CAF’s top ten tips to make your company cash go further
In the current economic
climate with redundancies taking place across the UK and beyond, it
would be naive to simply say ‘give more’.
CAF’s Helping companies helping charities report
published last month highlighted charities’ need for unrestricted
cash. Effective giving is about giving well, not necessarily more.
There are relatively simple ways that companies can make their
community budget go further.
Top ten tips:
1. Ensure your approach makes sense for your business
Aligning your community programme with your business will help
to ensure that as well as having a positive impact on your
community, your business will also benefit.
2. Raise the level of employee engagement in your giving
programme
Your organisation’s giving can be significantly increased by
nurturing a corporate culture of giving and encouraging employees
to personally commit through payroll giving, fundraising and
volunteering. Using low cost incentives and, for example, getting
your employees involved in shortlisting your charity partners can
significantly improve their buy-in to your community programme,
helping you to make a bigger contribution overall.
See how Friends Provident and The
Guardian engage their staff in Give As You Earn.
3. Introduce your charity to your supply chain and
stakeholders
Extending your support to key stakeholders, your supply chain,
and your business networks will boost your impact and provide
charities with support from new company donors.
“BT is committed to sharing best practice as well as working
with other stakeholders. We have hosted corporate events for
ChildLine to share learnings, including the business benefits of
working with the charity. Whilst we recognise ChildLine is best
placed to talk about their service, who better to speak to
businesses about the business benefits than a business partner? We
have introduced ChildLine to new supporters and worked
collaboratively with suppliers and customers to support ChildLine.
We see this as a win, win, win, benefiting ChildLine, other
organisations and BT.”
- Beth Courtier, Head of BT’s Charity Programme,
BT
4. Ensure it's tax effective
Whether corporate donations in the UK or overseas, or employee
fundraising, setting up your programme to be tax efficient means
there will be more available funds for the charities that need your
support and benefits to the donor. See how GSK ensures that their international giving
is tax effective.
5. Reduce the restrictions around the cash you currently give
to charities
Unrestricted funding is rare and invaluable. Try and agree
outcomes without restricting the donation. Or make sure your
donations meet the true cost of the project including an allowance
for operating costs and salaries to manage the project you are
supporting. This will demonstrate that working with your charity
partners you can help them to deliver more effectively on their
mission and use resources more flexibly including recession
proofing. This will help to increase the overall impact of your
contribution.
6. Recognise your organisation’s core skills
“We see that our best charitable partnerships are those with
strong and stable organisations. Naturally, our priority is on the
achievement of agreed outcomes but we respect our partners’
abilities to manage that responsibility as they see fit. So we
trust those we support to use our funds as effectively as the can;
both to deliver the results but also to sustain and grow their
organisations.”
- Matthew Sparkes, Global Investment Manager,
Linklaters
CAF’s research shows that charities perceive industry sectors
differently in terms of what they have to offer. Build on your
perceived strengths and address any misperceptions. Leveraging the
resources of your organisation means that the charities benefit
from the combined value of your core skills, and employee
generosity beyond pure cash – for example employee skills, office
equipment, meeting facilities, corporate hospitality boxes for
fundraising. A strong integrated programme with clear goals means
that your business and the community benefit making your overall
impact significantly more.
See how UBS
employees helped NGO leaders in India.
7. Consider collaborating with others
Collaborating with organisations that have similar community
goals to you – other companies, charities and community groups. A
joint effort can achieve greater social impact and build on
respective skills without compromising. Macquarie Bank and Cripplegate is a great
example of a successful collaborative.
8. Invest time in agreements with charities
Draw up agreements that set out how the relationship will work.
Include the contributions from your company, your employees as well
as the charity as this will allow you to set out commitments (fixed
and flexible) and help to manage expectations all round. It will
help to drive everyone towards shared goals and ensure your
company’s resources are put to best use.
9. Measure the impact of your giving, then review and
adjust
Measuring what is achieved and what this means for the
community, the organisations you work with and your business are
key to your programme’s success. You can use this information to
review your activity, demonstrate value, learn from experience and
strengthen your approach. See how Johnson Matthey increased the impact of
their giving programmes.
10. Communicate your learnings and challenges to others
Enable other companies to learn from successes and challenges by
continuous communication via your website and events. If you are
interested in communicating aspects of your programme to other
employers via CAF News please contact Geraldine
Fahy.
CAF has a dedicated team to help your company make the most out
of your available resources. We can help you to assess your current
activity and get better results to enable you to design and run
your community programme with ease.
For more information contact our Company Services team on
03000 123 230
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