Tag: Giving Back

Corporate philanthropy can be extremely beneficial not just for your community, but for your business’s visibility and reputation within the community you’re located in as well. Whether you’re volunteering in your community, supporting causes you care about, or donating to charitable causes, partaking in corporate philanthropy has an abundance of positive benefits that make it worth considering. You can build a strong sense of community with your employees and customers, give back to your community at large, and become more appealing to younger employees who seek out businesses that hold philanthropy in high regard.

How can you start getting involved in corporate philanthropy?

An easy way to start on your business’s philanthropic journey is to offer volunteer time off to your employees. This will give your employees time to support organisations and causes that they hold dear to their hearts while not having to worry about using up precious PTO or taking an unpaid day off to get involved. Having volunteer time off, or VTO, will encourage your employees to become socially responsible and dedicate their time to charitable causes. It will also help attract and retain talented employees for your business.

More internally, corporate philanthropy should start with ethical labour practices. You must adopt fair pay for the work your employees put in—their time isn’t worth nothing, after all. Once you adopt ethical labour practices, you can go to your company’s social media pages and encourage your followers and other industry leaders to follow in your footsteps. You can even take it a step further by creating and hosting events that surround this topic for other companies.

Perhaps your product or service will be beneficial to others when offered charitably. Businesses can participate in philanthropy by offering their services to others pro bono; ideally, you’ll be offering these services to organisations that are involved in charity work. It’s a great way to build awareness for a cause you care about while helping those around you by doing something within your field of business.

Lastly, you could partner your business with a charitable organisation that means something to you. This will offer ongoing opportunities to become involved in philanthropic deeds and show your community that your business is committed to giving back. Charitable organisations can become an integral part of your business model and give new meaning to yourself, your products or services, and your efforts at large.

Is it Important to Reward Donors?

By Muhammad Babangida

On February 19, 2020

In Community Engagement, Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy, Youth Philanthropy

The short answer is yes, it is extremely important to reward donors! When an organization takes the time to reward its donors, they create a long-lasting healthy relationship where both parties feel valued. What exactly is an appropriate donor reward? Keep reading to find out.

When considering a donor reward, it is important that the reward does not make the impression that the organization is wasting the donor’s money. The reward needs to be meaningful. This means that the person or organization giving the gift will have to go a bit deeper than a mug, t-shirt, or magnet.

One great way to make a connection through a reward is to show that a lot of time has been put into it. For example, make a journal and make specific entries throughout the year that reflect what the donor’s money is helping to do. This will need to be specific for each donor, so get a plan before getting started! Remember, handwritten is always more meaningful than something that is typed. If the time is available, go ahead and handwrite the journal entries.

Remember to show personality through the entries. Act as if you are writing to a friend. This will create a conversational tone to the journal and create a deeper connection with the donor. After the donor explores the journal, they’ll feel great knowing where their money went. They’ll also likely look forward to reading another journal next year! This is a great way to form a long-lasting relationship with donors.

If the organization has too many donors to provide each one with a handwritten journal, this idea can easily be taken to a digital level. Create a password protected webpage that can serve as a digital journal. Reward your donors with the password so that they can read the journal entries at their leisure. This will serve as great motivation for the organization to keep the journal updates since donors can be checking it at any time. This is also a great way to provide donors with an exclusive look inside the organization. Plus, it is inexpensive for the organization itself!

Fundraising Topics to Master

By Muhammad Babangida

On October 25, 2017

In Community Engagement, Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy

Once the need for huge sums of money arises, a quick solution is to organize a fundraising activity. Fundraising has been a useful tool from time immemorial. However, traditional methods of raising funds are presently under turbulent waters, and this is something that has never been witnessed before. To raise money in the modern times, you do not need to hold a fundraiser since new means of raising money have cropped up. Nonetheless, fundraising is still being utilized even in this new millennium, and it has played a significant part in supporting causes through online platforms as depicted below.

1. Crowdfunding and Social Media

Many established organizations today, an excellent example being our universities, are raising money through crowdfunding. This means of sourcing money has become so prominent that most corporations have incorporated it into their development operations. The new millennium has seen the development of online social forums that have a huge following. Facebook, for example, it has over 160 million American users who, if mobilized, can raise money for charity.

2. Donor-Advised Funds

It is on record that Fidelity Charitable, a donor-advised fund, is offering more support for private courses. For instance, in America, it is on top of the list of not-for-profit organizations that support private programs. Hence, if you are considering conducting a fundraiser in 2017, these firms are an excellent target through which you can tap into their deep financial reserves. They are responsible for having reshaped America’s charity environment. However, to succeed in this, you must be proficient in the art of seeking gifts from them and also know how to draw their interest into your noble cause.

3. Major Gifts and Big Donors

The secret to reaping more benefits from any market is identifying a target and then going a step further to prove its needs. Wealthy donors are always willing to give, but the only way to source gifts from them is by learning what they want first. You must have a competitive edge over other charities to help you to acquire their contributions and also ensure that you have what it takes to get more donors knocking at your door.

4. Year-End Fundraising

If you choose to go with this selection, early preparations and planning are necessary. Making plans and reviewing previous events to obtain helpful lessons come in handy. Moreover, operating on strict timeline for such an occasion ensures that your fundraiser runs smoothly and entirely achieves its set objective.

5. Creative Ideas On Fundraising

The same old notion and theme of fundraisers no longer work as expected. Hence, coming up with something new that will spice up the process is crucial to draw more support for your cause.

Giving is receiving. Unfortunately, the American people are still adamant about this saying, and they derive pleasure and satisfaction in helping others. Hence, if you have a noble cause that warrants financial intervention, it is high time to familiarize yourself with the above fundraising topics for a successful event.

Muhammad Babangida is a committed philanthropist from Nigeria

Tag: Giving Back

How Your Company Can Include Philanthropy in its Culture

Is it Important to Reward Donors?

Fundraising Topics to Master