Small Business Guide To Supporting Charities

With the rise of conscious consumerism, many businesses now work in a way that meets the moral and social demands of their clients.

By supporting charities, businesses can boost their reputation, and achieve the feel-good factor that is another benefit of helping others. 

 

Charities have suffered from funding cuts over the last couple of years, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, World Vision UK reported that their income had fallen by almost a quarter as a result of government cuts. 

Therefore, charities are relying increasingly on the kind donations and fundraising efforts of individuals and businesses, and have seen a large amount of donations from philanthropic-minded people – in 2020, people in the UK gave £11.3 billion to charities, up from £10.6 billion in 2019. 

 

Here is our small business guide to supporting charities:

Payroll Giving 

Payroll Giving allows Pay as You Earn (PAYE) staff to donate to charity straight out of their paychecks without paying tax.

This works in a way similar to how your student loan or taxes come straight from your pay.

To help support charities, businesses could ask employees whether they want to sign up for Payroll Donations, and a chosen charity could be decided via an in-house vote.

 

Customer Invitations 

Businesses can encourage customers to donate to charities in addition to their own donations and fundraising efforts – this could be done by installing a charity donation box in your place of work.

Alternatively, if you have a website or online platform, you could add a link through to your chosen charity, or even include a button to donate at the end of an online transaction.

 

Fundraising 

We just had to include some good old-fashioned fundraising! 

Not only does it help raise money for brilliant causes, but it also gives your business the chance to take part in team-building activities and have some fun.

For fundraising ideas, you can always check the website of your chosen charity.

Some good fundraising ideas include the Race for Life, Tough Mudder challenges, and hiking the Three Peaks. 

 

Paid Volunteering Days 

Paid volunteering days are becoming increasingly popular with businesses and philanthropic employers.

In 2019, 16% of employees received one day off per year to undertake volunteer work, and it’s likely this figure has continued to rise.

Businesses can support charities by offering staff paid volunteering days, to encourage employees to offer their services for free, without having to miss out on their pay. 

 

Offer pro-bono work 

Pro-bono work is basically offering your services voluntarily, or free of charge.

Your business can support charities by offering different types of pro-bono work, such as legal advice, accountancy services, or even social media and public relations services!

Oftentimes, charities do not have the budget to pay for these services, so volunteers are overstretched trying to cover jobs that they may not be qualified to do.

Why don’t you see if your chosen charity would accept your pro-bono services? 

 

There are many ways businesses can support charities, some of which you can get really creative with.

Businesses don’t just have to offer services or donate money to a charity – you can make it a fun, engaging task that the whole team can get involved in, which offers that feel-good factor in return, knowing you’ve been involved in helping others.

Have we missed anything in our small business guide to helping charities? Get in touch to let us know your ideas for supporting charity or find out how we can help you!