Corporate philanthropy is a company’s way of giving back to its community. It can be done through financial donations, non-cash contributions such as time spent volunteering, even fundraising activities for charities and non-profits.
But what is a company? It’s made up of the individuals who work there who all contribute in one way or another to the success and profits of the company. When we find we are able to “give back” financially, it’s in no small measure because of these individuals. This year as a company we were able to provide over $90,000 worth of donations to groups and activities in our community who share our passion for doing good works!
We supported local fund-raising golf tournaments for non-profits. We helped our beloved Community Learning Center where underserved children receive tutoring and life skills training. They can even go to private school there.
We supported drug education activities—even sent Lynn to Ireland to help with drug education there! We joined the Drug Free America Foundation on a trip to Tallahassee for the cause!
We participated in the annual Say No to Drugs Race, got together and helped clean up our community—literally!
We bought Girl Scout Cookies, participated in Clearwater’s annual Easter Egg Hunt, helped Veterans, and donated to the Nourish to Flourish Program.
We took care of an organic garden in the Clearwater Community Gardens, and we went into ACTION when Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma hit. We supported the Martin Luther King Jr. Center and our local police. There’s so much more but the point is that this company is made up of people who care.
Factually, helping others is a strong drive and purpose for most people. When a group comes together to help others there is a bonding that takes place amongst those individuals. They become part of something bigger and they become more of a team.
Whether the company has given financially, the employees have volunteered time or money, or they’ve put on some big fund raising event, what happens in the end is the group becomes a tighter team. There is pride and a sense of belonging when you reach out to others and provide real help.
As an example, here at CES, every Thursday is a “dress down” day. But there’s a price. For $1.00 the employee can wear jeans to work. For $3.00 they can wear shorts. And for $5.00 they can wear a baseball cap. These funds are collected all year—boy does it add up. We recently presented the Clearwater Community Learning Center with a check for over $1,000 to pay for their music program—completely funded by CES employees!
Our employees were able to give Toys for Tots a donation of $650 last Christmas and we’re going to do it again this year!
And the most recent cause that this group is getting behind is My Hope Chest. We’re still raising funds for them and will present them with a donation soon. (Lynn writes about My Hope Chest and all of our community betterment philanthropy in her monthly blog article on our website. So be sure to read it HERE.)
Last year we entered the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Corporate Philanthropy Award Contest and CES won first place in the Big Business category! This year we out-did what was accomplished last year and I couldn’t be more proud of our group!
We added over 400 additional volunteer hours over last year’s total from our 77 CES volunteers who contributed!
And now I want to make a heartfelt plea to other business owners to join me and other like-minded groups to find your own ways of truly improving conditions in your community and beyond. Your business will benefit greatly by involving your employees in contributing to something bigger. Your community will benefit, and these kindnesses will ripple out into the world in ways you can’t even imagine. There’s no loser in this game. Everybody wins!
