Philanthropy and Your Corporate Reputation – Lessons from Daniel Chavez Mora

One essential part of forming a good corporate reputation is for your business to maintain a focus on ethics. We’re not just talking about ethics in the workplace, but in your community as a whole. That may sound a little self-serving, but the fact of the matter is that you can help build a fine reputation for your company AND contribute to the well-being of others at the same time. We will touch upon this below in the example of Mr. Daniel Moran and the Vidanta Foundation (Fundacion Vidanta).

How Your Business Benefits

Over the past several years, it’s been shown that when a business is involved in philanthropic pursuits, the business benefits in many ways:

• Customer loyalty: Customers see the community involvement of the company, and they want to support the business and its philanthropic efforts by repeatedly purchasing the company’s goods or services.
• Increased employee commitment: Not only do employees want to continue to work for the philanthropic company, but their productivity increases—in other words, they work harder because they’re proud of their company’s community involvement.
• Positive shareholder response: For publicly held companies, shareholders are often drawn to companies that “do good,” which in turn, increases the company’s market value.
• Enhanced corporate reputation: A company’s corporate reputation can mean the difference between success and failure, and the company that engages in philanthropic activities enhances its reputation.

How Your Company Can Get Involved

Larger companies have countless opportunities to show their philanthropic spirit, such as Daniel Chavez Moran and his Fundación Grupo Vidanta, or any of the other numerous corporations that give money to charitable causes or fund scholarship programs. But there are other ways that your business can contribute to the well-being of your local community. Consider the following ideas, each of which has been practiced successfully by companies around the world:

• Give employees time off to volunteer. It could be just a few hours a week, but give your employees the chance to make a positive difference within their community by allowing them a few extra hours each week or each month to do just that.
• Adopt a family for the holidays. Work with local charities or churches and arrange the opportunity for your business (or departments within your business) to adopt a family for the holiday season. Get information on the age and gender of each family member and what they need, then ask each employee to bring one gift that helps to fill the list.
• Gather food donations. Ask your employees to bring in one food item per week to donate to a local food-distribution group.
• Give each one of your departments an afternoon off to work in a local food kitchen, serving food to homeless people in your town.

The possibilities are endless, the need is great and the benefit to your organization is real. Corporate philanthropy is, after all, a win-win situation!