Today’s business customers are driven by much more than just great pricing. It might surprise you that 71% of Gen Z consumers are more likely to engage with brands that affiliate themselves with charitable organizations.
This statistic speaks to the evolving mindset of consumers when it comes to who they actively support and where they put their trust and loyalty. As a business, keeping your company mission and values in alignment with these expectations can be critical for your long-term success.
Why Community Service Can Be Impactful for Your Business
The benefits of engaging in community service are in the act itself. Without active volunteers supporting various initiatives – from hosting local charity events to cleaning up local parks – the communities we all live in wouldn’t be as great as they are.
However, for businesses that are willing to donate their time and resources to better their communities, there are also many other strategic advantages to showing a giving spirit.
Improved Business Reputation
Social responsibility plays an important part in positioning a brand in the right light for consumers. When your business actively supports various causes that aren’t directly tied to your own financial interests, it helps to show how and why your brand is different than the rest in your industry.
This supporting company image can lead to many more opportunities to increase your visibility in different markets while quickly identifying the company as an ambassador for positive change.
Better Employee Morale and Staff Retention
It’s no secret that employees come to work to collect a paycheck. However, today’s working generation is much more informed about and actively involved in supporting causes that are important to them and their local communities.
When you show that their values align with your own, it naturally leads to a much more positive and productive company culture. This can have long-lasting benefits, such as keeping employee morale in check and reducing staff turnover.
Increased Customer Loyalty
The key to creating sustainable revenue sources for a business is building relationships. While offering a great at the right price can help with this process, it’s not likely to keep customers loyal to your brand versus others.
Supporting community causes can be a great differentiator that makes your customers feel closer to your brand. If they know the money they spend isn’t going to support a “cold corporate entity” who is only in it for themselves, it can be a powerful motivator to continuously support your business.
Effective Strategies for Integrating Community Service Into Your Business
Getting involved with the community doesn’t need to be a complex business process. However, there are some effective strategies you can apply to help you get started make sure you’re getting the support from your employees you need to make the program a success.
Partner with Local Nonprofits
When looking for ways your business can help make a difference, teaming up with other organizations doing the same is a great place to start. Local nonprofits whose mission statements align with your own are always in need of others who are willing to help fund and support their causes.
You can lend your company support through donations, volunteering collectively on various community projects, or even helping to share branding resources to cast a wider net on public awareness and fundraising campaigns.
Encourage Employee Involvement
One of the best ways companies give back to their communities is by getting their employees actively involved in the program. This can actually be a great way to “walk the walk” with employees when it comes to proving to them how you deliver on your company values.
Remaining flexible with volunteer scheduling hours is an effective way to get as much involvement from your employees as possible in this initiative. Giving employees opportunities to volunteer during company time highlights how important these different causes are and will help you get more buy-in for staff whose scheduling outside of the office might not allow them to contribute as easily.
Explore Skill-Based Volunteering
Your employees are a valuable asset. Having a wide range of skills and experience at your disposal can be a powerful resource that can be extended to community service organizations. Since many nonprofit groups and community organizations operate on limited funding, any help they can get in human resources, operations, marketing, or social outreach can make a significant difference.
Using your own pool of talent, you could offer to provide pro-bono services for various organizations, like website development or graphic design services, that can help them promote their causes and increase their ability to attract additional funding.
Implement Matching Donation Programs
When designing your employee benefits packages, there are other ways you can add value to them other than the traditional health, dental, and vision formats. Creating a matching donation program when contributing to local charities can also be an attractive benefit for employees.
In these donation programs, you could allow an employee to choose from a number of supported charities – or even choose their own – while offering to match any amount they donate. This can be a great way to incentivize a willingness to contribute since employees know they’ll be able to double their support effort.
Get Your Business More Involved
You should never underestimate the powerful impact your business can make on local nonprofits and community service organizations. By volunteering your time and resources to help advance various causes, you’re showing your customers and your employees that your business is driven by a larger purpose than just revenue generation.
This will play an important part in building happier and more resilient local communities while making your organization stand out from your competitors.
Author Name: Cameron Magee
Author Bio: Cameron Magee, the owner of avad3 Event Production, is a passionate and dedicated professional who began his journey in event production as a curious 12-year-old at his childhood church. Today, he leads a team of hard-working production professionals, having built avad3 from his college dorm room into a national production company, committed to both client success and the well-being of his team.
