11.20.2018
Spread the Cheer – Giving Tuesday Is Almost Here
The first Tuesday after Thanksgiving was declared Giving Tuesday in 2012 by New York’s 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation to encourage giving and philanthropy during the holiday season. The hashtag #GivingTuesday was created to leverage the power of social media and to connect diverse groups of people around this common purpose. At Faith Technologies, we think it is the perfect time to celebrate our community involvement activities from throughout the past year. Through our commitment to giving, we hope to inspire others to find ways to give back as well; whether it’s donating or volunteering, every little bit can make a big difference.
Earlier this year, Faith Technologies surveyed our employees to help us learn more about the causes that are important to them and what types of giving programs they’d like to see added. As a result, Faith will launch several new initiatives to help our employees connect to their communities in 2019. This includes designating Faith employees as community captains at our locations across the country, to help drive involvement within our local communities.
Faith has also started to share more stories, photos and opportunities for giving, both internally and externally to build awareness and excitement around giving back. For example, employees participated in our recent pink shirt What’s Your Why campaign to support breast cancer awareness. The campaign encouraged employees to share their photos and stories with us, which helped to build team camaraderie and awareness throughout our locations.
Click on this image for a short video recap of Faith Technologies’ 2018 Community Giving ActivitiesFor some it may feel uncomfortable to share their good works in such a public way. We’ve been taught to downplay our acts of goodwill and to expect nothing in return. The quotation “Good deeds should be done with intention, not for attention,” discourages recognition and focuses on the purpose. For businesses this is a delicate balance, since companies often do receive perceived value and recognition for their charitable support. In a report published by Project ROI, corporate responsibility has the potential to increase sales by 20 percent, increase customer satisfaction by 10 percent or more, and reduce employee turnover rates by 25-50 percent. More and more studies are revealing the bottom-line impact of corporate giving and employee satisfaction that comes from community involvement.
Yet, this win/win shouldn’t diminish the significance of its impact or make the corporate gift any less noble. In fact, these mutually-beneficial community connections represent true partnership and collaboration, which result in better long-term solutions and a deeper commitment to the cause. The true winner is the community, which benefits from a well-connected, socially responsible and caring society.
Thankfully, corporations are giving more dollars than ever; recent figures by The Giving USA Foundation show that corporate donations have already reached more than $20 billion in 2018. The impact of this giving is even greater when leveraged with volunteer support and collaborations. Research also shows that giving is contagious and can spur a ripple effect of generosity throughout our communities. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science found that when one person behaves generously, it inspires observers to behave generously later toward different people, ultimately spreading the goodwill from person to person. Giving also evokes gratitude which is found to be a key element to our health and well-being.
On Giving Tuesday, don’t be afraid to celebrate your charitable giving, showcase your volunteer involvement and spread the cheer. You just might inspire someone else to get involved too.
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