#ORBMember Work for Good is a fundraising platform that helps small businesses donate to charity through their sales and publicise their giving.
It isn’t difficult for a business to make a charitable donation. However, if a business wishes to donate a specific amount or percentage of sales or turnover to a nominated charity, and they want to be able to publicise their giving and their relationship with their designated charity, it is a legal requirement that they have a Commercial Participation Agreement (CPA) in place. Whilst this may appear to be an unnecessary barrier, there is good reason for this legislation and that is to ensure less scrupulous businesses aren’t pretending to give to charity when they are actually just pocketing the money themselves.
But setting up a CPA can be time-consuming and costly for charities to produce, and they often don’t accept smaller cause-related marketing donations because of these restrictions.
But Work for Good makes it easy for businesses to create a CPA with a charity of their choice in minutes. They help you publicise your giving and record all your charitable donations in your business year. And there is now no cost for small businesses to become Work for Good members.
ORB is a Work for Good member and we have set up a CPA with FareShare for our CHARITY REFERRAL MONTH in October.
Our friends at WFG explain:
The small business community over at Work for Good have been turning a time of hardship into something positive, by donating a proportion of their sales to good causes and continuing to support charities throughout the pandemic.
It is free to become a member of Work for Good and we would love to invite you to join the community of hundreds of small businesses to support a cause you care about, and be part of something that reflects your businesses values.
Below we have highlighted just a few small businesses giving back during the coronavirus crisis.
RAFFOLUX
Last month, Raffolux donated £4,024.70 to a variety of different charities including: Plastic Oceans, Deafblind UK, WWF-UK and Worldwide Cancer Research. Gerry told us why he feels it’s important for businesses to continue to donate, if they can:
TECH GLOVES
Not only are they currently offering up to 3 support issues at no charge, but, they are also donating 10% of all proceeds to Cavell Nurses’ Trust.
Jo Oogarah Coaching
She most recently donated to the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Charitable Fund.
Studio 77
Have a read of their fantastic blog post about why they are continuing to support Friends of the Earth.
Their Creative Director, Ruby says:
Popsa
Recognising that loneliness is a particular cause for concern during this time, Popsa have set out to help people overcome this in two ways, through their increasingly popular photobooks, and also their support for The Jo Cox Foundation.
We genuinely believe that receiving a photobook filled with precious memories, a book that’s been made with care by someone you love, is a very special thing.
We’re proud that our product can help people to reach out from one home to another, and send a little joy .
How can you make an impact with your business?
We hope you have been inspired by these like-minded small business owners who have put purpose at the heart of their business.
But giving to charity isn’t just a ‘nice thing to do.’ it can also be incredibly empowering, personally significant and give you and your business a wider purpose that helps you stand out from competitors.
While it may seem easier to wait until you’re “fully established” to commit to charity donations, the benefit in setting this up early outweigh any perceived negatives. Just knowing your work is making a difference to a charitable organisation can help spur you on through any difficult times, will give you something to feel proud of alongside your business achievements and can help attract and retain clients through showing you have an ethical business model. In fact businesses with a clear ‘Brand Purpose’ (seen as making lives better) on average grew 3 x faster over the past 12 years.
Of course, as ORB always stresses, businesses can support their local community in numerous ways: it doesn’t have to be about giving cash and we would encourage you to think creatively in this respect. But by building an effective donation model into your business as soon as possible, it helps develop a purpose-driven mindset that will motivate you and employees/sub-contractors, and enhance your reputation with customers, suppliers and your local community.
If you would like to know more about how your small business can support a charity then please visit Work for Good and you’ll soon see how easy it is to join the community of other small businesses giving back.
And as an added bonus, if you use the following referral code when you join, Work for Good will donate £5 to a charity of your choice. What’s not to love!
This is so true throughout the Covid lockdown I have been involved in several charitable activities.
1:Sunday School on Saturday’s Visiting families especially the children delivering a talk from the front garden or garden path.
2:A mercy dash to Great Orman Street to bring home a young boy and his mum following a COVID stay:
3: Background, support for children and families Lunch and fun club.
4:Giving free advice and support to families in “Fuel-Poverty”(Eat or Heat)
5:Assorted shopping trips for vulnerable people.
You set a wonderful example of a small business owner who is committed to supporting his local community. Thank you for all you do 🙂