Dos & don'ts corp giving

According to a University of Alberta study, corporate financial gifts keep on giving. The research showed that donations to charities through corporate giving programs not only benefit recipients, corporate reputation, and community connection-building but also employee attitudes.

The study looked at how financial corporate philanthropy can be strategically managed to maximize its impact on employees. The results showed that employees have a much stronger connection to a donation if they have "beneficiary contact" or direct interaction.

So here’s the first do: ensure employees see the impact of their benefit first-hand. This makes their giving experiences more real rather than abstract and staff will see the benefit of their giving.

Mite enables our donors to witness their impact first-hand by providing regular detailed updates, videos, and photos. By delivering a personalized journey showing how their donation was used and the positive benefit to the recipients, we strengthen connections between beneficiaries and corporate givers

Don’t leave charity selection up to one department or decision-maker. Instead, make it a democratic process that gets employees involved in choosing which charitable initiatives they would like to support.

Do strategically select charitable partner organizations that align with corporate values or corporate campaigns. Then provide the opportunity for employees to visit or volunteer at these organizations to see the impact of their organization's giving. The university study showed that applying a strategy to corporate philanthropy can deepen the prosocial impact to boost employee motivation and performance.

Don’t underestimate the power of relationships your company can build through partnerships with nonprofits. By taking partnerships seriously, your organization will gain valuable contacts through staff and board member interactions. This is an investment that could impact your bottom line.

Do track your organization’s charitable giving. It’s important to track corporate philanthropy just as you would monitor any other performance metric in your company. Mite is a registered 501(c)(3) organization so all donations via your corporate giving program will be tax-deductible.

We can provide more advice on building a successful corporate giving program. Talk to us today.