Small Business and Charitable Giving

It depends on the business owners invest in community & social issues

As a strategic philanthropy expert helping small businesses and soloentrepreneurs create their giving back program, and author of my newly released book, "Small Businesses Give Big: Why charitable giving is a great business strategy!", here is what I know for sure... There are the business owners who are WIIFMer's (what's in it for me)and then there are those that have an elevated consciousness beyond that. For the WIIFMer's it is all about educating them, providing them with information to enable them to understand that giving is not a just a marketing tool or bargaining tool to expect something in return. The return is slow to see yes. But when giving is an integral part of their business and strategically and authentically tied to a communication plan, it can have wonderful benefits to a business. The good feel side of giving is nice and important on some level to have a commitment to a social cause. 9 of 10 small businesses say,"we do think giving is a good thing and the right thing to do and we value helping our community." But here's the rub, less than half actually have a giving plan in place. Without a plan, the marketing efforts will not stand and be successful alone. Flat out it doesn't work because it doesn't stick. It's superficial at best and consumers can smell that a mile away. I personally do not work with the WIIFM purist and tell them they might want to consider hiring a pr firm to boost their image in their community.

Small businesses can be short-sighted about the benefits of having an integrated giving plan. It's not like it's in a manual of 'how to start up a small business.' Education and information are great when desiring different outcomes from any aspect of a business. Bottom line is giving will never be transformational for the business or community when it's viewed and implemented as a money-making or pure marketing tool.

Maggie F. Keenan, Ed.D. of GA @ Feb 24, 2009 10:57:08 AM