7 Ways Businesses Can Use Corporate Social Responsibility to Better Their Communities

Entrepreneurs may always feel like they are constantly trying to improve strategies and employee morale. You can get inspired by engaging with your local area.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) brings the significance of being socially responsible to light. There are numerous ways businesses can help their communities, and many have excelled because of their efforts.

Here are some innovative ways you can help enrich your neighbourhood.

1. Make Time to Volunteer

Volunteering is a surefire way to boost employee enthusiasm and obtain some great PR while you are at it. Employees like working for employers who share their values and create a positive impact. 

Facilitating volunteer days or giving incentives to workers who dedicate their time is a great way to help causes. You can poll your employees on availability and what causes they care about so they are more willing and dedicated.

2. Collect Donations

Many employees have extra items that would find better homes at schools or shelters. Initiate a local campaign so customers can drop off essential items.

Alternatively, make it strictly internal by sending email reminders to prompt workers. Creating a drive focused on an immediate need in your community will form more urgency than a general clothing drive.

Research or ask around town to see what is required for local events or other needs to be filled.

3. Offer Pro Bono Services

Depending on your entrepreneurial focus, offering pro bono services to those in your area could be easy. You can provide financial assistance, services, consultations or skills.

Success stories are plentiful, including larger businesses like Airbnb and Patagonia. Airbnb offers homes to displaced individuals and Patagonia provides funds for the 1 per cent for the Planet initiative. These are examples of how businesses can offer their unique resources for various causes. 

4. Provide Students With Opportunities

Give students a chance to learn industry insight firsthand. Local businesses should care about the next generation of professionals and try to give them reasons to stay and benefit their hometown. Giving them inspiration and insight into what local businesses do accomplishes these goals.

Companies can be imaginative in how they choose to do this:

• Reach out to schools to offer tours: You can entice learners if you create an exciting product or operate in an underappreciated industry.

• Teach local courses: Host lessons at libraries or community centres on your business’s offerings like coding, cooking and even time management.

• Provide internships for credit: Students need guidance on what they want to do for a living. Giving hands-on experiences helps them make more intelligent decisions for their educational and professional futures.

Offer these experiences free as a thank you to students investing their time. They will remember how you helped others and will be more willing to collaborate in the future.

5. Promote and Collaborate With Local Businesses

Having internal camaraderie with your employees is essential — but it is just as important to create togetherness with other businesses. Combining skills and resources can make amazing things happen, especially if you collaborate by being a part of your community’s board.

Organizing a walk for mental health awareness could involve the local parks and recreation department, social media marketing company, T-shirt printing business and landscaping companies, to name a few. The collaborations are as expansive as what your community offers.

6. Sponsor or Organize Events

Your business can initiate events in your town, especially for causes you believe deserve more recognition.

If your community is prone to flooding, sponsor an event to raise awareness for disaster preparedness. This isn’t only a personal cause — it is communal.

Finding commonalities between citizens creates a bond and more enthusiasm to participate because it equally develops mutual aid for businesses and locals.

7. Go Green

Going green helps your neighbourhood directly and affects the rest of the planet. This makes eco-friendly initiatives one of the most impactful ways to benefit your community. There are countless ways to engage with environmentalism in any green CSR initiative:

• Analyze your business and make green changes, like renewable energy and decreasing waste.

• Support legislation and other changes in your community that benefit the environment.

• Volunteer for causes that pick up litter or provide education about eco-friendly topics.

Let your customers know your initiatives to reduce waste or your carbon footprint. Make it tangible by showing data and how it improves their lives in the town. It can be as grand as striving for city composting programs to making deliveries on bikes, or as small as encouraging employees to turn computers off at night.

Corporate Social Responsibility Made Easy For Businesses

Donating to nonprofits is excellent, but there are other ways to show your support. Entrepreneurs in small communities make as much of an impact as larger corporations if they direct energy to the right places.

Here are some ways businesses can help their communities:

• Make time to volunteer.

• Collect donations.

• Offer pro bono services.

• Provide students with opportunities.

• Promote and collaborate with local businesses.

• Sponsor or organize events.

• Go green.

Take a few moments to consider how you can engage more with corporate social responsibility to better your community.