Recent times have seen a rise in companies embracing philanthropy. When a charity or concern aligns with your corporate mission, the benefits radiate outwards from the core, imbuing your company culture with purpose while making a positive impact on the world around us.
By all accounts, companies that incorporate charitable activities into their business model in the early stages reap the greatest rewards, including improved employee satisfaction, reduction in employee attrition, better job performance overall, and greater customer satisfaction.
Here are some of the measurable benefits your company can enjoy when you choose to give back:
1. Improved employee engagement
Today’s workforce, more so than the generations that came before, is concerned with the greater good. Aligning your philanthropic activities with your business goals gives employees a sense of purpose that they can get behind. With that sense of greater purpose, they are more likely to become evangelists for your employer brand, promoting it to others as a great place to work and a worthwhile product/service to put trust in.
2. Elevate your image in the community
When you contribute to a cause that is dear to the hearts of the people who patronize your brand, you build goodwill that pays dividends in customer loyalty and brand image. This is as true for major corporations as it is for small local businesses. Showing that you are connected to the concerns of your customers will keep them coming back because it provides them with a way to do good as well as feel good. Millennials, in particular, tend to patronize brands whose corporate responsibility initiatives align with their ideals. This also goes for your millennial employees as well, meaning you might just have a chance at keeping them around a little longer if you can satisfy their moral and ethical leanings.
3. Build strong and powerful connections
Philanthropic organizations are often a who’s-who of power players, both in the community and in business. Aligning your company’s mission and vision with such organizations will put you in direct contact with these individuals, which has the potential to provide you with valuable business resources. In the effort to elevate your networking, this is a sure-fire way to add significant value while providing much-needed support to people, groups, or communities that need it most.
4. Gain the respect of your workforce
Employee happiness is an arbiter of productivity. It is also a strong indicator of how healthy and successful your company will be over time. By engaging in philanthropic activities, you will invite the respect of your employees – something that is often difficult to achieve simply by being the voice of authority in the organization. Building a strong sense of connection to the core mission and vision will build motivation, improve employee morale, and lead to greater productivity. BY fostering a culture of giving, profits will surely ensue.
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