At Lendlease, making a contribution to society is part of what we do every day with our founder, Dick Dusseldorp, pioneering the idea of a ‘social licence’.
Our Sustainability Framework prioritises the three areas where we can make the greatest positive social impact through our work: economic prosperity, community inclusion and wellbeing. These focus areas guide social impact efforts across Investments, Development and Construction to create meaningful social value for communities.
In 2020, Lendlease announced an ambitious target to create $250 million of social value globally by 2025. The target applied to the work of shared value partnerships and programs funded via the Lendlease Foundation, above and beyond any Lendlease project or asset requirements.
Our social value target reflects our ambition to make a positive impact on people’s lives by improving their quality of life, supporting health and wellbeing, providing economic opportunities, improving the local environment, and building resilient and thriving communities.
By seeking to measure positive social outcomes, our target aimed to shift the corporate citizenship narrative from philanthropy to social value creation.
Over $280m of social value created
We successfully achieved and exceeded our social value target to create $250m of social value by 2025. By the end of FY25 we had created $284.6m of social value globally, 13% over target.
Over the five years of our target:
- 250,000+ people have been supported
- 500+ unique social outcomes have been delivered across eight different countries, including improved employability, increased educational opportunities, enhanced First Nations connection to community, and increased awareness of environmental impacts
- 50+ shared value partnerships and programs aligned to our Sustainability Framework have been assessed and verified by independent social impact consultants, Social Impax and Think Impact
- 13,000+ volunteer opportunities have been supported by Lendlease employees globally, including our annual Community Day initiative
- $284.6m of social value created globally, where the $284.6m represents the positive change people experienced, expressed in monetary terms.
Social Value Reports
Creating and measuring social value
Social value is created when an activity makes a positive impact on an individual’s quality of life or improves the resilience of a community. Measuring social value involves placing a monetary value on the positive change people experience through an activity. This is the clearest way to track and understand the scale of impact on people’s lives over time.
Lendlease’s social value target has been independently verified using a global social value assessment tool, which is guided by internationally accepted social valuation principles and includes direct engagement with participants to understand what changes they experienced and how important these changes were in context.
Our social impact partners
We acknowledge the important work of all our shared value partnerships and programs that have delivered diverse social outcomes to meet the specific needs of local communities globally. From restoring oyster reefs in New York City with the Billion Oyster Project to providing skilling and employment pathways in Milan via Programma2121 and supporting entrepreneurship in Malaysia with Women of Will – every partnership has made a valuable contribution to our target.
Beyond our social value target, Lendlease Foundation will continue to support charities and not-for-profit organisations in their important work and find opportunities for Lendlease people to get involved through volunteering. Many of our partnerships will continue beyond the social value target as a part of our broader social impact efforts. Read some partnerships stories and the social value created by clicking on the images below.
News & Insights
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24 Jun 2025Creating and measuring social value: lessons from our social value target journeyLendlease has successfully achieved our target to create $250m of social value by 2025. Over the five years of our target, we have created $284.6m of social value globally through the work of shared value partnerships and programs.
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21 Nov 2023Lendlease joins forces with Housing Action Lab to tackle Australia’s housing affordability challengesA new pioneering partnership exploring housing solutions in Australia
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13 Sep 2023Solidifying our commitment to social valueAligning our business with the values and aspirations of our stakeholders and focusing our efforts on the environmental, societal and economic challenges the world and our communities face today is key to these goals.
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7 Jul 2023Lendlease commemorates its 50th anniversary in Singapore by giving back to the community through a series of initiatives and partnershipsStarting with the Singapore Street Festival 2023, Lendlease brings to life its promise of creating communities that thrive and leaving a positive legacy for future generations.
