Entrepreneurship provides ample opportunities to contribute to the greater good. Whatever drives your conscience, there are easy ways to use your position as a small business owner to help out. And, more often than not, a reputation as a generous, civic-minded entrepreneur will build goodwill and increase customer traffic. Be sure to ask any not-for-profit (NFP) that your business supports to include your business name on newsletters and to add a link to your website from theirs. Taking credit for good works does not make them any less valuable. Most NFPs are happy to publicize those companies that provide support – more sales for you means more donations for them.

Here are five ideas for building social consciousness into your startup:

  1. Budget for Philanthropy: Build an expense line item into your business budget for contributions to your favorite cause. Whether a few cents tacked on to the cost of goods or a small percentage of total sales, the set-aside will add up fast. Handle this account as you do your tax accounts – leave the cash alone and write a check once per quarter.
  2. Sponsor Local Youth Activities: Whether Little League or the Youth Symphony, NFPs for kids are always in need of support. Often, you can sponsor a team for a season for just a few hundred dollars. Your business will get a little advertising, and those kids will have something productive to do.
  3. Encourage Employees to Volunteer: Some businesses offer their employees paid time to volunteer – even one hour per week can really help a busy NFP. Others run ongoing contests among the employees to see who volunteers the most over a period of time (3months is good – not too long, not too short). The prizes don’t have to be extravagant. One small business uses a cheesy sports trophy that is passed around from winner to winner, another simply treats the winner to their favorite lunch. But human nature, such as it is, loves a competition, and both these companies turn in hundreds of hours of volunteer time each quarter.
  4. Trade Company Picnics for Fundraisers: Instead of spending outrageous amounts of cash on boring Christmas parties or annual picnics, plan a volunteer day that your employees might enjoy. Help on a Habitat house, take cookies to a nursing home, sponsor a car wash for a local school. One company with a staff of salesmen takes a half-day each November to run a “Scavenger Hunt” with the employees. Each team is provided a wish list of toys and such from a local homeless shelter and they attempt to collect as many of the items as possible without paying for them (using their persuasion skills…no stealing, of course!). The winning team gets the afternoon off to deliver the goods and bragging rights for a full year.
  5. Join the Conversation: Consider volunteering on committees or Board of Directors (better) for your favorite NFPs. Typically, these positions do not require more than a couple of hours per week, but they are great opportunities to help out while increasing your networking circle.

As you are developing your business idea, keep in mind the issues or causes that are important to you. Consider ways to build philanthropy into your startup from the beginning so that community involvement becomes an essential element of your company culture. Help the community, help your business.

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