As a small business owner, you want to make sure that your charitable contributions have a meaningful impact. From sharing your skills and inspiring your employees to finding new networking opportunities, working with charities can create amazing experiences for you and your team.
Bill Kennedy, CPA, CA of Energized Accounting, is a QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor who helps charities build more effective accounting and fundraising systems. Here are his five reasons why charity collaborations good for business:
They make a local impact.
Support a charity that’s active in your community; find one where you might meet people you can talk to, buy from, sell to, learn from or employ. Your gift will get more individual attention in a smaller charity and make more of a difference for it.
The whole team can be involved.
Make your team a part of the decision about which charity to support as a business. Think of this as an opportunity to deepen your relationship with the important people you work with every day. Even if you’re a one-person team, you work with suppliers and customers who can give you ideas and input about charities that might benefit from your help.
Everyone shares and develops skills.
Find an organization you’d want to support again and again. This kind of relationship creates opportunities for meaningful and lasting engagement. One of the often overlooked aspects of giving is the benefit of going beyond money and giving your time and expertise. Perhaps you have a team member with management skills who would be a great addition to the organization’s board of directors or a star salesperson who could help with face-to-face fundraising efforts. Your team members will benefit from putting their skills to good use and experiencing the transformation that charity programs bring to people in need.
Your team can get creative.
Consider supporting a charity that is doing something completely different from your everyday work as a way to encourage team building. For example, if your business builds computer software, your team may bond by swinging hammers on a Habitat for Humanity project. If you feed minds with coaching or training, what about volunteering at a food bank? If you run a highly structured, left-brain operation, why not support an arts group? Taking your team outside of their comfort zone is a great way to enjoy social time together and strengthen bonds.
You can share your passion.
Most importantly, make sure to zero in on a cause that’s meaningful for you so you can put the same passion into supporting it as you do into running your business.