LOOK AROUND
Look around at your own business and the markets you serve. Do you have opportunities to offer pro-bono work or discounted service to charitable causes?
Mortenson Construction is a national building contractor based in Minneapolis, Minn., with offices across the country. Mark Sherry, managing director of the company’s office in Brookfield, Wis., says charitable donations of all kinds are a standard budget item – 1.5 percent of pre-tax earnings, not counting the time individual companies may donate for certain services.
Mortenson has a formal process to evaluate charitable work. “You don’t want to just say no, and you don’t want to just say yes,” Sherry says. “We don’t have an open checkbook, but we have a pretty high budget to be able to do that.” A key is to choose projects that employees care about or are the priorities of major customers.
If Mortenson staffers are loyal to a particular charity, that group will jump ahead of charities that simply cold-call the company. Mortenson is a large company, but its principles easily adapt to small businesses. They include:
Set a benchmark for charitable and pro-bono work. You don’t have to give 1.5 percent of earnings. Some business owners use charitable work as a personal incentive: They set a high standard for contributions, and that helps motivate them to work harder.
Set criteria that will boost buy-in from employees or key customers. If you have several employees, consider establishing a committee to screen charity requests.
Keep books on the work. Your records don’t have to be elaborate, but they should be detailed enough so you can figure out whether you’re meeting your benchmark. It also helps make sure you aren’t giving so much work away that your business suffers.
