One of the key components that has traditionally been incorporated into managing client relationships is corporate responsibility - more readily known as community service or corporate philanthropy. A troubling remark I heard from one of central Florida's business leaders this past week related to being more careful with charitable dollars. When I say troubling, it's because I know from experience that most businesses equate care in charitable giving with cutting back.
Donations have been declining for many social agencies over the past year. But now things are reaching a state of critical proportions at the same time that more people are finding themselves in need of help. Just this morning, my friend, Rob Mellen, President and CEO of Dr. Phillips Charities, was quoted in the Orlando Sentinel, saying that the bottom line is "clearly that there will be less money for us to distribute until the market has turned around."
When we see that foundations, which exist only to distribute charitable dollars, are being forced to cut back, we know that we're in real trouble. Families are going to suffer - children are going hungry and in many cases are in line to endure higher rates of abuse and neglect.
A lot of us have worked to get the message to Florida's legislators, who cut funding to services last session. But we must go beyond the efforts of Florida's People - Florida's Promise.
Rather than cutting back, businesses must find better ways of enriching the community through the donation of time and resources. Mid-size and small companies can learn from some of our country's largest corporations and become more strategic in their community outreach. With a little creativity, even a small company can redirect its resources to develop a signature, community-based program that affects real change by bringing together employees and customers for the common good.
We can take inspiration from the efforts of one of America's largest corporations. According to a recent post on Cone's What Do You Stand For blog - "As economic conditions further unravel, the importance of in-kind programs that help heal local communities and engage employees in meaningful work will only continue to grow."
Adversity has traditionally brought Americans together. Today, America's businesses have an opportunity to band together to shore up critical social services and while doing so, cement strategic relationships.