Studies have shown that generosity is the new marketing. We’re currently in the social media era, where businesses that do charity work are considered good companies in the eyes of consumers. Creating this image encourages people to invest in your brand and can inadvertently increase sales. This article highlights many other reasons why you should consider supporting a charity as a business owner.
- Corporate identity
Businesses are known by people for other things apart from their products. Some of these include your branding and community support. How does your business give back to the community? The ability of your business to showcase its unwavering support for the community sets your brand up as reliable. Charity work demonstrates that your brand has strong principles, stands for good ethics, and is trustworthy enough to be invested in. There are many ways to do this. For example, your organisation can arrange to book a humanitarian trip twice a year to help support projects in other countries. These activities help the needy and boost your business image socially and among your target audience.
- It boosts morale
One major hurdle between entrepreneurs or business owners and charity work is their inability to find time to participate. Most business owners find volunteering tough because their lives are too busy running their organization’s daily affairs. To curb this feeling, businesses can participate in a work-sponsored scheme where the organization sponsors or supports a charity organization. It might be a corporate fundraising event you sponsor or a charity event as a team-building venue. Work-sponsored charity work is a great way to do something meaningful without needing to take time away from your busy schedule.
- Tax deductions
One of business owners’ greatest perks from supporting charities is the charitable donation tax deduction. Charities are one of the various donations considered tax-deductible, besides sponsorships of events, donations of inventory or services, and cash donations.
To avoid any tax issues, you need to follow all rules associated with this tax deduction. One rule states that deductions are made on charitable donations of up to 50 per cent of your adjusted gross income. When done correctly, you can claim your volunteering expenditure and write off items such as the cost of materials for volunteer projects and the mileage driven to and from a volunteer event.
- Networking
When a business gets involved in charity work, all members access an interesting network of people with complementary experience, skills, and contacts you can leverage in time of need. The best thing about such networking chances is that both parties will most likely benefit from the connection, which will cause the creation of joint ventures and new project partnerships.
Giving back without expecting anything is one way a business can grow and thrive. While money is required to run a business, a community is needed to set your business apart. With charity work comes so many benefits, most of them community-related, that will elevate your business to another level marginally.
