TRANSCRIPT
JOHN GLOVER: Hello and welcome to another Pendragon Straight Talk. This week’s question is why should small businesses be involved in charity, which is quite close to my heart and my own thoughts.
Sir Richard Branson highlighted it best when he said, do good, have fun and the money will come. I believe that, but I also believe you should give a good service and look after people and that helps the money come.
There are numerous reasons why small business should get involved in charity and giving back, ranging from a desire to do good in the world and giving back to the local community to the recognition that it raises the company profile and creates good PR.
In fact, most major businesses include charities in their corporate social responsibility strategy.
Research suggests that consumers are more likely to engage with the business that does good with the community.
While the big business can invest on a higher level, it’s the smaller business who can really give back and get involved with the local community at a grass roots level.
Getting involved with local events and assisting local causes helps to build a profile at the base level, and it feels good too.
Word of mouth is still a strong marketing tool, and it’s only been emphasised through the growing prominence of social media. If your business is shown to actively give back for genuine purposes, it inspires trust and it turn helps drive business – at which point you just have to ensure you deliver the customer service and satisfaction.
However, this is just a very business minded view on why small business should get involved in charity.
On a more personal note, and social perspective, the ability to give back to the community in itself is very special and brings you much more than money can buy.
If you’re able to get everyone in the office on board, it helps to build a strong culture that looks beyond the walls of the office.
Find out what charities your employees like, or who are supporting, and often there is a reason why they support them. Find out their personal connection.
So if a small business can look into supporting the causes of their employees, it improves team dynamics.
While it’s obvious that its beneficial for small business to be involved in charities, in order to make sure you make the most of it, you need to ask yourself two key questions:
Who do I want to support?
How do I want to support them?
Make sure the charity you choose to support is a cause you believe in.
If you are dedicated to what you believe in you are more likely to commit to support them long term.
You don’t have to limit yourself to one charity either. The fact that you can choose how to support a charity means you can allocate different means of support, whether its attending an event or regular donations or doing something for them outside of the charity.
Personally, I am an avid believer of giving my time and supporting charity and local organisations such as schools and sporting clubs.
Pendragon supports a number of causes including Jeans for Genes which is the CMRI (Children’s Medical Research Institute), Save the Children, Animal Works, Western Sydney Academy of Sport.
Finally, even though there are numerous potential benefits, at the heart, give your time and don’t expect anything back.
The knowledge that you are helping is the most powerful benefit you will receive.
Thanks for listening, I look forward to talking to you next week.
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