How to Make a Difference as a Company

Everybody, even the CEO of a big company, wants to leave their mark on the world—creating a positive difference for others. We all have the power to make a difference, but how much more as a company, a collective group of people, with the resources and drive to make an impact!

It can be daunting to know where to begin and as a manager or owner, you may become frustrated and think a simple financial donation will suffice. While the idea is true, there are many more meaningful and powerful ways to make a difference as a company. Even if you’re a smaller company without the financial means to make a large donation, there are a variety of options to leave your mark on the world and make a positive difference for your fellow man.

Community Involvement

A great place to start is right where you’re at! It’s a cliché we know well, but it’s a cliché that works. While financial donations are appreciated, bringing your employees together to serve at a food pantry or collect donations themselves is both a team building experience and more personal to the community itself. Whether it’s helping with a new park for the children in the neighborhood or collecting canned food products for your local pantry, this a great step to make a difference in the lives of those around you. A great place for individuals and companies to find service projects specific to their area is JustServe, a website that connects with charities and foundations that are seeking volunteers.

Other projects may include packing lunches for kids, handing out blankets to the homeless, and visiting schools or families to teach useful skills such as managing finances or career development. There are many reasons and options on how companies can give back, and one of them as reported by Forbes is actually boosting your career!

Service Projects

Once you’ve made an impact on your community, you might want to branch out even further to those who are in even more need. There are a variety of places that offer companies an amazing opportunity to go to isolated areas and provide shelter, clean water, and healthy food for the residents. Young Living is one such company that has made it their goal to empower others so that they may lead a positive life and become self-reliant, and ultimately helping others.

If your company doesn’t have the means for a service trip, there are still ways you can serve around the world. Female sanitary products are in great demand in many areas, and charities are happy to work with individuals or companies to make these products for women in other countries. Not only would your company be helping others, but this too is a community and team building project, in which the company could even invite others from the community to participate. There are many ideas that companies can take into consideration.

Stress Management and Resources

While focusing on others, it’s also important for a company to recognize their own employees and provide them with the resources and help they need. Whether it’s a free tree at Christmas time for families, offering a helpful Employee Assistance Program (EAP), or even on-site counseling and stress management techniques, companies are more successful when they have happier employees. We all know stress can crush our ability to perform our jobs. There has even been a study conducted by the International Journal of Nursing Practice, in which indicated nurses who used lavender oil were less stressed and more effective in their jobs.

Many studies point to helping others as a way to help ourselves, whether it be with life-satisfaction or the success of our careers. Following these ideas and resources will lead to improved culture inside and outside the workplace, creating a positive view from the community and consumers, thus driving sales, but more importantly building positive business relationships and creating a changing impact on those in the community and around the world.