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Introduction
Corporate leaders in every industry benefit from giving back to their specific geographic and demographic communities and the world at large. Giving builds trust between brands and consumers, all while improving the overall reputation of the business and helping those in need. Any enterprise that prioritizes social and environmental responsibility is more likely to achieve its long-term goals related to sustainability, productivity, and profitability. This article covers the important considerations and benefits related to leaders and their organizations giving back as a regular part of their business operations.
Meeting Stakeholder Expectations
While the first people that come to mind when considering giving are the people that the company serves, stakeholders also want the business that they hold an interest in to be active with charities and social movements. Stakeholders understand that managing social and environmental risks is part of protecting their investments of time and money by safeguarding the financial performance of the business.
Companies that choose not to engage with their customer base, complementary enterprises, and local communities run the risk of distancing themselves in a way that ends up hurting their agency. From not being asked to attend city-wide events to not being considered for upcoming commercial ventures, being disconnected from the world at large is a vulnerability to the brand recognition, public relations, and revenue generation of a company. Giving back has a different impact from simply advertising to get the company’s name in front of potential consumers or business partners. Giving shows that the company is involved in the world beyond simply trying to sell a product or service to clients. Donations of time, money, and resources give the company a more human, empathetic face that makes it easier for clients to trust and relate to positive movements and emotions. This is the kind of dynamic that creates generations-long brand loyalty, dedicated workforces, and smooth partnerships with other enterprises. Giving is a responsible business practice that can make stakeholders weary if they aren’t seeing it done.
Building Trust and A Strong Reputation
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) supports the most critical aspect in public relations—trust. Trust is at the core of market stability, customer retention, high-quality worker recruitment, and effective business partnerships within a given industry. If people don’t believe that they can rely on a business to be consistent, operate with integrity, and contribute to the communities in which they are operating, getting them to engage with the company in meaningful and positive ways is nearly impossible.
By prioritizing CRS, companies can build that trust and achieve long-term sustainability. By being a prominent figure in their community throughout their childhood, upcoming generations of customers, staffers, and executives can save the company some money.
One reason is that these customers don’t need as much paid advertising in order for the company to be top-of-mind in a specific industry. For example, when it’s time for a young person to purchase their first vehicle, if they are one of thousands of high school students across the nation who received free limousines from Evitrav Motors during prom season the year before, Evitrav can be the first brand they think of when car shopping. It wasn’t a commercial or a billboard or a social media ad that made the graduate determined to buy an Evitrav car. Being the direct recipient of a gift from Evitrav solidified their budding connection with and loyalty to the brand without Evitrav having to spend another dime on advertising in order to get those sales.
Another reason that a strong reputation can translate into less spending for companies is that loyal customers become ambassadors for the brand. Instead of relying on hiring more sales people, paying for more marketing campaigns, or buying more advertising, the company is better able to rely on their current customer base because those customers don’t just like their brand, they are adoring fans of the brand who actively put effort into publicly praising the company and showing off its products. This can mean reaching a few dozen people within a customer’s neighborhood to reaching a few hundred thousand people because the brand is regularly showcased on a customer’s popular social media platforms.
Increasing Employee Retention
CSR campaigns can attract reliable workers who see social responsibility as a key component of a desirable workplace. This includes seeing leaders who champion causes that they support. It’s not uncommon for generous leaders to be the kind who show their employees that they matter. Feeling valued is a significant reason that many people stay in positions for years or decades. Charitable support signals to them that the workplace is safe, healthy, and caring. For example, animal lovers may be enticed by the fact that the company regularly donates to a local animal shelter or hosts an adoption event every quarter at a public park. That initial positive connection is established before the job-seeker even submits their resume, making it more likely that this employee, once hired, will be devoted to and invested in the company in a way that the average applicant may not be.
In addition, current employees can have their sense of purpose and meaning in their role increased. A heightened sense of purpose raises the amount of satisfaction that they feel with both their workplace environment and the projects that they complete each day on behalf of the company. High satisfaction levels increase productivity and reduce attrition. This saves the company resources because each team member is providing the value they are being paid to contribute and staying at the company long term. High turnover creates costs related to advertising the open position, spending time sifting through applications, doing interviews, and onboarding and training any new recruits. All of these expenditures can be greatly reduced by maintaining a work environment and business reputation that consistently encourages staff members to remain.
Ways You Can Give Back
There are multiple ways to give back, including monetary, temporal, and labor-based gifts. They can be provided to the major demographics of your customer base (veterans, women, teens, etc.) or the area surrounding your physical location. Using one or all of the following methods allows your company flexibility in how it executes its CSR initiatives.
Financial Philanthropy
For organizations that have the financial means, this can be one of the easiest and fastest ways to show support for various charitable organizations and social causes. Donations can come from a portion of the company’s profits, but there are other ways to raise and distribute funds if your agency isn’t making quite enough money to warrant direct charitable donations like this. For example, you could do a drive among your employees by having a collection bin near the main entrances of the business. As employees (or even customers) walk past, they can drop physical change into the bin or send a few dollars electronically through the company website. During the next month, the team can vote on which local charity should receive whatever funds collected. This kind of drive can be repeated weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, or even quarterly, based on what is best for your team.
Environmental Sustainability Initiatives
Being good stewards of Earth is a movement that the majority of people are in favor of. Customers and fellow businesses will often choose to work with companies or buy from organizations that raise awareness of the environmental impact their business has on the planet. This includes considerations such as how much carbon they are emitting, how they participate in city-wide recycling programs, and how they handle any waste from the products or services that they provide to their clients.
You can showcase your commitment to environmental friendliness by being transparent about your waste management methods and your emissions tracking. You can also partner with local environmentalists to have some of your staff volunteer for cleanup, recycling, tree-planting, and other environment-focused activities. Being present at events like these is another way to give back to the community and the planet as you showcase your commitment to prolonging Earth’s lifespan.
Community Engagement
There are likely various small operations within your city or region that provide needed services throughout the local community. Partnering with these organizations can be done in the form of sponsoring their recurring events (monthly drives, annual charity galas, etc.), encouraging or even incentivizing your employees to volunteer at their facilities (points toward an extra day off, gift card drawings, etc.), or providing direct financial assistance for parts of their programs that regularly struggle with funding issues such as equipment procurement or paid staffing.
Conclusion
Running a successful business is about more than just generating revenue. Without the communities, employees, customers, and business partners that help create profitable opportunities, any enterprise will struggle until it’s finally forced to close its doors. Giving back to these people and communities, either with charitable partnerships or direct financial donations means focusing on doing what it takes to build the long-lasting, healthy relationships that ensure your business thrives.