The Back Side of LUN: Why Businesses Need a Public Organization

The Reverse Side of the Moon: Social Responsibility as a Business Philosophy—The Experience of LUN IT Company

The Back Side of LUN

Social Responsibility as a Business Philosophy: LUN IT Company Experience

LUN is a well-known real estate tech company that started in 2008 as a real estate aggregator site. Today, 12 million people use their services each month. They have not only made the conservative real estate market more transparent but also introduced the trend of filming the construction progress.

Why does a trendsetting business need to engage in social activities? We believe that one can’t become a trendsetter without doing so: The LUN team has been experimenting with social projects since earning its first profit. It began by supporting the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (KNU), LUN founders’ alma mater they feel grateful to. Recently, the company has established LUN City, a public organization that explores the comfort and quality of life in Ukrainian cities.

To delve into some key insights, we spoke with Denys Sudilkovsky, LUN‘s marketing director.

A Quick Look at LUN’s Social Projects:

• 15 years ago: Supported the participation of KNU mathematicians in international competitions.
• 10 years ago: Designed the code for the Sunny Gate residential complex, quietly making an impact in the housing and utilities sector.
• 8 years ago: In partnership with the Agents of Change, created The Kyiv Standard manual addressing the challenges of primary housing residents.
• 7 years ago: Developed two high quality coworking spaces for KNU students without sharing the project publicly.
• 5 years ago: Having analyzed urban life data and created a visual infographic, launched the LUN City project.
• 5 years ago: Publicly launched an air quality monitoring system created in collaboration with KNU scientists.
• 2 years ago: The LUN City NGO was born, evolving into a systematic study of the quality of life in Ukrainian cities and contributing to their sustainable development.
• 1 year ago: LUN City achievements were acknowledged on social media by Olena Zelenska, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Mykhailo Fedorov.
• 1 year later: Five selfies with mayors of Ukrainian cities — just a playful KPI proving that genuine impact is necessary to earn a selfie.

Seven Pragmatic Questions to Ask a Marketer

1. Why did you need an NGO? It’s easier for a non-governmental organization to partner with local authorities, urbanists, and researchers than it is for a business. While the form has changed, our intention has not: We are IT professionals, designers, and residents of Kyiv, living here and striving to do good.

2. Where does corporate culture end and CSR begin? It’s hard to imagine someone at our master planning meetings asking, “What about corporate social responsibility?” We are just who we are, and all our commercial and social projects result from our culture.

3. Doesn’t the company’s social activity distract it from its main goals? No, because our focus is always on the buyer or tenant — someone who wants to live in the best place. The “best place” could be the best apartment, residential complex, city district, city, or even state.

4. How many additional people do you need to create social products without compromising commercial ones? Only one full-time employee works at LUN City — Anna Denysenko, our true asset. But when LUN City launches a project, a large cross-functional team works on it for several weeks. Anyone from LUN can join because this is an opportunity to switch gears and contribute, even in ways like creating checklists for Ms. Zelenska.

5. Do social factors affect the performance of the core business? A city administration representative once thanked us for our constructive communication, adding, “We cooperate with you because you are adequate.” This made us realize that “adequacy” is a competitive advantage in any collaboration.

6. Does one need to communicate their useful activities to the outside world? Seven years ago, we thought, “Why talk about new coworking spaces? We know about them, students and teachers also do, and that’s it.” Today, we realize that by sharing these actions, we can inspire others to follow. You’ve donated 20 UAH? Tell the world about that, and others will do the same — then millions will be raised.

7. How do you plan social activities to help your business? We have two steps: First, identify the values already present, and second, support them through public actions. This is a win-win game for everyone. On the one hand, this strengthens the HR brand because people understand your values and whether they want to work with you. It’s much harder to lose a specialist who is motivated by shared beliefs. On the other hand, values affect consumer choices. Many customers will choose your product over others because of your support for causes like the Armed Forces, animals, or inclusivity — anything that genuinely matters to you. You have to know and believe that your work is important, and so must your team.