Are you aware of the values you as an individual or your business create? Would you be able to describe the impact you make? What is your contribution to the future of our children?
Perhaps you have straightforward responses to the questions above, perhaps you are in the process of creating them. Either way, as responsible business owners (and human beings), societal impact should not be overlooked.
One of most effective ways to make such an impact is to support civil organizations operating in the nonprofit sector. Support may not only manifest in financial contribution, but in many other ways – read on the find out how.
Written by Orsolya Temesvári.
Creating Value by Making an Impact
Corporate social responsibility (hereinafter CSR) has been increasing in the past decade. Businesses intend to support their communities, take part in philanthropic activities and create social value. Turning to CSR is also an excellent tool to strengthen a professional brand.
Apart from the opportunities open to businesses to carry out charitable projects, the Hungarian private income tax (hereinafter PIT) regulations set forth opportunities available to private individuals to support civil organizations. As per the current regulations, any private individual receiving income subject to PIT, has the opportunity to submit a declaration regarding the 1+1% of the payable PIT.
The first 1% of the payable PIT may be donated to a civil organization, such as foundations or associations. The other 1% of the payable PIT may be donated to any church.
It is important to emphasize, however, that the support towards civil organizations should not necessarily be financial aid or any material contribution. Even during the hardest times, we possess unique experiences, uncommon skills, time, specific knowledge or expertise, or any other resource with extraordinary value that we are able to offer. Such resources benefiting the nonprofit sector constitute the ‘third 1%’.
Why Should Your Business Support Civil Organizations
But why is it crucial to support the nonprofit sector? We have thousands of reasons, but we listed the three most significant ones below.
Gap-filling Initiatives Carried Out by The Nonprofit Sector
Nonprofits usually operate within specific areas such as healthcare, education, or cultural development, where they carry out extraordinary activities. Also, these organizations have unique, authentic and experience-based knowledge, and their team members are often flexible and can easily adapt to new situations. The importance of their projects highly increase during times of recession, thus supporting their work means increased societal impact.
Networking Opportunities within Your Community
When you volunteer at a civil organization and participate at certain meetings, or events, you are able to widen your social network with like-minded people who care about the same issue as you. People will get to know your business, which will earn a reputation for caring about people, and social issues, which is crucial as a business owner.
Your Business Benefits Financially
A widening social network not only means better reputation, but also financial benefits. This is why it’s important to gain the trust more and more people. Your peer volunteers not only become customers, but they will recommend your company to others.
Consumers usually trust businesses, that support civil organizations and address important social issues as usually patronize businesses they trust. You’ve got nothing else to do but to choose a good cause, support the corresponding civil organization according to your possibilities, and build trust by being loyal and trustworthy.
How To Support The Nonprofit Sector
It’s important to note that while supporting nonprofit organizations is a must in 2023, neither financial donations, nor any other type of support should be provided out of pity, or to complete another item on our to do lists. It does not worth it to stand up for a cause we don’t really care about – it’s not only unfair to the nonprofit organization, but also questions our reputation, and authenticity.
As mentioned in the introduction of this article, supporting the nonprofit sector does not necessarily mean financial aid. Any business possesses certain expertise, time, ideas, experience, or any other resource with significant value that may benefit nonprofits – this is how we can provide the organizations with the ‘third 1%’.
There are thousands of ways to support these organizations, we collected the most important ones below.
Free Services
As a business owner, it’s possible to offer your services for free or to provide discounts. Also, you may encourage employees to join any organization as volunteers.
Cause Marketing
This is a special partnership between a business and a nonprofit organization, which is able to provide the nonprofit with money based on the sales of certain products or services of the business. It’s a great tool to strengthen your own and the organization’s brand, and to involve your customers in helping the nonprofit.
Team-building & Volunteering
Giving your time to support a nonprofit organization is probably the most valuable gift. As a business owner, you may combine a team building activity to your employees with volunteering. This may involve collecting the garbage, organizing charity picnic, or painting walls in schools or hospitals.
Free Education
Investing money in education is always worth it. Therefore, we believe that providing free educational programs to help local nonprofits to grow is a great step with a long-lasting effect.
We trust the thoughts above inspired you to take action and look for a cause to stand up for. We believe that the supported organizations create a future worth looking forward to. If you have any questions or need advice, reach out to us at [email protected].
Sources of pictures: Freepik
