How to Make a Real Social Impact Without Spending Money

Doing good is something that more and more business owners are concerned with. On the one hand, we all need meaning in our lives, a bigger purpose than just making money. On the other, we are all too busy keeping our businesses afloat and trying to grow them by making money indeed.

Using your business as a tool for social good is highly effective. It allows you to create positive change while focusing on where you invest most of your time. It’s like killing two birds with one stone. Through your company’s social engagement, you can not only contribute to the greater good but also feel like you are doing something meaningful with your life. Something that matters and goes beyond generating revenues.

As a management consultant specializing in business growth and philanthropy, I often meet business owners grappling with tough decisions. They want to contribute to social causes but struggle with limited budgets. This conflict leaves them feeling torn.

And I often need to remind them that money is hardly the only resource you can contribute. If you cannot make consistent, focused donations aligned with your strategy and business model, it’s better not to donate at all. One-off donations often fail to create a significant or lasting impact.

If you happen to be in the same situation, why not consider other roads to make a difference? The options are endless. Think about all the other resources you have at your disposal such as time, knowledge, skills, and of course human resources.

A great idea for example is teaching someone what you know and giving them the skills they will need in life. That way you make a direct, sometimes even more meaningful, impact on somebody’s life.

You might not be able to donate to a charity every month. However, you can create an in-house program to support these young people. This could give them a better chance in life. Let them spend time in different departments and observe various tasks. Encourage them to take on responsibilities. Involve them fully in the entire process.

The experience they may gain in say 6 months will be worth more than 2 years in college. At the very least, it will give them a chance in the labour market.

Apart from not spending money that may or may not effectively impact somebody, investing time and a little bit of effort into the future younger generation has several other upsides. Here’s a few:

Spot a talent

Loyalty

Employee retention is a huge challenge today for all sorts of companies both large and small. Millennials entering the workforce over the last 15 years are not like previous generations seeking and settling for stability. They are always in search of the new and unexplored, they want to try things. No surprise that a survey by Future Workplace (an organisation aimed at dealing with HR issues) called “Multiple Generations @ Work” shows that Millennials stay at a job for less than 3 years.  One would assume that taking on a young person and teaching them everything would make them more willing to commit to your organisation for longer. Especially if you give them the chance to give back themselves. Something that most Millennials are defined by is indeed their strong need for meaning and desire to be socially engaged.

Happier employees

The above being said, such an initiative might also be great for your company morale and the retention of your current employees. Allowing them to share their knowledge and contribute to a greater good in doing so would boost your employees’ motivation as it gives them a sense of a bigger purpose. The need for doing good is one of our main human instincts and it brings us joy and happiness but also satisfaction.

Benjamin Franklin once said:

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

I believe that’s a saying we can all relate to. There are several ways, different from donating money, which might create a much bigger social impact. Investing time and effort into involving people might be one of the best approaches as it means that you are impacting the life of more than one person.  The person you’ve decided to involve and indirectly the people in that person’s life.

If you would like to know more about incorporating a social element into your business model and find out different ways of doing so, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. As a business consultant specialising in incorporating social impact into businesses and with extensive experience in a variety of industries, I will be happy to help you grow your business but also your social impact.