With a plethora of social and environmental issues facing us, there is increasing discussion about the role that all types of organisations, from businesses to government to non-profits, can and are playing in maintaining healthy communities.
Businesses’ role in the local community is often portrayed as negative but, in many cases over 100s of years, businesses’ desire to ensure it is surrounded by a healthy community has been one of the primary reasons for corporate philanthropy.
In addition, what we are now starting to see is the emergence of social investment and social entrepreneurship.
Social investment opportunities include funding of projects, provision of physical assets, consultancy support and providing volunteers. The benefits of this type of investment are well documented at a broad level including brand equity, customer loyalty and adding value in sales. It also has major benefits for employees particularly if a component of the investment is a volunteering programme.
These specific benefits can include:
- Build employees’ knowledge, capacity and capability as they are taken out of their comfort zone and given unfamiliar tasks to do; train and support a person who needs help in a particular area.
- Initiate and enhance relationships both within an organisation and externally.
- Empower people through a feeling that they have made a meaningful contribution and participated in making a difference.
And there is more. Volunteering programmes can also help with:
- Recruitment and retention
- Accessing new markets
- Service and product development
- Skills development
- Work/life balance and family-friendly work practices
- PR and marketing
- And it is highly cost-effective
This sense of unlocking a part of people’s potential that may not be possible in their day-to-day role will not be lost on your employees or your other stakeholders.
Nick Jones & Associates’ research, the "Consumer who Cares", that we licence from Nielsen Media Research, gives an indication of the number of people who are likely to respond positively to a well-planned and communicated volunteering programme:
- 2.15 million people
agree they think more highly of companies that support charities and other worthy causes.
- 1.66 million people
agree they feel more loyal to a company that aligns itself with a charity or worthy cause.
- 1.1 million
agree they would like companies to support charities or worthy causes because they personally do not have the time or resources to do it.
So if some of your staff are "Consumers who Care" and it is highly likely they are, why not suggest a volunteering programme as your next team-building exercise and then go and find some ideas on possible projects at AUT Skills Exchange at
www.skills-exchange.org.nz.
For more information contact Nick Jones at Nick Jones & Associates
021 679 244 www.njassociates.co.nz
