Reap the rewards of your commercial efforts and share your business success with those who need it. Corporate social responsibility programmes are a hugely rewarding way of celebrating your business success with your customers and letting them know that they are dealing with an organisation that ‘plows’ energy and resources into good customer and community relationships.

More than 160,000 charities and voluntary organisations exist in the UK and assisting any of them can help your business in a number of ways. Not only is your reputation enhanced through community engagement but so is morale amongst employees. Partnering with a voluntary organisation can also help with employee skills development and will make your business a much more attractive one to work for. Happy employees and rewarding community programmes allow your business to stand out from the competition.

Corporate social responsibility programmes do not have to involve huge amounts of monetary investment. Often, the best kind of community engagement is that of donating your time and skills to organisations that need help. For example, if you are an accountant then consider offering up your time to help a charity do its books or review its business plans. Professional fees are often the biggest expense that charities and voluntary organisations have to fundraise for – any ‘fee free’ time you can give will be welcome.

Of course, if you are a food business then supplying organisations with a free meal or box of food at Harvest Festival time is the most fitting donation. You can find details of charities and voluntary organisations near you by visiting the Charity Commission website: www.charity-commission.gov.uk. The Charities Aid Foundation – www.cafonline.org - supports businesses of all sizes with their corporate community programmes.
 

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