3 ways your company can give back to the community

Is your company looking for ways in which it can give back to the broader community in which it is based? If so, that’s a very understandable thing to seek to do – and there are quite a few reasons why you might wish to do so. 

After all, giving back to your community as a business is simply the right thing to do – and there’s no feeling quite like knowing that you’re doing the right thing to make your local area a better place for everyone to live and work. But of course, there’s also more to it than that. 

Taking an active role in your community can help distinguish your company from your competition and outline your positive values and commitment to ‘giving back what you get’. The more your local customers invest in your business, the more you should invest in them. 

Here are just three ways in which you might choose to actively participate in the many communities that surround your business; local, regional, industry-based, and so on.

Donate your knowledge to the public

We all have to start somewhere in building our business reputations, and you don’t become an expert in a trade or a locally renowned leader of a company overnight. Especially if you work in a unique industry or your company operates in a field that is remarkably hard to break into (such as tech or medicine), you might therefore want to consider donating your knowledge to the public. 

Think about sharing what you know about your field, and the complexities about running a company in general, through a range of open mediums – organised talks, presentations and handouts, for example. These should be free and accessible for the public. After all, the public could be potential customers and future employees of yours! 

Something to note: hosting conferences and events can be a brilliant way to open up your knowledge to a wider audience, who will be extremely appreciative of the fresh insight. Without question, your business will reap the benefits of such an action just as much as your surrounding communities. 

Encourage employees to volunteer

Your employees’ time is precious, as is yours. We must never waste these precious minutes, hours and days! Volunteering for humanitarian work is a devoted, good spend of your company’s time. Aside from sharing your knowledge, you can work on the ‘ground level’ to show members of your community how much you care about them. 

The best companies often devote a certain amount of paid time to volunteer work, generally on a monthly or annual basis. Employees can even contribute, and volunteer for organisations and charities of their choice. 

Support local charities  

Wherever your own organisation is active in the UK or beyond, there will almost certainly be charitable bodies near you, doing extremely important work in their respective fields – and it couldn’t be easier to ‘do your bit’ to help them as a company. 

You might consider, for instance, setting up a regular donation to an animal sanctuary such as Hopefield Animal Sanctuary, which takes care of hundreds of sick and vulnerable animals in Brentford, Essex. Unfortunately, animals are frequently overlooked as valuable, sentient beings who deserve just as much love and affection as we humans do. 

Your company might have hundreds of employees who love animals, and who would therefore be more than willing to help out animals in need; whether with a visit, or a small donation. The sanctuary has been supported by various businesses in the past, and welcomes enquiries from other interested parties. 

There you have it; just three ways in which your company can potentially give back to its local community, which can have real benefits for both the direct beneficiaries of your actions, and your own broader business reputation.