The world of small business can often seem like a desperate, dog-eat-dog world, with everyone competing for funding, market share and visibility. And it’s easy to give in to cynicism. But for the most part, it’s just a lot of people trying to get by who probably have more in common with one another than they’d think. Yes, that means your competitors too.
And the drive for profit doesn’t have to be an over-riding one. While a lot of column inches are dedicated to the charitable works done by major players – think of the Bill Gates Foundation, for example – trying to make the world a better place isn’t merely the reserve of the super-rich.
A new study by the small business campaign group “peak b” has encouraging news. After surveying over a thousand small businesses, they found that over a third of respondents said profit wasn’t their primary driver; while a staggering 90 per cent felt they had a role to play in supporting community organisations.
Despite the pressures and challenges faced by small businesses every day, over 75 per cent of them said they support schools, charities, food-banks and other such local organisations. While research from social development charity The Greg Secker Foundation found that the public overwhelmingly believe businesses should do more for their communities, the truth is that most of them do more than is realised. Understandably, people in general don’t like to brag about their good deeds for fear of seeming self-aggrandising, but the truth is that the public like to see that the businesses they support are in turn supporting the less fortunate.
The flipside to this, of course, is that a business is still a business, and unless you’re actually running a charity yourself, profit must to some degree be an important goal. But there’s good news here too – according to foundation head Greg Secker, giving to charitable causes increases brand loyalty as well as potentially widening the pool of customers. Even when looked at from a purely business perspective, doing good works is still a net benefit. Everyone likes to think their spending is in some way helping to make the world a better place, and this makes for happier and more loyal customers.
So while charity can be seen as a conscience salving “reward in itself”, it can also have an appreciable effect on your bottom line. Which means everyone’s a winner!
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