The Benefits of a Charitable Contribution: Charity and Your Business
If you are a manager or a managing director, supporting a charity or a worthy cause can help you gain respect from your colleagues, your professional peers and other business managers in your field. By setting a good example and guiding your business down the right path in terms of your business’ social, political and environmental values, a plethora of positive opportunities will be within closer reach.
Corporate charitable contributions can demonstrate to be favorable in ways which could surprise you- both in terms of motivation within the company, and economically. Consequently, more businesses have begun to see the advantages of creating an affiliation with local and national charities. When asked, 58% of people across 130 companies say that they have placed greater emphasis on cross-sector partnering than they have in the past, and the process has increased in importance on the business agenda. Not only does the association offer great marketing and networking opportunities, but can boost office morale and benefit the wider community as well.
To begin with, it is crucial to choose to support a cause which is of industry relevance as well as suitable to the community’s needs. Your philanthropic outreach should be of interest to your target audience as well tie in your company’s mission statement as much as it can.
Enhance your existing goals, don’t create new ones. Some of the most admired and suited partnerships in the past have been Starbucks and Ethos Water, where every bottle of ‘Ethos Water’ bought in a branch of Starbucks helps the charity. Smaller businesses can also support causes which reflect their fundamental values as a company. For example, independent UK based wealth management firm, Ramsey Crookall have a numerous members of staff and directors acting as trustees and directors of charities, in attempt to exhibit their ultimate responsibility as shareholders and to add value to business operations. The firm have supported causes such as the British Heart Foundation, St John’s Ambulance, and the Princess Diana Care at Home Trust in the past year alone.
You can gain great exposure for your business by supporting a worthy cause within your local community. For instance, hosting a sporting event to raise money for the local hospital could be a fantastic opportunity to get your business’ name out into the wider community. Company t-shirts for the teams competing could be a cost effective way to market your business while simultaneously supporting a local cause. Even sponsoring a local sports team is a valuable way to funnel marketing money. Furthermore, having an involvement in a charitable function such as this could increase your credibility as a company and enhance your customer appeal. Gaining local status in the community could lead to wider visibility within the city or county, depending on the size and budget of your company.
Charitable events can also be great networking opportunities. The chance to bring your business away from the confines of the office and highlight the goods or services you provide could be highly beneficial for the future of your business. Events to raise money for your chosen charity will most likely attract other businesses or groups with similar intentions. You could even reach out to them as a company, in attempt to get more like-minded companies together, creating a great contact-building opportunity. The opportunity for your staff to meet similar-minded people will be beneficial to your business and the wellbeing of your colleagues.
To make a worthwhile contribution to a worthy cause, it should be encouraged to get to the bare bones of the cause and get truly immersed in it. True passion can be contagious, so if you are of some authority in your company, your attempts could be viewed as admirable. If there is a certain charity you feel personally connected to, don’t be afraid to show it.
