Perhaps it is a common notion that only large-scale corporations need are giving back to the communities through some kind of philanthropic works. After all, these are huge businesses with large budgets that truly can reach out and help various charities or projects in a community.
The truth however is that the United States is comprised of small businesses and more than half of the nation's total employees work for these smaller operations. While these smaller businesses can't give as much as giant corporations can, it doesn't mean that their actions for their local communities can't be significant, especially on the long term. You will find that small businesses that get involved in giving back also benefit positively.
Giving Back Is Good Publicity
Social media is an important way to spread the word about your charitable endeavors. Remember that even when you are devoted to sending out announcements on your local publications and TV stations for new products to launch or for pure promotions, they can't always be interested in covering all stories of this nature.
If the story to be covered however is good news like when your business gets involved in donating money, product or services and even spends time to volunteer for a cause, you can be sure that every local media entity will be out to cover it. These types of stories often have a higher level of human interest and impact than an article about your new product.
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 Also Will Appreciate The Efforts
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.
You can always solicit suggestions from employees on what causes they may be personally rooting for and eliminate one by one until you come up with a single cause which the majority prefer. People may be able to give financial donations through an online philanthropy platform like InstaGive, which is easy to set up.
Small businesses may find this simple yet shrewd in terms of presenting access for people interested to give to charity using their credit cards.
Customers Also Value Giving Back
Remember that when a small business gives back to the community, the people benefiting are not the employees only. Even customers find this a worthwhile effort in that many locals may even decide to buy from you once they find you highly involved in helping the community. With the promotion of goodwill as positively publicized you can bet that existing and prospective customers are likely to be touched by any business no matter how small. Still, this should not be the end of it.
To directly involve your customers into your "giving back" program, consider some of these ways:
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.
An InstaGive site is another good idea as you can utilize visual signage to promote it as well as via email and the use of social networking sites.
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!
The truth however is that the United States is comprised of small businesses and more than half of the nation's total employees work for these smaller operations. While these smaller businesses can't give as much as giant corporations can, it doesn't mean that their actions for their local communities can't be significant, especially on the long term. You will find that small businesses that get involved in giving back also benefit positively.
Giving Back Is Good Publicity
Social media is an important way to spread the word about your charitable endeavors. Remember that even when you are devoted to sending out announcements on your local publications and TV stations for new products to launch or for pure promotions, they can't always be interested in covering all stories of this nature.
If the story to be covered however is good news like when your business gets involved in donating money, product or services and even spends time to volunteer for a cause, you can be sure that every local media entity will be out to cover it. These types of stories often have a higher level of human interest and impact than an article about your new product.
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 Also Will Appreciate The Efforts
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.
You can always solicit suggestions from employees on what causes they may be personally rooting for and eliminate one by one until you come up with a single cause which the majority prefer. People may be able to give financial donations through an online philanthropy platform like InstaGive, which is easy to set up.
Small businesses may find this simple yet shrewd in terms of presenting access for people interested to give to charity using their credit cards.
Customers Also Value Giving Back
Remember that when a small business gives back to the community, the people benefiting are not the employees only. Even customers find this a worthwhile effort in that many locals may even decide to buy from you once they find you highly involved in helping the community. With the promotion of goodwill as positively publicized you can bet that existing and prospective customers are likely to be touched by any business no matter how small. Still, this should not be the end of it.
To directly involve your customers into your "giving back" program, consider some of these ways:
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.
An InstaGive site is another good idea as you can utilize visual signage to promote it as well as via email and the use of social networking sites.
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 blogging about philantrophic solutions for businesses and non profit organizations. For more information about the competitive advantage of corporate philanthropy, or to know about setting up employee giving campaigns , please visit the Truist.com website today.
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