Strategic philanthropy is an excellent way to combine company goals with a desire to create charitable goodwill. It’s meant to foster company business growth through targeted giving that corresponds to company interests. At the core of its design, strategic philanthropy is result-oriented, targeting specific goals; developing defined strategies; measuring progress; and determining success.
Companies utilizing philanthropic strategies offer employees opportunities to challenge themselves professionally through community leadership and volunteer pursuits. Community engagement presents opportunities to increase productivity and a competitive edge in recruiting and retaining skilled leaders. With an active community engagement program, companies benefit from team-building, leadership development and an employee-base of corporate ambassadors. This translates into bottom-line results for companies represented by satisfied employees, loyal customers and a strong community connection.
For companies seeking growth through strategic community impact, success is measured as much by social benefit as it is by improvements to the bottom line. Aligning corporate contribution with business objectives and interests is core to strategic philanthropy. These companies can indirectly market products and services, often to clearly defined market segments.
Creating a philanthropic strategy for you or your business is relatively simple. It starts by making a commitment to an effort driven at corporate growth and community impact. It continues by hiring a staff member or philanthropic advisor (like NPcatalyst), who will provide leadership and guidance by:
- Assessing your philanthropic activity and culture
- Understanding the local community
- Identifying your connections, interests, community involvement, target audiences and business strategies
- Designing the philanthropic strategy with measureable goals
- Facilitating giving through the proper processing of solicitation requests
- Measuring employee volunteerism and board leadership
- Leveraging total community engagement for greater public image, customer loyalty, employee retention and, most of all, community impact.
Strategic philanthropy initiatives should serve as a link between core business strategies, community needs and personnel involvement. Through these connections, communities strengthened through their non-profit organizations gain long-lasting benefits and businesses generate growth through increased sales and revenue, and the active volunteerism of their employees.