Our Thoughts
5 Ways Giving Back is Good for Business
Jan 4, 2016
During the holiday season, giving back is more relevant than ever. However, at Extra Help, Inc. we do our best to not only give back during the holiday season, but also year round. In the same way that giving gifts is good for our personal wellbeing, corporate giving is also good for business. Companies that develop a corporate philanthropy program will see multiple benefits in a variety of different ways.
1. Builds respect and a good reputation in the community.
Establishing your organization as a generous and thoughtful organization creates a positive image that cannot be replicated in any other way. It also connects you with the surrounding communities. As employees are members of those surrounding communities, your organization can likely find opportunities for cooperation and collaboration with other local businesses and community organizations, both of which are good for business.
2. Increases employee engagement in the workplace.
Giving back creates goodwill within the organization. It gives everyone involved a sense of happiness and decency that provides a wealth of motivation to employees. Working for an organization who regularly gives back to the community improves employee cohesion or job satisfaction in general, which then leads to greater employee engagement.
3. Improves employee skill sets.
Charitable giving presents the opportunity for employees to learn new skills. Volunteering and contributing to these efforts are good for the brain and forces employees to think and work outside of their normal routine. They can gain skills such as networking, organizing, and managing resources or people. Employees, who gain these skills while giving back, will find a way to incorporate those skills in the work place.
4. Philanthropy solidifies the organizational values.
All organizations place a large emphasis on their core values. Values are what support the vision, shape the culture, and reflect what is important to the organization. Is is essentially the organizations identity. Continuously giving back to charitable organizations will solidify your company values. This ongoing giving will not only strengthen these values, but can become a part of daily operations.
5. Giving back is fun!
Participating in a corporate philanthropy program can be a lot of fun for those involved. Organizations can find fun ways to celebrate and bring awareness to each charitable inititative. For example, at Extra Help, Inc. we have “Jeans Friday’s” which gives us the opportunity to wear jeans in exchange for a donation which is given to a local charity. It also gives the employees a little more incentive to donate.
At Extra Help, we have developed a Charitable Giving Program where all of our locations work collaboratively to donate to a charity of choice each month. These donations vary from monetary to physical items such as canned goods, clothing items, backpacks, and equipment. There are multiple different ways to give and regardless of how you contribute to your surrounding communities, the benefits will be seen immediately!
