Corporate Philanthropy

Recently, I traveled with the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce to Toronto to meet with business and community leaders about how they tackle major challenges such as congestion and infrastructure.

In every meeting, from government officials to CEOs — there was a discussion around philanthropy and the importance of giving back. The discussion centered not just on the good being done but on the marketing value to align your brand with a community engagement strategy. Doing good is good business here and in Canada.

Helping you tell the story of the impact of your business (or industry), including highlighting your community engagement, is part of a comprehensive public affairs strategy. It’s smart brand building and communications strategy and it’s what we do.

Don’t keep your philanthropy siloed — use giving back to emphasize your brand’s core values or commitment to a community.

And if you’re not already, get involved — giving back is not optional. Giving is expected and the more willing you are to recognize the importance and capitalize on the good work you are already doing, the more successful you will be. This is especially true if your customer (or employee...think retention!) is under the age of 30. The next generation is keenly focused on doing business with those who do good.

Corporate philanthropy is so critical to building the brand of a community as a whole that a few years ago the Austin Chamber launched an effort called "Austin Gives" to simply highlight the good work happening by businesses in Austin. Austin Gives is a selling point when the Chamber is trying to recruit a new company to our community. I recently spoke about the importance of community engagement with KEYE and I wanted to share the segment with you.