“The results of philanthropy are always beyond calculation.”
Miriam Beard
This quote holds more power when it comes to corporate philanthropy. Since implementing corporate philanthropy benefits not only the community but also your company and its employees. And that’s one of the biggest reasons why corporate philanthropy has become more prominent in businesses today. With society recognizing the need for more social, environmental, and economic responsibility, the importance of corporate philanthropy keeps rising. Corporate philanthropy plays a massive role in a business’s success, bringing more benefits and having a more significant impact on your company’s performance.
Although the importance of philanthropy is becoming more known today, it has always been considered beneficial for businesses for decades. Companies that have inculcated a positive social responsibility have gained a favorable image in public and received immense support from their target audience. This support is especially evident in the Asia-Pacific region, where the tendency to purchase from socially responsible brands is the highest. As per a report by Neilsen, 64% of consumers prefer associating themselves with socially responsible brands in the Asia-Pacific region.
While there are numerous advantages of corporate philanthropy, let us first thoroughly comprehend what it means.
What Is Corporate Philanthropy?
The origin of the word philanthropy is Greek, and it means love for humanity. Today, the term philanthropy commonly implies the act of voluntarily giving by an individual or an organization to help society and communities flourish and make a significant impact.
Organizations should implement corporate philanthropy through the strategic and generous use of their finance, employee time, facilities, or their products and services, to help others in their community and give back to society. The best corporate philanthropy initiatives complement the company’s business objectives, culture, and identity. Corporate philanthropy is a long-term strategic plan rather than just a one-time program, and its impacts are long-term.
Now that we’ve defined corporate philanthropy let’s look at its benefits to your organization.
Five Advantages Of Corporate Philanthropy
- Corporate Philanthropy Helps Build A Positive Brand Image
One of the key benefits of corporate philanthropy is helping a brand improve its reputation and build a positive brand image with its employees, customers, prospects, clients, partners, and community. The more you invest in doing good, the better your audience will perceive your brand. A strong brand image also maximizes the opportunity to connect with many audiences who support the exact social cause.
When your organization promotes its philanthropic activities through multiple channels, it increases your brand’s visibility to more individuals who connect with your brand’s charitable goals, start trusting you, and grow more loyal towards you.
One way to make noise about your philanthropic activities and make them known to your audience is by having a strong online presence – one that resonates with social welfare organizations, activists, and charitable activities. For example: www.giving.sbs.
.sbs is a domain extension that stands for ‘Side by Side.’ It is targeted towards forward-thinking organizations and individuals who strongly believe in doing good for themselves and society side by side.
- Corporate Philanthropy Helps In Increasing Employee Engagement Levels
A company that implements philanthropy programs builds deeper and meaningful connections with its employees. Up to 78 % of employees prefer engaging themselves with corporate social responsibility initiatives, which results in increased employee engagement which then improves productivity levels and business results.
Research done by Gallup found that organizations that have high employee engagement have 21% higher productivity levels than their competitors.
More employee engagement indicates that your employees are happy and satisfied with their work. When a company fosters corporate philanthropy, it stimulates collective engagement from all of its employees, who experience a feeling of accomplishment in doing more for their communities. This positive attitude leads to a happy workplace and eventually increases an employee’s loyalty.
- Corporate Philanthropy Builds A Positive Workplace
As discussed above, corporate giving leads to a happier and more positive workplace. Corporate philanthropy draws people together and boosts teamwork, resulting in meaningful and stronger relationships among employees who share the same ideas and support the same cause.
When your employees participate in philanthropy or charity initiatives that correspond with their beliefs and values, they begin to perceive themselves as more than simply a paycheck. Corporate philanthropy allows your employees to be a part of a more significant cause that benefits communities and brings about positive change.
- Corporate Philanthropy Helps Build Strong Consumer Relationships
Today’s customer prefers to buy products or services from brands with a strong sense of social responsibility and is doing good in the world. They are more interested in organizations that work together to make a difference. When you make corporate philanthropy a priority, your customers become more interested in your brand and want to be associated with it.
More than 78% of people today contribute to multiple charities each year; out of these, 67% of the total contributions go to the person’s top cause. If an organization’s philanthropic agendas match that of a consumer, it acts as a motivational tool for them to associate themselves with your brand.
- Corporate Philanthropy Can Help With Tax Incentives
“You get what you give.” The saying has quite an implication when it comes to corporate philanthropy.
When an organization makes monetary contributions as part of its charitable initiative, it may be eligible for a tax break. While this should not be an organization’s sole expectation of financial gain, assisting a charity in need does give some economic benefits.
Charitable contributions are usually tax-deductible for organizations, and they should consult with a financial advisor to ensure that all tax obligations are satisfied. This advantage provides for a reduction in the net cost of the outreach endeavor.
Conclusion
When appropriately implemented, corporate philanthropy efforts may have a significant impact on an organization’s success. They provide more productive and engaged personnel and a powerful and good brand image that attracts talent and boosts sales.
However, for an organization to reap the benefits of corporate philanthropy, it must first establish a strong online presence that allows them to reach the most significant number of people and make its efforts known to its target audience. And what better way to accomplish that than by using the .sbs extension to build an effective and powerful online presence for your philanthropic initiative side by side with your business.