50 WAYS TO SUPPORT YOUR COMMUNITY

There are many ways that business people can support their communities. The following are some examples.

  1. Offer your premises or site for a community group to use for its meetings/events
  2. Loan equipment and machinery (and operators if necessary) to community groups
  3. Photocopy newsletters, flyers and other material for a community group
  4. Contract a community group or its clients to do some of your work
  5. Include a community group’s mail in your company’s mail outs
  6. Mentor community groups with financial management, planning, marketing, public relations, computer technology, etc.
  7. Make available traineeships to community groups working with unemployed youth
  8. Employ older employees who have been retrenched from their jobs
  9. Employ a person with a disability who is capable of undertaking work for your company
  10. Provide work experience for students from local schools, TAFE and universities
  11. Join Rotary, Lions and other local clubs which support communities
  12. Assist a community group to plan and run a major event
  13. Advertise a community group’s event in your shop window
  14. Sponsor a community event such as a festival, display or annual celebration
  15. Offer your goods and services at a discount rate to a community group
  16. Administer the salaries of employees from a small community group
  17. Use your business premises as a collection point for non-perishable food for a community group which supports people living in poverty
  18. Encourage employees to contribute to the food bin
  19. Allocate the proceeds from the sale of a particular product (maybe specially labelled) to a community group or cause
  20. Pass on obsolete equipment (but still in working order) to community groups
  21. Offer reduced labour costs for repairing or maintaining a community group’s equipment and machinery
  22. Provide scholarships or subsidies to community groups so that their clients or workers can participate in essential training, workshops and conferences
  23. Sponsor disadvantaged children to participate in sporting activities, camps and school excursions
  24. Provide in-kind or at reduced prices goods for raffles, fetes and other fundraising activities
  25. Provide surplus stock either at reduced cost or no cost to community groups which may be able to sell it or use it themselves
  26. Promote a particular community group or cause using your company’s marketing or media resources
  27. Employees with particular expertise in management, financial or legal matters can advise or join community groups' committees
  28. Construct and maintain a website for a community group
  29. Use your shop window, office wall, signage, company vehicle or stationery to highlight a particular community issue or cause
  30. Provide a commission to a community group which refers customers to your business
  31. ‘Adopt’ a reserve or an environmentally fragile area and contribute to or take responsibility for its upkeep
  32. Provide a storage area for a community group for its equipment or goods
  33. Sponsor community or school awards
  34. Share your business networks with community groups
  35. Encourage other companies to support their communities
  36. Use your influence and contacts to advocate with government or businesses to support a community cause
  37. Assist a community group with its application for government or philanthropic trust funding
  38. Provide a community group with training sessions in management
  39. Assist a community group to recruit staff
  40. Assign an employee for a specified period of time to a community group to undertake a task or project
  41. Assist a community group to develop policies and procedures for its services, activities and projects
  42. Place a fundraising collection tin, badges, ribbons, lollies or raffle tickets on your shop counter, reception area or staff room
  43. Recycle or re-use as much of your company’s waste as possible
  44. Allow your staff to participate as volunteers regularly or once a year for a community group or cause
  45. Conduct an in-house fundraising event with proceeds going to a local community group or cause
  46. Introduce a voluntary staff salary deduction scheme with the proceeds going to a community cause
  47. Provide a small percentage of the sale of your goods and services for a community group or cause
  48. Collaborate with other companies to work on community projects
  49. Educate your employees about community issues by inviting an informed representative from a community group to speak about local issues
  50. Include the costs of supporting your community in your company’s budget.