Often, when discussing companies giving back to their communities or getting involved in philanthropy, the conversation tends to dwell on huge multinational corporations with thousands of employees and millions of dollars at their disposal.
In reality, the vast majority of the businesses in the United States are small businesses, and they employ over 50% of the nation's workers. While smaller businesses may not be able to match the massive amounts donated by huge corporations that certainly doesn't mean they can't have a substantial impact on their local communities in the long run. There are also some very good side benefits for small businesses that engage in giving back.
Charity Creates Positive Publicity
Positive publicity - especially in a social media world where any story can be shared - is invaluable for a small business. And while you may dutifully send announcements out to local publications and TV stations every time you launch a new product or run a promotion, they're simply not going to cover every one of those stories.
But when your small business is doing something of value for the community - whether that involves donating money, products, services, or your time as volunteers - it becomes a good news story that any local media outlet is going to be interested in.
For example, in Utah there is a small tire business called Burt Brothers Tires. While they could pay for advertising and send out press releases about new products and services, it was their charitable giving that got them noticed in Forbes, a national publication. Burt Brothers Tires has been a big supporter of a local community project, Coats for Kids, and their hard work was noticed by Forbes and publicized. This positive publicity was free and just a happy side benefit of doing some good.
Your Employees Will Appreciate It
Working for a company that cares generates positivity. Given that your business is small-scale you are sure to employ people from the very community you are giving back to making them highly appreciate it. This kind of "giving back" to the community turns into a strong team-building activity as well as a morale-boosting one for every participant. You may encourage employees to participate through several different options like:
Close your business for a day to organize a "Volunteer Day" where everyone reports to an organized volunteer event instead of work.
Encourage your employees to suggest various causes that they are passionate about, and then decide as a group the best way to support them. Set up simple means by which employees can give financially through an online philanthropy platform such as InstaGive.
This could be a very minimal yet smart way to provide for people to access a branded webpage for the purpose of collecting donations using credit card.
Customers Also Appreciate These Efforts
It's not just employees who benefit when a small business gives back to the community. Customers appreciate it too, and locals may even make buying decisions based on how involved your company is in the community. The goodwill that positive publicity creates can certainly influence current and prospective customers for any small business. But it doesn't have to stop there.
Let us look into some ways where customers may be enticed to get involved directly in your program:
Set up a change jar for donations or another quick and simple giving resource for walk-in customers to take advantage of, and talk to them about it while they're there.
Invite your customers to donate on your InstaGive site, both through visible signage at your place of business and via email and social media.
It should be a good idea to also invite customers along with employees working on a specific project. The extra help you will get should make the total work a lot less difficult to achieve.
There should be a specific period allotted - maybe from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday evenings, where a portion of the purchases made be set aside for the charity. An active promotion for this activity will ensure all believers of the cause to have their purchases coincide with the period set.
Here you've read about some of the reasons for considering giving back to communities via planned charity or voluntary works though you may be a small business as individual businesses may find something unique to do. Be sure you find time for planning any solid and strategic program so you can start giving back now!
In reality, the vast majority of the businesses in the United States are small businesses, and they employ over 50% of the nation's workers. While smaller businesses may not be able to match the massive amounts donated by huge corporations that certainly doesn't mean they can't have a substantial impact on their local communities in the long run. There are also some very good side benefits for small businesses that engage in giving back.
Charity Creates Positive Publicity
Positive publicity - especially in a social media world where any story can be shared - is invaluable for a small business. And while you may dutifully send announcements out to local publications and TV stations every time you launch a new product or run a promotion, they're simply not going to cover every one of those stories.
But when your small business is doing something of value for the community - whether that involves donating money, products, services, or your time as volunteers - it becomes a good news story that any local media outlet is going to be interested in.
For example, in Utah there is a small tire business called Burt Brothers Tires. While they could pay for advertising and send out press releases about new products and services, it was their charitable giving that got them noticed in Forbes, a national publication. Burt Brothers Tires has been a big supporter of a local community project, Coats for Kids, and their hard work was noticed by Forbes and publicized. This positive publicity was free and just a happy side benefit of doing some good.
Your Employees Will Appreciate It
Working for a company that cares generates positivity. Given that your business is small-scale you are sure to employ people from the very community you are giving back to making them highly appreciate it. This kind of "giving back" to the community turns into a strong team-building activity as well as a morale-boosting one for every participant. You may encourage employees to participate through several different options like:
Close your business for a day to organize a "Volunteer Day" where everyone reports to an organized volunteer event instead of work.
Encourage your employees to suggest various causes that they are passionate about, and then decide as a group the best way to support them. Set up simple means by which employees can give financially through an online philanthropy platform such as InstaGive.
This could be a very minimal yet smart way to provide for people to access a branded webpage for the purpose of collecting donations using credit card.
Customers Also Appreciate These Efforts
It's not just employees who benefit when a small business gives back to the community. Customers appreciate it too, and locals may even make buying decisions based on how involved your company is in the community. The goodwill that positive publicity creates can certainly influence current and prospective customers for any small business. But it doesn't have to stop there.
Let us look into some ways where customers may be enticed to get involved directly in your program:
Set up a change jar for donations or another quick and simple giving resource for walk-in customers to take advantage of, and talk to them about it while they're there.
Invite your customers to donate on your InstaGive site, both through visible signage at your place of business and via email and social media.
It should be a good idea to also invite customers along with employees working on a specific project. The extra help you will get should make the total work a lot less difficult to achieve.
There should be a specific period allotted - maybe from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday evenings, where a portion of the purchases made be set aside for the charity. An active promotion for this activity will ensure all believers of the cause to have their purchases coincide with the period set.
Here you've read about some of the reasons for considering giving back to communities via planned charity or voluntary works though you may be a small business as individual businesses may find something unique to do. Be sure you find time for planning any solid and strategic program so you can start giving back now!
About the Author:
Sebastian Troup likes writing about philantrophic solutions for businesses and non profit organizations. To get more info about the competitive advantage of corporate philanthropy, or to find about setting up employee giving campaigns , please check out the Truist.com website now.
No comments:
Post a Comment