By Mike DuBose and Blake DuBose
Most companies are similar to ours in earlier years: driven by greed and a desire to maximize profit. If we gave to charity, our first thought was, “How will this help the bottom line? How will our donation obtain marketing exposure?”
When we met Jack Welch in 2008, he noted that business owners must first focus on “winning,” meaning that they must reach profitability before they can start thinking about their companies’ social responsibilities. We agree that without profit and an infrastructure that will survive in the long run, you cannot give. But we have also learned that charitable giving in a business culture will go a long way toward building a great company. Sometimes, these programs can even be implemented at minimal costs to the company.
But why should great companies build concern for the less fortunate, local communities, and the world into their cultures?
First, it is the right thing to do. There is an old Biblical saying that “you reap what you sow!” Regardless of your particular beliefs, giving back is good for you spiritually.
Second, being socially responsible will attract and retain employees. It makes people proud to be part of a “bigger picture.”
Third, it makes business sense. Sharing profits with the community attracts customers and gives the company a reputation as a good neighbor. It adds to the bottom line by increasing exposure to new customers and making existing customers proud of their choice. People want to feel good about the companies in which they invest.
Consumers are also very much aware of which companies make an effort to be environmentally responsible. Businesses have even sprung up that “greenify” other businesses!
We recognize that being a great family of companies is about not only improving the way you do things as a business, but the way in which you affect your community and the world. The more success your company earns, the more you will be able to give back to the community.
Getting Started: It is important for every company to have a purpose beyond simply earning profits. At our companies, we began an employee-run community service committee that allows staff to volunteer during work time. This allows them to help “drive” the company’s charity work and the company itself.
Interested staff members formed the committee and distributed a confidential, anonymous survey to all staff asking where (and how) they would like to volunteer. They used the survey results to center their efforts in areas of highest interest: working with animals, the homeless, and children. Booklets describing the program and the organizations it serves were handed out to all employees to educate them on the types of volunteer opportunities available.
Program Guidelines: Participation in the employee volunteer program at our companies is voluntary. Though staff members do turn in time logs of their service, this is only to gain some sense of the amount of time committed to the program, not for rewards or recognition.
To ensure accountability, employees volunteer in groups of at least two and record their volunteer time each month with signed logs. As long as employees are not spending an unreasonable amount of time volunteering and can easily manage their workloads around it, our companies are flexible concerning amounts they can volunteer.
Ways to Help: Your employees each have unique skills that can benefit local charities in different ways. You may also be able to encourage them to develop skills they didn’t even know they had through their volunteer roles. If you chose to develop a community service committee in your company, it should offer a variety of opportunities (long-term, short-term, and one-time) using various skills to appeal to a wide range of people.
Donations: If you have some extra funds, consider reinvesting the money into community organizations. Donations not only help charities that are often under-funded and under-staffed, but also improve your reputation in the community and raise your profile amongst customers. In 2008, our Columbia Conference Center donated most of its profits to charity!
Each year, Columbia Conference Center invites students from area high schools to compete in an art contest. The highest-rated pieces are displayed in the conference center and the winning students receive scholarship money. We not only help students pay for college, but also gain one-of-a-kind artwork for our facility!
In-kind Donations: Your business may not be able to give away cash or allow staff to provide charity work, but you may still be able to donate services or products. This could mean lending office space for meetings or fundraisers, giving charities gently used office furniture or supplies, or serving on a board of directors.
Recycling: Another component of our community improvement efforts is our commitment to recycling. The program has proved fiscally wise for the company—because bulky cardboard boxes are now recycled, trash pickups can be less frequent, which saves the company money. Also, environmentally-conscious customers are spreading word of our efforts to other potential clients!
There are many benefits to enacting recycling and community service programs at your companies. You gain valuable consumer recognition, employees are happier because they have opportunities to improve the world, and most importantly, your company achieves a purpose beyond simply making a profit. Being a good, socially-responsible corporate citizen is a wise investment that will pay back many dividends!
If you are interested in building a great company that thrives into the future, you must care about more than the bottom line to have a successful business with happy employees and customers. You must go the extra mile and be different…and as Roger Staubach has said, “There are no traffic jams along the extra mile!”
