Community comes first because, without the community, there wouldn’t be any businesses. During the 21st century, many companies have started to invest more into the communities surrounding their businesses. Some of these may concentrate on community growth, while some may concentrate on the environment. These initiatives and programs are called CSIs or Corporate Sustainability Initiatives. If your company is growing, you must start investing in the community or initiating your own CSIs.
Invest in Community Businesses
This might be right in your alley. It’s quite common for outside businesses such as franchises to invest in community businesses because this helps them grow. For example, if you’re a car manufacturing company, you can invest in local auto-repair shops to do scheduled vehicle maintenance for your consumers.
This is fairly common for many states with big car manufacturing companies, which is also applicable for car dealerships. This is just one example. There are many ways to invest in community businesses. Just do your research, and think which community businesses can benefit your company.
Invest Directly into the Community
Another way you can become a community-friendly business is by investing directly in the community. This can include community infrastructure, economic growth, and more. One example of this is Microsoft’s $500 million pledge for affordable housing in Seattle. This easily gave the city needed homes for its ever-growing housing crisis. Another example is Salesforce pledging $18 million to schools around the Bay Area. This is to give better quality education to both children and teenagers alike.
Now you might think that you can’t do such a thing because you don’t have millions of dollars in your company. That is certainly true, but it shouldn’t stop you from doing the same thing but on a much smaller scale. Pledging a couple of thousand dollars to build a community greenhouse can make a big difference in how community members view your company. So give it a shot and see what infrastructure you can pledge to the community near you.
Environmental Responsibility
If you’re running a business that relies on using natural resources such as fossil fuels, soil, oil, and many more, you must take care of the environment that surrounds it. One way to do this is to use environmentally-friendly ways to extract these natural resources. For example, a company like Vivakor uses top-notch oil separation technology to prevent contamination of the surrounding water.
Another example is Shell, which builds irrigation systems specifically for their oil production to taint the nearby community’s water supply. These are just many ways a business can take care of the environment while not completely revising its operation needs and goals.
When thinking of how your business can be environmentally friendly, you should first think about your products and services. Ask yourself, do my products use materials that are harmful to the environment, such as plastics? If yes, then think of a way you can change the material. If you can’t change the material, then think of ways to lessen it. You can also launch community campaigns and initiatives that teach communities how to dispose of your products. You can also launch community programs and initiatives that may replenish the natural resource you are using.
For example, if you’re a business that relies heavily on lumber, you can launch a tree-planting program every month. There are many ways to take responsibility for the environment. Although it might be costly, it’s a good investment in the long run because it will eventually make your company sustainable.
Start a Corporate Team Event
Everyone loves sports, especially if the whole community can be a part of it. Running a corporate team event centered on sports such as basketball, football, baseball, and so much more can engage your business with the community. It’s also a worthwhile experience when done right. Many members of the community will remember it for years to come. And if you do it every year, you will be remembered and loved by community members.
So think of an activity that the community will enjoy the most. What is the community known for? What sports do they like? Feel free to survey them before you start a corporate team event. This will ensure that you’ll find the event that everyone will like in your community.
These are four ways to become a community-friendly business. They are fairly simple, and you don’t necessarily have to spend a lot. With a bit of creativity and intuition, you should create initiatives and programs that will engage your company and community members. Always remember that if you invest in your community, the community will invest back in you.
