Charitable giving by businesses can make a difference by ensuring local economic development and the stability of local social service agencies and other businesses. It also has a trickle-down effect: support for small businesses and nonprofits in a community helps sustain the ecosystems in that community long-term.

Community engagement has been linked to higher employee engagement rates, which in turn decreases turnover. Properly promoted, your company’s efforts can also increase brand awareness, boost your reputation as a purpose-driven company, and increase organic business growth. 

Here are some practical ways your business can practice charitable giving and make an impact on your local community.  

Connect with the community

It’s important to get to know the local community before making any decisions about which nonprofit to partner with or how many small businesses to support. One easy way to get started is by volunteering at local events or doing pro bono work, such as donating a product, space, or service.

This will help you get a better feel for the community and what causes might need the most support. The easiest places to find those needs will be your local community boards, chamber of commerce, community institutions like libraries and churches, or online platforms such as VolunteerMatch. You could also try asking your own employees, customers, or social media followers to recommend their favorite nonprofits and small businesses to support.

Finding the right charitable partner to support

If you’re ready to take the next step and partner with a charity, here are a few items to check off your list as you do your due diligence: 

1. Determine which local causes are aligned with your business: Do you want to give to an organization you have a personal passion for? Does the nonprofit or small business align with your business model? In other words, are you looking to support a cause or mission, partner with a fellow business, or both? The answers to these questions may tell you if you’re looking for a nonprofit, a social enterprise, or a small business.
2. Check on potential partners’ credibility and financial stability: Is your chosen nonprofit a registered 501(c)(3)? Use databases like Guidestar or CharityNavigator to evaluate charities and confirm their legal tax status. If you’re interested in small businesses, look into their Better Business Bureau (BBB) ratings.
3. Rally your team to get them onboard: Philanthropy is a worthy cause, but it will be an uphill battle if you are the only executive leading the charge. Once your research is complete, share your ideas with your team and get their buy-in before making a final decision.
4. Look at the types of support your business can sustain over time: For example, do you want to make employee volunteering a permanent part of your company culture or are you more interested in offering donations? If you decide on monetary assistance, make sure to earmark those funds. 

Build a meaningful relationship

If your business has already begun plugging into the local community and giving back, creating a list of potential organizations shouldn’t be difficult to do. Once you’ve got one or several options in mind, it’s now time to get in touch with them. Contact the team and ask them about different ways that other sponsors, donors, or supporters have engaged with their organization.

Your goal is to get a better sense of their needs and the gaps you can fill so you can make a meaningful contribution.

Here are a few ways Wintrust has supported community-based organizations in recent years: 

• Matching donations for a new community resources center (Project H.O.O.D)
• Volunteering to deliver Thanksgiving meals to families in need (Broadview Mission Baptist Church)
• Providing free one-on-one financial counseling as a public service (Housing Resources Inc. and the City of Racine)
• Sponsoring an annual awards dinner (Illinois Holocaust Museum) 
• Hosting an annual Veteran’s Month celebration (Honor Flight) 

Promote your community partner

We’ve established that giving back to the community can positively influence your business. But when you’re working with partners to support a good cause, it’s crucial that you keep the focus on them. Consider creating a separate promotional campaign for your community partners that spotlights the organization and the people behind it.

If you decide to share behind-the-scenes photos of your team volunteering, make sure to get permission from the organization first and avoid publicizing any pictures without express consent from all parties.

Most importantly, try to be mindful of sounding self-promotional. After all, it’s not about the business, it’s about the impact. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce suggests letting others, such as your nonprofit partners and employees, market your efforts for you.¹

Support is about serving

Supporting a nonprofit or small business doesn’t need to mean taking out your checkbook or even volunteering time and services. If you’re a smaller business with limited time and funds, you still have plenty of ways to give back.

Partnering with a nonprofit could mean collaborating on a cause marketing campaign and encouraging your customers and online audience to get involved. Or, instead of an ongoing donation, you could consider a quarterly or annual cobranded fundraising event, where a portion of the proceeds goes to your favorite charity.

Wintrust publishes an annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report and believes strongly in the collective impact of charitable giving to positively impact our communities.  

No matter how — or how much — you give, your business can make a real difference by supporting the local community.

For more information on how to start supporting your community, reach out to our Community Impact team or find out more about our efforts online.