Be Passionate – Choose your charity carefully and be sure the cause is something your company can feel passionate about. Do not just “go through the motions” as this will not look good in your employees’ eyes. It is important to get feedback from the employees on this. Be sure that your final decision is a cause that is in line with your company culture and values.

 

Set Goals – What do you see as your company’s objectives in finding a charity? What do you hope to accomplish? Create a set of attainable goals and define your strategy for achieving them. 

 

Do Your Homework – Once you have received your feedback, it will be time to do some research to be assured the charity is legitimate, honest, and a good fit for your company. Legitimate charities know that potential donors or volunteers have every right to ask for a copy of their annual report, as well as other literature outlining their background and history. If a charity refuses to provide this information, cross them off of your list. Honest charities will be more than willing to help you in giving you whatever information you need to answer your questions and concerns. And they should have questions for you as well. A couple of resources you can go to are www.charitynavigator.org and www.give.org.

 

Ask Good Questions – Some questions to ask include how many people the organization helps yearly, their major accomplishments in the past year, what factors do they look at in considering partnering with a company, and their short and long-term visions and goals. 

 

Volunteering can help support your company objectives, values and goals. More importantly, it will bring together your employees in working toward a common goal that all can be proud of. You will be surprised at how willing people will be to pitch in and how involving your team will improve company morale.