The Importance of Giving Back: Donating Grants to Charity

Charitable donations are one of the most powerful tools companies can use to improve their brand reputation, unlock new opportunities, and even access crucial tax relief.

In today’s world, customers in virtually every industry are beginning to base their decisions on which companies to buy from on their perception of shared values. Studies show if they’re given then choice between two companies offering the same services or products at a similar price, 82% of customers would make their decision based on the philanthropy of each brand.

What’s more, around 75% of consumers today think companies should be giving back more often. Committing to the right strategy for corporate philanthropy could be the best way for you to ensure you can reach your target audience, and earn their loyalty.

Unfortunately, giving back isn’t always easy. Though studies show charitable donations from the UK’s largest corporations have doubled in the past 6 years, many smaller companies struggle to find the additional cash required to support their favourite non-profits.

Let’s explore some of the major benefits any company can access by prioritising charitable donation, and what you can do to make “giving back” easier for your brand.

The Benefits of Giving Back: Why Donations are Crucial

As mentioned above, one of the biggest benefits companies can leverage by donating to charity, is an improved brand reputation. In a competitive landscape, customers base their decisions on who to buy from on their understanding of a company’s values, vision, and mission. In fact, millennials are up to 70% more likely to spend money with brands that support the right causes.

However, the ability to appeal more to your target audience isn’t the only advantage you can access if you choose to make more charitable donations. Some of the biggest benefits of giving back include:

1. Tax Relief

Taxes are a core concern for virtually any business, large or small. In the UK, your limited company will be required to pay less corporation tax when you give money, equipment, stock, and other valuable assets to charity. The amount of tax relief you get can vary, but charitable giving can be an excellent way to reduce your bills at the end of each financial year.

This means the actual cost of donating to charity is often a lot lower than most companies realise. You’ll be paying less to the government, and more to the causes you genuinely want to support.

2. Brand Differentiation

In a competitive landscape, it’s notoriously difficult for any brand to set themselves apart from other similar companies. You can use unique marketing strategies to showcase your personality, and compete with other brands based on your prices and feature options. However, few things will endear your company to your target audience more than a generous attitude.

Over half of customers say they would switch to a company that supports a cause they believe in. Donating to charity doesn’t just differentiate you from your competition, it also means you’re more likely to bring their customers to you.

3. Improved Visibility

Donating to charity is a great way to boost awareness of your brand or business. When you give something to a charitable cause, they’re likely to share press releases and news about you to their audience, which means you could reach a wider range of new customers. Some charities will even place your logo or emblem on their shirts, marketing materials, and websites.

You can also work with other promotional companies, newspapers, and magazines in your industry to highlight the work you’re doing on a philanthropic level. This earned media helps to strengthen your brand reputation, while giving customers more ways to find you online.

4. Enhanced employee morale

Skill shortages across the UK, combined with trends like the rise of hybrid and remote work, and the Great Resignation, have made it increasingly difficult for brands to find the talent they need. Your business relies on access to excellent employees to ensure you can deliver exceptional services and products. However, in order to attract new team members, you need to do something special.

Offering good wages and benefits is a great start, but you’re more likely to appeal to a wider audience of talented team members if you can give them a cause to get behind. More employees than ever before say they’re now looking for more “meaning” in their work. Supporting a charitable cause can help you to boost employee engagement and retention.

5. Make the world a better place

Perhaps the biggest benefit of a corporate charitable initiative, is it gives you a chance to support a worthy cause. You can search for an initiative that shares your specific values or vision, or appeals to the values you know your customers have. No matter which initiative you choose to support, you benefit from the knowledge you’re actually making the world a better place.

After all, charities are responsible for everything from powering healthcare innovation, to serving underserved communities and groups. Supporting any of these entities means you can commit to more than just “making a profit” with your business.

Making Donations Easy with UCAdvisor’s Transformation Fund

While giving something back to charitable groups can have a host of powerful benefits for your business, there are a number of challenges preventing some companies from getting involved. If you’re running a relatively small business, or have a limited budget, it can be difficult to find the cash required to make a meaningful donation to the right cause.

Many brands are already dealing with a number of factors which are influencing their ability to give back. Not only are there countless economic issues to deal with in today’s world, following the pandemic, but organizations are being placed under increased pressure to rapidly evolve, innovate, and invest in new initiatives. It’s little wonder there isn’t much money left over for charity.

Fortunately, even if you don’t have a huge budget to work with, there are still ways you can give back strategically, and leverage all the benefits mentioned above. The Digital Transformation Fund created by UCAdvisor could be the ideal way to engage in a corporate philanthropy strategy, without removing critical cash from your resources.

This free form of financial support is designed to help companies reduce the costs of upgrading their technology, and powering digital transformation. However, there are no limitations on how the grant can be spent. Once you receive your money, if you already have the cash you need to power your own digital transformation, you can use your funding as a charitable donation instead. Organisations can also ask UCAdvisor to make their donations to an organisation directly to save time.

How to Donate to Charity with UCAdvisor

The Digital Transformation fund from UCAdvisor is a highly flexible and versatile form of funding, created for evolving companies in the digital landscape. Designed to reduce the barriers to expansion and innovation, this fund is automatically made available to every client who engages with UCAdvisor when purchasing a new solution from a partner technology provider. Even companies who have already begun discussing their options with vendors can still ad UCAdvisor to the interaction retrospectively, to access transformation funding.

The transformation fund is powered through the commissions UCAdvisor receives from its suppliers. UCAdvisor is part of the UK referral channel network, which allows us to earn commissions from a range of vendors when we help connect new customers to their services. We’ve created a unique process which bundles the commissions we receive into a fund for all of our clients.

The UCAdvisor Transformation fund has no limitations on requirements on how it should be spent, and partner clients have used it to pay for everything from professional services and early exit fees to charitable donations. With UCAdvisor’s transformation fund, you can choose whether you want to donate part or all of your funding to a charity of your choice.

You can choose any registered UK charity to receive the funding, and we’ll help you to manage the process every step of the way. We can even give you an insight into exactly how much funding you’re going to receive before you sign anything with your new vendor.

Give Something Back with UCAdvisor

Making corporate donations to charity is a powerful way for businesses in all industries to connect with their target audience, generate opportunities for growth, and even engage their employees. However, we know finding the cash for a charitable donation can be easier said than done in today’s market. That’s why we made the flexible UCAdvisor Transformation fund to help.

We can guide you through each step of applying for your fund and sending it to your preferred charity, even if you only want to donate a portion of your grant. Reach out to the team at UCAdvisor today to see how we can provide you with the free funding you need for your charitable donation.