How your business can give back

Once you’ve established a successful business, many entrepreneurs decide to turn their attention to causes and activities that will help to give back. The area they live and work in has helped them create a strong company, employment opportunities and a future for the people involved, but where do you start? Here are just a few ideas for how your business can give back in meaningful ways.

business

Get in touch with the local community

The best place to start is by thinking locally. In the same way that you started by phoning around and getting in front of clients, do the same thing for local groups and charities. Whether you want to help young teenagers set up their own businesses, or helping struggling families by contributing to food banks in your area, search for groups and initiatives which support these ideas. Or, get in touch with the local council for registered charities.

JustGiving are another great resource, as they have a fantastic section of their site where you can put in your postcode and see exactly which organizations are in your area. This can be a good way of finding out which charities speak the most to your set of core values. You can even see the progress that the charity has made if they use impact measurement software. That can help businesses to invest in charities that are really making a difference to the community.

Co-ordinate activities

Helping to co-ordinate events once you’ve begun to co-operate with a charity is something that your business as a whole can get involved with. You could start out by simply promoting their work across your social media channels as a sponsor before helping them with larger tasks. Whether it’s hosting an event on your premises, or having some of your staff help to organise a charity ball and auction at a local hotel, there’s a lot you can do to give back.

Don‘t forget about volunteering

There are tonnes of projects that are government funded, and not all of them have to be as part of registered charities. Why not promote volunteering on your company website and let staff know about the opportunities available where they live. This could be a great way of getting your staff involved with charity work, as they can choose causes that are close to their hearts. The government website has a database of all the events within the UK.

Start a trust fund

Trust funds are a way of co-ordinating your charitable efforts by promoting the values you hold as a company. The Reuben Singh Trust is a perfect example of how this can work for a business. Set up by the entrepreneur Reuben Singh, his trust donates to causes which are very personal to him and his family. They concentrate on activities that are focused around child health and welfare, as well as ovarian cancer. In setting up a trust, you’re able to promote multiple charities, but all with one goal.

I hope you found this article an inspiration for how your business can give back. Has your business been involved in any schemes recently? Do you have any tips for other companies?

Ken
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