It’s no question that purpose is profitable; the research shows that consumers reward brands actively engaged in supporting meaningful causes. For example, Cone Communications found that 92% of consumers view a company more positively if they support a social or environmental cause.
Furthermore, employees and consumers look to companies and institutions they trust to proactively engage and mobilize resources and support when disaster strikes. While the idea of private companies and corporations supporting those affected by disasters or crises when they occur is not a new idea, the events of the last year (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic, increased visibility of racial violence outbreaks and social justice issues, and the war in Ukraine) have shown that many companies have not developed strategies or invested in technology and tools to address these events, crises, or disasters when they occur.
Companies who truly want to be supportive of their local and global communities need to plan for the unplanned so that they can respond quickly at the moment and lead positive engagement and response. By establishing a corporate giving program, leveraging technology, and mobilizing your community, your company can support those who need it when disaster strikes.
Establish a Corporate Giving Program
For workplaces to provide immediate support to those affected by disasters, events, or humanitarian crises, infrastructure needs to be in place. Establishing a corporate giving program prepares your brand to move when time is of the essence.
It also signifies to your employees, consumers, and community that your brand is serious about giving back and having a meaningful impact. It proves that your company has taken measures to make donations more accessible and more frequent, allowing for both long-term initiatives and campaigns that are reactive to world events.
Engage and Mobilize Your Workforce and Your Community with Campaigns
Your employees want your company to be involved in social responsibility. 71% of employees say it’s vital to work with a culture that supports giving, and 83% of millennials say they’d be more loyal to a company that helps them contribute to social and environmental issues. Beyond attracting talent, a strong corporate purpose and investment in philanthropy are critical to core business success and improved financial results. According to a study, purpose-driven brands will double their market value 4x faster than low-purpose brands and produce higher levels of total shareholder returns.
When brands mobilize their communities of employees and customers around custom giving campaigns that speak to their priorities, they benefit from positive outcomes. Your brand can reimagine your impact and customer experience with custom, on-brand giving opportunities that build trust and brand preference with your workforce and customers. This builds employee and customer loyalty and satisfaction while also mobilizing resources and the full support of your community for immediate impact on the ground of a disaster.
Help your employees and community donate by activating matching programs to double or triple the donations and impact. Activating special crisis match programs is vital because money is initially the most important donation to provide during a disaster. Matching programs also allow you to rally employees quickly.
With the power of their community, WeSpire partnered with their client Akamai Foundation for a COVID-19 and social justice campaign that was public and open to all donors, not just employees. Akamai provided a public page of charities they’ve curated and matched each donation. The public matching gift campaign raised over $400,000 in two weeks.
Another example is a wide range of companies taking action to support Ukraine. Epic Games, a video game company, has raised $144 million for relief funds by donating all proceeds made from March 20th to April 3rd for one of their top-selling titles. Tech startup Grammarly’s Ukrainian-born founders have donated all net revenue earned from Russia and Belarus between 2014 and 2022 to Ukraine.
Utilize Charitable Giving Technology and Tools
Leading/larger brands have the philanthropic infrastructure in place to respond quickly and positively to causes that matter to them and their communities. Part of our mission at Givinga is to make charitable giving more accessible to the marketplace for businesses of all sizes, and our philanthropic technology makes corporate giving programs, matching funds, and public campaigns easy to set up proactively.
Philanthropic technology allows for more efficient processes and reduces administrative friction regarding instant donations. That increased efficiency puts the focus back on actually assisting those who need it most and impacting the world.
For example, WeSpire used our charitable giving technology to power GlobalLogic’s Humanitarian Aid for Ukraine public campaign. GlobalLogic has more than seven thousand Ukrainian employees and has continued to support them with relocation assistance, psychological support, and additional compensation. Using WeSpire, GlobalLogic can launch a public campaign for charitable organizations and securely transfer funds to Ukrainians in need. WeSpire uses our philanthropic technology to handle back-end logistics so they can focus on their vital operations.
Using charitable giving technology and tools also allows your company to measure, celebrate, and share the impact of your generosity. Detailed reporting makes it easy to share the results of a successful disaster campaign, which can inspire more employees and your community to increase donations and inspire other companies to step up to the plate as responsible corporate citizens.
How Givinga Can Help
Purpose is profitable, and “doing good” is good for business. In the last decade, and even more so since the start of the pandemic, enterprise brands have become increasingly active in the philanthropic space, integrating social or environmental causes into their missions and becoming more vocal on issues related to their philosophy or beliefs.
These larger companies have been successful in their efforts because they had an established strategy, a charitable giving program in place, and the resources and technology to support and execute. At Givinga, our mission is to unlock the full potential of charitable giving for companies of all sizes. Our technology, Philantech®, helps workplaces and brands create customized, innovative giving programs cost-effectively and easily. We want to make giving with impact more accessible. Leveraging our digital tools and charitable giving best practices allows you to engage your employees and consumers in a way that builds brand affinity around causes that matter the most to your community and supports those causes in a meaningful way.
Most recently, in response to the Ukraine war and humanitarian crisis, many of our clients felt the need to take swift action. Campaigns have been one of the most popular and effective methods of doing so, as exemplified throughout this article. The Givinga Foundation, with support from Givinga and our philanthropic technology, created their own Ukraine Relief Campaign to support response efforts as well as show companies what we have the ability to create in times of crisis.
Contact us today to speak with a Givinga expert or schedule a demo of our Philantech® platform so your brand and employees can help those in need. And if you’re looking to stand up a campaign that needs immediate attention, let us know—we can get started today.
