Why Community Support Matters
A business is a guest in the place it operates. A guest that takes and never gives back gets remembered for the wrong reason.
This page isn’t a sales tool. It’s a short, honest piece on why we think every business of any size should be doing more for the communities that supported it on the way up. You’re free to disagree, and plenty of people we like and respect do. But it’s our position and we wanted to write it down somewhere.
The argument, in three parts
- One. The communities we operate in are not optional.
Every employee we have lives somewhere. Every customer we serve is a person, not a logo. Every supplier sends us an invoice that pays a mortgage and a school run. The economic and social fabric a business floats on isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the floor. - Two. Time given is more useful than money given.
A cheque is welcome and we write our share. But the work most small charities and community groups need is skilled, specific and slow. A local food bank doesn’t need a £500 donation as much as it needs someone who can spend two hours fixing the volunteer rota system. Skilled time is in shorter supply than cash, and we have skilled time in abundance. - Three. It is good for business.
Not in the cynical sense of marketing PR, although it doesn’t hurt that either. It’s good for business because the team that does it stays longer, learns faster, and looks at problems differently. Twenty-five years of running an agency tells us the ones who give time become the most useful members of the team.
What we’d ask you to do
If you run a business, ringfence some hours. They don’t have to be many.
Pick a cause that means something to your team, not something that looks good on a press release, and stick with it for long enough to make a difference.
Twelve months minimum. Five years if you can.
Want to talk to us about your community programme?
We’re not consultants on this. But if you want to compare notes with someone who’s been doing it a while, the kettle’s on.