Give Money to Charities to Make Money

When it comes to running a business, you need to spend money in order to make money. But this can be rather difficult when you are running a small business and your resources are limited. However, there is this trend of small businesses giving money to charities. This might be a very noble thing to do, but it’s not exactly a practical step with regards to running a business. Although it’s an altruistic thing to give to charities, if you’re thinking about increasing your profits, then you had better keep your money inside the cash register.

Because nothing in life is free, even those philanthropic organizations recognize that, and they know that when businesses start giving, it is because they want something in return. From this realization, the idea of quid pro quo associated with giving to charities emerged. So for small businesses who wish to travel this road, here are a few tips that will help you get the most out of your partnership.

1. Goals. Ask yourself, why are you interested in the idea of partnering with a charitable organization? Is it so that you can feel better about running your business because you’re giving back? Is it to get more customers to do business with you? Or do you simply want a tax write-off? You need to be very explicit with your goals because these goals will help you measure your success. So set your goals before you even delve into such arrangement.
2. Choose a charity which is relevant to your business. Most of the time business owners pick out charities based on emotions or personal preferences. Although you can always choose to do so when you’re giving away money from your personal fund, this might not be good for when you’re running a business. If you’re going to donate hard-earned cash from your local business, then pick out a charity which is relevant to your business. This is to help customers identify with your partnership. Chances are, those who support the charity but are not yet your customers will be intrigued enough to try doing business with you.
3. Ask, explicitly. If you do not ask for your charities to support you, then they’ll assume that you are one of those businesses which give for the sake of giving without any strings attached. This might be fine if you’re operating a multi-national corporation, it does not exactly work well with a small business. So don’t be afraid to ask.

Your author, Christopher Marentis, has many successful years of business development and is founder and CEO of Surefire Social a local web marketing services company.