Is donating to charity good for your business?
Spoiler alert: Yes it is!
Work for Good is a charity fundraising platform for businesses. By building giving into the work your business already does, you can also engage employees, impress customers, and strengthen your brand all at the same time.
One of the businesses utilising the Work for Good platform is Kaihoko which was founded by Laura Hannan. Laura has recently chosen to support Cool Earth by donating a portion of her work to the charity. We spoke to Laura about her experiences with Work for Good so far.
1. What appealed to you about Work for Good?
“I’d already decided I wanted to give a % of my income to charity, and as a business you can give more as it comes out before you are taxed. I work with charities so I know that each business they work with ordinarily takes them time and resource that is often scarce so they have to choose carefully which businesses they spend time with. I’m a small business so it meant I can help without tying up resource that could be spent on bigger businesses with the potential to create more income for them.
I’ve chosen Cool Earth as the first charity to give to, they were not already on the platform but I feel strongly about their cause so I nominated them to join, which they did, the next day.
Although I’ve just chosen one at the moment, Work For Good is a tool that makes it easy to give to multiple charities from one place, so great for my accountant. They look after all the paperwork/legalities/payment processing, so the donor and the charity don’t actually need to speak directly, saving charities time and giving them a facility for any size business to support them.”
2. Do you think Work for Good helps you to stand out to clients?
“I work a lot on trust, where I’m paid a day rate but work remotely so for a new business to work with me they have to get a good vibe which Work For Good can only help. I put Work For Good at the bottom of my invoices, to let my client know that 5% is going to Cool Earth, and that they don’t need to do anything for that to happen. This is something which is unexpected and may make the businesses I work with feel more inclined to pay on time, and give them a good feeling about the integrity of my work.”
3. How will you embed Work for Good into your business practices going forward?
“I’ve put the Work For Good logo on my website. The next time I start work with a new client I’ll be sure to tell them about the % going to charity early on which ought to help me secure my standard day rate and avoid them trying to negotiate too heavily. If I have a client in the future that habitually pays late, I may offer an incentive of a larger charity donation if they pay early or on time.”
Laura’s first Work for Good client was Manifesto and we spoke to CEO Jim Bowes to find out what he thought of the idea:
“I’ve only recently come across Work for Good and I’m keen to learn more. We’re always interested to take part in broad discussions about how companies are good citizens of the world and give back. As an organisation that works extensively in the not for profit sector, it’s great to know that our suppliers take giving back to organisations and causes seriously. It’s about more than just money, it’s a statement about what type of business you are.
Manifesto has a broad portfolio of charity clients (over 60% of our client base is NFP) and we directly offer discounts to them. In addition, we have a programme of sponsorship and free events that we offer directly to the NFP sector. For us, our passion lies in a more hands on approach to causing positive change through Manifesto.
The Work for Good concept, on the other hand, gives an easily manageable method through which many businesses can give. I can see how the idea could expand to giving businesses more general CSR support. It’s important to us that businesses we work with take their social impact seriously. There’s lots of ways for organisations to contribute and I would definitely see charitable giving as a positive amongst a mix of other attributes, such as paying staff a living wage and considering their environmental impact.”
