5 Easy Ways for My Organization to Give Back

Keeping an organization on its feet requires time, focus, and energy. As a result, it can be tough to devote yourself to too much else. The idea of giving back as an organization may not be front and center right now, even if you’d like it to be. Sometimes there just isn’t enough time to do it all. To help with the legwork, we compiled 5 easy ways for your organization to give back. Each option on this list will require little more than a good heart and a little effort during your busiest quarters.

Easy Way My Organization Can Give Back #1: Street Races

Option 1: The Participation Route

There are plenty of street races that raise money for just about any charity you could think of. In other words, there's no requirement that your business put on its own event — not when so many already exist to bring people together and raise up our local communities. So go ahead and tack that charity race flyer up on the breakroom wall. See what happens.

And for folks in Columbus, Ohio:

There's always Pelotonia

Pelotonia is a 3-day bicycle ride event with routes ranging from 25 to 200 miles. Every year, the event raises funds to aid in cancer research. And sure, if you pick one of the more arduous routes you may spend a few extra hours training over the summer, but that’s hardly time lost. Exercise is linked to increased productivity, so incentivizing the event for your staff can have all sorts of benefits.

Option 2: The Sponsorship Route

Not into the extra physical effort? All good. Your business may want to think about sponsoring an event. And there are plenty to choose from. It may be a little obvious, but hey… gift-giving is a love language after all. Link up with an event or charity you want to support, and you may just stumble upon a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Easy Way My Organization Can Give Back #2: Invest in your Environment

Why not put a seed in the ground? It can be as simple as committing to plant one tree for every product purchased during a period of time. With a lot of our forestlands in danger, this is a simple way to support a stronger, healthier international community.

Plenty of companies plant a tree for every purchase. Check out this list for inspiration.

Easy Way My Organization Can Give Back #3: Food Rescue US

At first glance, Food Rescue US might seem odd for this list. It earns a spot, however, sheerly because of how damn convenient it is. Unless you work in the food industry, this will be more of a personal way of giving back, but I’m including it because it’s just so easy to get involved with. You can do your part for your community with nothing more than a 10-minute detour on your commute home from work.

Think of this like the Uber of volunteering. You can pick up quick food runs on the app during time slots that work for you. Then you just roll over to the restaurant, cafe, or grocery listed, pick up a giant bag or two of fresh leftovers, and drive that delivery to its designated food pantry nearby. If you’ve been wanting to volunteer but just don’t have the time, Food Rescue US is a game-changer. A run can take as little as 10 minutes, and it can end up making a real difference.

Easy Way My Organization Can Give Back #4: Point App

For a wider range of volunteering options at your fingertips, take a look at Point. Point is a relatively new app created to make volunteering "just as easy as ordering a pizza." With over 150 nonprofits signed up in Columbus already and plans to expand to a dozen other cities, this is a fantastic, up-and-coming tool for organizing workplace volunteering excursions.

For more on the vision behind Point, check out CEO, Madison Mikhail's recent interview with Forbes.

Easy Way My Organization Can Give Back #5: Discounts for Important Causes

Is there a cause or a particular industry that meshes well with your company's mission? Consider offering your products or services at a special rate. For instance, Chek Creative offers nonprofit organizations 25% off all professional website development services. We do that because we believe standing with cause-focused organizations breeds a better overall environment and nurtures a supportive business community that benefits us all.

Nonprofits are beholden to a greater degree of board oversight than most organizations. Working with those boards usually requires budgetary finesse and a detailed roadmap. As a function of our agency's commitment to the nonprofit industry, we go in prepared to provide everything from the get-go. So the point is this: think about what your company values, produces, or fights for. There may be some great ways you can give back through targeted discounts.

Giving back doesn't have to take very much time at all! Sure it'd be great if the whole office could take a day off to serve meals at the food kitchen, but that may never be feasible. Building strong community and bettering the world is about giving back in little ways where we can. There are so many meaningful ways to plug back into the communities that helped build us, and many of those ways require less than we might expect.