Business Philanthropy - BIZFACE®

Alice at Equisport · #1 4th August 2008, 16:59

I realise I am a member not a guest, but is seemed a good place to 'sound off' about something I think is important.

I was impressed to see Monty's Corner, a charity, as the featured post this month. I like to see companies take corporate responsibility seriously, being ethical and trying to work with charities instead of seeing them as either unimportant, irrelevant, or worst still, competition for funds!

I do think businesses of all sizes can help with charities either through funding or through giving time - lets face it most of us have expertise in something!

So why don't more of us do something?

(Sadly I'm not making enough money to be another Bill Gates Foundation, but I do give of my time freely...)

Cheers,
Alice

Stephanie · #2 4th August 2008, 17:05

Thanks Alice,

We think its important too!

You can find out some ideas about this sort of thing on a US website:

Case foundation - Business + Philanthropy

Why don't you start a blog about it?

Stephanie

kath · #3 26th August 2008, 23:59

I couldn’t agree more Alice!! I really think that giving time/money or both is so important - whether its personally or through a business venture.

On a personal level I give to an African Aids charity every month and I sponsor an orphaned child in Thailand every month - she comes from close to the Burmese border, where Heroin and poverty problems are rife. We are in reasonably regular contact with her and send christmas presents and birthday cards etc and its nice to see her growing up into a confident, healthy teenager. Sponsorship costs from just £20 a month (not even the cost of one meal out frankly) and I think its an excellent way of experiencing what donations to charities can actually achieve on a 1:1 level.
http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/sponsor-a-child/

I also make sure that my business offers extremely good rates to charities, and there are of course a small handful of organisations that I personally work for for free too.

It amazes me how insular some people can be - I guess the trouble is that we are all a bit guilty of getting caught up in our own little worlds for at least parts of our lives – it’s easy to just switch off to issues that aren’t banging on your desk or ringing in your ear.

I personally think as business owners/managers, the scope to influence and make a difference is increased - its just up to us all to ensure that we play our part.

kath

ARK · #4 24th September 2008, 19:41

finally i've found a business forum in which members aren't just concerned about their bottom lines!

I only started out in business this year but we're doing ok a bit slow but can't be to gready.

i totally agree with you guys that business should do more to through helping, charities through funding or time, but also do things that help the local comunity that they are in.

as a business we do offer reduced rates for charities and there's a local mosque and a local church who we do the accountd for for free. i know its not much but its a start and maybe when we grow we can do more

ARK · #5 24th September 2008, 19:45

I can't agree with you guys more businesses should be doing a whole lot more to help either charities as well as their local comunities.

as a business we offer reduced rates for charities, but there are to local charities a church and a mosque for which we do the accounts for, for free. i know its not much but it's a start ( we only just started business earlier this year) hopefully as we grow we'll be able to do more