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Year-End Social Impact Initiatives for Companies

Let’s check out some year-end social impact initiatives!

Did you know that the end of the calendar year is one of the most impactful times for nonprofit causes of all shapes and sizes? Or that companies like yours can get involved in social impact initiatives to make an even greater difference?

In this guide, we’ll explore the basics of corporate philanthropy and end-of-the-year giving. We’ll also provide tried-and-true insights into what your company can do to participate. This will include the following key topics:

  • The Importance of Year-End Giving
  • Ways Your Company Can Get Involved
  • How Corporate Giving Software Helps

Participating in corporate social responsibility at any time of the year can be a great way to engage with your team. You can improve your brand reputation. Most of all, teammates can share in making the world a better place!! Adding a bonus at the end of the year by focusing extra attention on social impact is so helpful for nonprofits everywhere as they rely on increased funding during this time. This helps nonprofits jumpstart their new year on the best page possible.

Let’s begin!

The Importance of Year-End Giving

According to nonprofit fundraising statistics from Double the Donation (DTD), over 30% of total annual giving happens in December, with about 10% of all annual donations coming in the last three days of the year. This figure can be attributed to many reasons, which include ⁠— 

  • An increased sense of generosity surrounding the existing holiday season;
  • Popular global giving opportunities, such as Giving Tuesday;
  • A growing number of fundraising appeals from nonprofit causes during the time;
  • And more!.

Even better, corporate philanthropy can help multiply the impact of the already high levels of individual giving occurring during this time.

For example, a company can expect their staff to feel particularly inclined to give to support their favorite charitable causes during the end of the year giving season. By hosting a dedicated fundraising campaign, gifting a portion of proceeds to nonprofit missions, and / or enhancing employees’ own contributions with volunteer or donation-matching, the company can elevate philanthropy during year-end and see positive benefits all around.

The Selflessly team highlighted our customer Glick Co. in a previous blog — Giving Tuesday Philanthropy Examples. We mentioned how they offer employees a special 3:1 match on Giving Tuesday and a 2:1 match throughout the rest of December!

Ways Your Company Can Get Involved

Interested in participating in year-end corporate philanthropy this giving season? Check out these easy and impactful ways to make a difference;

1. Sponsor a Giving Tuesday campaign.

Giving Tuesday, or the Tuesday immediately following Thanksgiving each year, is a worldwide giving opportunity that encourages people⁠—and brands⁠—across the globe to prioritize philanthropy. For many, this includes giving to or volunteering with nonprofits, and many companies choose to get involved by partnering with social good causes as well.

The official Giving Tuesday website lists a few suggested ways for companies and brands to get involved. These include:

  • Leveraging matching gift programs;
  • Organizing a company-wide volunteer event;
  • Making in-kind donations (such as products or pro bono efforts);
  • Hosting an employee giving campaign to benefit a good cause.

If you’re interested in getting started with year-end corporate philanthropy, participating in Giving Tuesday just might be the perfect way to go!

2. Launch new workplace giving opportunities.

Does your company offer workplace or employee giving benefits for team members to get involved in your philanthropy efforts? If not, now (leading up to the end-of-year giving season) is the perfect time to start!

First, consider which types of programs you’d like to develop (or ask our team for suggestions). This might include ⁠—

Then, set your program criteria (such as a threshold for donations or volunteer hours and your match or grant ratio, or the number of hours allotted for VTO opportunities). And don’t forget to communicate the programs’ existence to your workforce! 

Plus, keep in mind that although you may be launching your new programs just in time for the end of the year, we recommend that you maintain your giving opportunities into the new year and beyond. This keeps participation up.

3. Elevate your existing workplace giving programs.

Just because you host a year-round giving program doesn’t mean you can’t take your initiatives to a new level when the year-end giving season rolls around. In fact, tons of companies use the end of the calendar year to elevate their existing offerings during this time. This makes their philanthropy stand out to employees and consumers alike while leveraging the increased giving spirit to make a larger impact on nonprofit causes.

One of the most common ways to do so relates to a company’s matching gift program. For example, let’s say Company A typically matches donations at a 1:1 ratio up to $1,000 per employee per year. In the month of December, however, they opt to triple employee gifts with a 2:1 ratio and increase their gift cap up to $5,000. This was the Glick Co. example!

Similarly, Company B may offer volunteer grants to employees who volunteer their time with nonprofit causes. Though the typical grant offered equates to $15 per hour spent working with the organization, the company decides to up that amount to $30 per hour volunteered on Giving Tuesday! Teams can accomplish both of these with an online CSR software platform.

If you choose to go this route, you’ll want to communicate the change to your employees ahead of time while also ensuring that your increasing program criteria (and the qualifications for participation) are reflected in your company’s established workplace giving guidelines

4. Incentivize employee giving participation.

In order to provide an optimal employee giving experience, studies show that incentivizing giving is essential. Specifically, we recommend ⁠—

  • Making it as easy as possible for team members to get involved;
  • Giving directly to the causes employees care about;
  • Providing unique rewards for participation in giving programs.

Individuals often want to give to support nonprofit organizations, yet may need a slight nudge to push them in the right direction. Organizing workplace giving opportunities in the first place can be a key step. Also, providing additional ways to motivate team members to partake can lead to substantial benefits for employees, your company, and the causes you contribute to together.

To further drive participation in workplace giving programs in the year-end giving season, you can even go above and beyond when it comes to incentives. For example, you may choose to set a company-wide giving goal. You could also award the team with catered meals, masseuse services, gift cards, and more to celebrate success.

How Corporate Giving Software Helps

Though it’s possible to manage a corporate giving program on your own, equipping your team with the right software can make a huge difference⁠—in terms of simplicity, impact, and more. Here’s how best-in-class tools like Selflessly can help;

1. Get up and running quickly.

It might feel like you already have a ton of tasks on your plate with looming deadlines at the end of the calendar year⁠—maybe you think there’s no way you can take on launching or reoptimizing a corporate philanthropy program. That’s where innovative technology comes in! By having Selflessly help coordinate and manage your program, you’ll save 75% of the time your previously spent!

We love helping you enjoy the vast benefits of corporate giving⁠—particularly in the year-end giving season⁠—without sacrificing the other things on your to-do list.

Want to get up and running before Giving Tuesday? No problem! Reach out to Selflessly for a demo and get started with their solution in a week or two⁠—just in time for the big rush of giving.

2. Increase employee engagement in giving.

When it’s easy to get involved with a company’s workplace giving opportunities, more staff are likely to participate. And the more staff that participate, the higher levels of employee engagement the company can expect to see.

Thus, our intuitive workplace giving platform can make a huge difference in the internal benefits the business sees from its corporate philanthropy investments.

3. Ensure meaningful reporting.

Research on the benefits of CSR for companies indicates that more than 77% of consumers are motivated to purchase from companies committed to making the world a better place and that 88% of people want to know about a company’s CSR efforts. In order to effectively communicate the impact your company is making on society, you need to ensure you have the right data and the right tools to report on your impact. Luckily, corporate giving software can make data collection, analysis, and reporting as simple as possible.

Keep in mind that year-end stats can be some of the most powerful information a company can share when it comes to ensuring meaningful impact. Driving participation in your giving programs at the end of the year allows you the opportunity to further increase your metrics⁠—right up until the last minute.

Wrapping Up

The end of the year is right around the corner, and the time to get your philanthropic ducks in a row is now. Hopefully, these tips and insights will help guide your efforts as you build or amplify your workplace giving initiatives come the year-end giving season.

Best of luck!

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