5 Ways Businesses Can Break The Mold and Give Back this Holiday Season

Find a local community-minded project on a crowdfunding site that aligns with your corporate values and fund the remaining balance. (Image via Flickr user HM Revenue & Customs)

With the season of giving underway, it’s a good time for companies to reassess or even expand their humanitarian activities. This can mean encouraging employees to volunteer at a local nonprofit or donating to medical research. It can also mean developing a program that diverts waste products to a nonprofit that can reuse them.

No matter the cause, it is most important for your company to develop an ongoing relationship with a nonprofit that aligns with your values and employees. When both parties understand each other’s perspectives and goals, it makes it that much easier to identify ways to collaborate.

Although the ideas below are intentionally broad as to be applicable to most companies, they avoid the most obvious recommendations: donate more, volunteer more, and be as sustainable and community-­minded as possible.

1. Become a skills­based volunteer
While most nonprofits could use more funding, there are many other services they need that businesses are uniquely suited to offer. Technical and financial support, for example, can be a big help to volunteer­run nonprofits who have minimal expertise beyond the social service they provide.

Skills­based volunteering is a great option for small to medium sized companies that can’t afford to shell out large donations. It also has the added benefit of highlighting a company’s strengths while providing an opportunity for teams to tackle new projects. Is your company an expert at distribution? Then have your team design a supply chain solution for a hunger relief organization by devoting just a few hours per week.

2. Take advantage of speaking opportunities
While politicians hardly leave the stump, business leaders are too often resigned to the background. By taking advantage of speaking opportunities, you can provide thought­leadership and attract organizations and individuals who see value in your company’s mission.

If your brand has a significant following, you can leverage this opportunity to spread the message about a cause you care about. You can also spread best practices and challenge your peers to articulate their philanthropic goals.

3. In­-kind donations
Chances are, a nonprofit out there needs the items or services that your company has at its fingertips. The possibilities include donating trash bags for a neighborhood cleanup, food for community event, office furniture, laptops, conference rooms for meetings, and more.

Keep track of an accurate value of the donations for both your business and the nonprofit: often organizations can use the value of an in-­kind donation as their contribution to a matching grant.

4. Host a microgrant fundraiser
There’s no doubt that at some point during the holiday season you will be gathering your employees around to socialize.
Take this opportunity to display three to five local nonprofit organizations and allow employees to place one vote via a slip of paper. Then reward the highest ranking nonprofits with different levels of monetary gifts. Your employees will feel like they are a part of the giving process and that their values are represented.

Tip: If you need help finding a nonprofit, browse through our local directory as well as Guidestar and Charity Navigator.

5. Find a crowdfunding campaign and fund the remaining balance with one big donation.
Crowdfunding sites are aplenty. From Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Crowdrise, Razoo, and more. You’ll be able to find and locate a local cause with just a few clicks. Once you find an online fundraiser that resonates with your company, drop a surprise donation to completely find the remainder of the campaign. It could be a few hundred or a few thousands dollars but you will fully fund their project, form a new connection, and make a direct connection.

Let us know what you’re doing to give back this holiday season and we might feature it on a future article on Generocity.org. Email your story to news@generocity.org.

This story originally appeared on the Philadelphia Business Journal on November 27, 2013.