Charitable Giving in a Changing Corporate World
When it comes to business, there are some things that should be ruled by tradition while others should be updated regularly to match the modern climate and technology. Business etiquette stays the same from decade to decade but marketing techniques are constantly improved. Dedication to quality stays the same but production techniques are updated.
Which category do you think your company’s charitable giving belongs in? Social responsibility has always been a delicate topic in the workplace as companies chose a charity and hoped that employees picked up on the cause- but it doesn’t have to be this way. With the right structure, policies, and software assistance, charitable giving can become more than just something the company does on its own. Instead, it can be something every employee is proud to be a part of.
When you personally involve your employees with your Corporate Social Responsibility plan, they move from vested to invested. Not only will your giving footprint increase as employees engage, but the employees themselves will feel empowered with their charitable involvement forming a stronger bond with the company. Here’s how it works:
Empower Employees to Give from the CSR Budget
You already have a CSR budget dedicated to one or more selected charities. Rather than focusing on the lump-sum method, consider empowering your employees to use a portion of your portfolio to make their own donations from individually managed accounts.
The simple act of choosing the cause and giving from work is deeply engaging. Your employees will begin to think about the charities your company supports advocate for your giving programs and become true ambassadors for the company.
Choosing from Approved Charities
There are many aspects to social responsibility, including selecting trustworthy charities that make a real difference. While you may have one favorite charity or a small group of them, it’s important to ensure your employees have a selection. This means they can give to causes that move them personally.
Each charity you include in that choice should be carefully vetted and legitimately help with a cause you and your employees believe in. This selection will give employees the power to decide where their share of the CSR budget goes and become proud of the difference they are making.
Personal Giving through Crowdfunding and Payroll
One of the best parts of this program is that personal giving often encourages greater giving. It feels good for your employees to give to reliable charities helping causes they feel strongly about, which means many will feel compelled to give more. You can open these opportunities further for your employees by allowing them to give more through payroll deductions, which come with a tax deduction, and their own crowdfunding efforts. This means that you are both rewarding employees with the joy of charity and increasing your company’s overall giving power as employees get involved and give even more.
Attract and Retain Socially Conscious Top Talent
Finally, communal corporate giving in which every employee is personally involved does more than just give to charity; it builds a charitable and value-driven company culture.
Top talent, especially those coming from the millennial generation, care a great deal about social responsibility and will be drawn to your business more strongly as you build a reputation for company-wide charitable giving.
When your company culture strongly features charity and empowering policies, you are much more likely to hire and hold onto your most talented employees.
The Win-Win Cycle
When a company empowers employees to give, they become more deeply invested creating an environment that attracts and retains top talent. and the company’s social footprint increases significantly. Socially responsible companies are more profitable, which makes perfect sense: as you build a great social reputation, employee morale improves. Empowering your employees to give could easily be one of the best business decisions you make this year.
Engaging your employees in corporate giving is a new approach, but we have a platform that simplifies the transition. With the Givinga, you can quickly and easily set up employee accounts, allot them each a portion of your CSR budget, then monitor your giving activity from several helpful dashboards. The platform makes it simple to add charities to your and for employees to give with your CSR allotment, their deducted payroll funds, and anything they’ve collected through crowdfunding.
With Givinga, your giving strategy is simple to set up and will soon transform how your employees view charitable engagement.
