community impact isn’t just a buzzword, it’s a powerful driver for long-term growth and world impact. If you’re working on a project with meaningful social impact and need funding support, check your funding eligibility today.

Want to explore real stories of how innovation with social impact won our clients funding? Discover our client success stories!