The Giving Season occurs in the last quarter of the year, from October to December. With the intersection of the end of the fiscal year, the holiday season, and the movement behind Giving Tuesday, both companies and individual donors are motivated to give back during this time. This time of year is a perfect opportunity to reflect on your company’s charitable initiatives and plan ways to enhance or expand them.
It’s vital to establish specific end-of-year initiatives to mobilize the goodwill of your stakeholders and maintain your campaign impact throughout the following year. Over 30% of annual giving occurs in December, and 50% of nonprofits are majority funded through year-end giving. The Giving Season is a critical fundraising time for nonprofit organizations to receive much-needed financial support.
What Is Giving Tuesday and Why Is It Important?
Held annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving that encourages everyone to give back in any way they can. As the 12th annual Giving Tuesday approaches, now is an ideal time to reevaluate your company’s social and philanthropic impact and consider a modern and strategic approach to engage employees and your community.
We will explore four key ways your company can set up successful charitable initiatives during the Giving Season while balancing year-end corporate activities:
- Plan your charitable giving.
- Empower your employees through giving.
- Use technology and tools to build infrastructure.
- Protect and enhance your brand.
We’ll also address common misconceptions around corporate philanthropy and explore how planned charitable initiatives can create sustainable, year-round impact.
Plan Your Charitable Giving
Many companies take the Giving Season as an opportunity to review finances and plan upcoming budgets, including philanthropic initiatives. This is an excellent time to kick-start and restrategize corporate giving programs. A year-round giving plan helps establish a culture of giving in your company, maximizes impact, and saves time and costs.
Planning for year-round giving also allows companies to be agile and responsive to disasters, community needs, and world events. With a solid philanthropic plan in place, your business can quickly provide aid to communities—both local and global—without scrambling for resources.
Empower Your Employees Through Giving
While the Giving Season often prompts companies to focus on the marketing value of their charitable initiatives, true impact comes from a genuine and strategic approach. Companies that have done this successfully align their giving strategies with their brand mission and employee needs, creating a natural and authentic connection between business objectives and philanthropic efforts.
Strategic employee giving programs empower employees and provide significant benefits to organizations. These initiatives boost employee morale, increase retention, attract new talent, and improve brand advocacy. By empowering employees to support the causes they care about, companies create an environment of trust and shared values. In fact, employees who participate in corporate giving programs tend to have 75% longer tenures with their companies. Supporting causes that employees care about builds authenticity and makes your strategy sustainable in the long term.
Providing opportunities for employees to engage in charitable efforts in ways that resonate with them is key to building an empowered workforce. Whether through matching donations, supporting volunteer efforts, or creating fundraising campaigns, giving programs should be flexible to meet the diverse needs of employees. This flexibility ensures employees feel their contributions matter, reinforcing a deeper connection to the company.
Engaging employees in your giving efforts also helps maximize your corporate impact. In 2023, the largest source of charitable giving came from individuals, who gave $374.40 billion, representing 67% of total giving. Technologies like Philantech® make giving accessible and impactful by integrating charitable giving into employees’ daily lives, offering a modern financial wellness benefit.
Protect and Enhance Your Brand
Employees are passionate about making a difference, and with the right strategies in place, companies can support their philanthropic goals while safeguarding their public image.
Having the right technology partner with a modern platform such as Givinga Charitable Savings Accounts™ provides the flexibility and privacy needed to control the public disclosure of corporate charitable activities, ensuring brand protection while making a meaningful impact.
With comprehensive donation tracking and instant access to real-time impact reporting, your employees and your company can measure and communicate the meaningful impact you’re making in the community while protecting and enhancing your brand.
Use Technology and Tools to Build Infrastructure
Technology is revolutionizing philanthropy by providing companies with more accessible ways to set up charitable initiatives. It also unlocks the potential for companies to expand Giving Season and Giving Tuesday into everyday philanthropy.
Choosing the right technology partner for your corporate philanthropy can make giving easy while saving costs and cutting administrative burdens. With the right tools, companies can react proactively when disasters or hardships strike. The proper infrastructure ensures that charitable campaigns can be set up quickly, allowing wider communities to participate and support impactful causes.
Givinga Modernizes Philanthropy with Charitable Giving as a New Employee Benefit
Philantech® for Workplace is revolutionizing corporate workplace philanthropy by introducing it as a powerful new employee benefit. Tailored for HR and CSR professionals, our all-in-one corporate giving solution seamlessly integrates into HR benefit systems, simplifying program activation and management.
Introducing Givinga Charitable Savings Accounts™
Our Givinga Charitable Savings Account™ (CSA) is a financial wellness benefit that empowers employees and brands to maximize their charitable impact. Every CSA™ is portable, payroll-deductible, and tax-smart and designed for both companies and employees. They seamlessly fit into financial wellness benefit programs, positively impacting your workforce and your business.
Start Planning Your Giving Season Initiatives Today
As the Giving Season approaches, make sure your company is ready to create a lasting impact. With over 30% of charitable giving occurring in December, now is the perfect time to plan and maximize your corporate philanthropic efforts. Ready to get started? Contact us today to learn more about Givinga Charitable Savings Accounts™ or to schedule a demo!
