How Small Businesses Can Give Back

When it comes to giving back to our planet, communities, and causes we believe in – every little helps.

Many business owners think that they need to own big corporations with large profits in order to give back in significant ways – but that’s not the case at all! In fact, small businesses can have significant impacts on organisations, particularly local ones that may not have national visibility. The most important element is having a strategic and well-intentioned approach: think about philanthropy that is truly relevant and authentic to your business, that is aligned with your values and with what your customers expect, and that you are genuinely passionate about. Nowadays, nearly every business is participating in social causes, because the benefits are endless: it shows your customers that you are committed to your values, it builds brand and employee loyalty, it can assist your marketing efforts and introduce you to new networking opportunities, all the while creating true change for the better.

If you’re looking for ways to contribute to an organisation or cause that you care about, here are some ideas and suggestions that you can implement in your own sphere of influence, no matter the size.

Donations to Smaller, Local Charities
In-Kind Donations Instead of Funds
Team Building with Your Favourite Cause
Go Green in Every Way that You Can
Keep an Open Mind for Creative Ways to Give Back
Stay Updated and Use Digital Tools

Donations to Smaller, Local Charities

You can be a great contributor even you’re not able to offer million-dollar donations! Consider researching small local charities, as they would benefit immensely from your donations. Any amount your business is able to raise will really make an impact for the smaller organisations. They will also very much appreciate you sharing the word and spreading the love, particularly if they are a charity that doesn’t have much opportunity for marketing or PR. Think local, and watch your community reap the benefits!

In-Kind Donations Instead of Funds

If you own a small businesses and you’d like to support charities that mean a lot to you – but you don’t have the profit margins that will allow this – then consider giving in-kind donations. This type of giving might be labour, professional services, event spaces, support with charity events, or simply volunteering a helping hand. You may find that the charity could use your help on the board, arranging a fundraiser, or bringing attention to its cause. Charities will often need trusted, dedicated members of the public to spread the message, and sometimes offering them your time, knowledge, and skills can be the best way to support your favourite charity. Money isn’t the only way to give back!

Team Building with Your Favourite Cause

If you have a team of employees or freelancers that you work with, another way of giving back can be to organise group activities that benefit your local charities. You could do a team charity run, cook dinner together at shelters, create a Christmas gift hamper for a charity, or participate in fundraisers as a team. Not only does this leverage the close-knit nature of your team to create positive change in the world, it also brings you together as a team and will remind you all of the importance of relationship and mutual support. It also reinforces your own brand values, by letting your employees and partners know how much giving back means to you.

Go Green in Every Way that You Can

If giving back in tangible, financial ways is a challenge for your small business – but you still want to make a difference – a perfect way to do this is to find ways that your day-to-day operations can be more sustainable. By becoming a greener company, you’ll be doing good for the planet, setting a great example, and also sharing this mission with your customers. Are there ways that you could reduce waste, use greener materials, or reduce your carbon footprint? In particular, production and packaging are the two areas where most businesses, of all sizes, can make improvements in their eco-friendliness. If you choose to partner with other companies or outsource any elements of your work, then do make sure that you are finding companies that share in the same values and are taking similar steps.

Keep an Open Mind for Creative Ways of Giving Back

If you choose to adopt a philanthropic mindset in your business, you’ll discover that new and creative ways of giving back will present themselves. For example, next time you do an office clear- out you could choose to donate used office furniture to a local charity – or next time to create a new bespoke product, you could offer to create some tailor-made items for your favourite cause.

Stay updated and use digital tools

Sometimes finding ways to give back that are right for your business can be challenging – and one of the ways you can empower yourself to do this is by staying updated and arming yourself with some great digital tools too. There are plenty of apps and online platforms out there for finding volunteering opportunities, local charities, and causes to support – such as Brightest, the FoodBank App, onHand, the Big Help Out, and Good Egg.

You can also set up Google alerts for charity, non-profit and philanthropy news to find organisations of interest to support. There are no obstacles to taking action, once you’ve made the decision to make a difference!

Here at Creative ID, we are very passionate about giving back and reducing our carbon footprint, which is why we have chosen to give our ongoing support to reforestation and environmental conservation projects across India. We partner with SankalpTaru, the first technology enabled non- profit organisation that plants trees in India, while also supporting rural livelihood, empowering women, promoting bio-diversity and making schools cleaner and greener. In addition to this, we also donate 10% of profits to charity.

If you are looking for support in finding ways to strengthen and improve your brand with a strategy for giving back, we would be delighted to help. Please get in touch, so we can assist you in booking a power hour all about ways of making a difference.

Until next time,
Vaishali