Expert Advice

You reap what you sow

Carl Hopkins, star of Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire examines how social enterprise and charity involvement can add another dimension to your business.

Jumping on board the charitable and ethical bandwagon as a basis to create or move your business forward may seem an easy, obvious and even altruistic thing to do but is it really?

I spent 23 years of my career focusing on shareholder value but now, as a ‘serial entrepreneur’ and sometimes so-called ‘social entrepreneur’, I aim to make room around the board table for stakeholders from the third sector wherever possible within my new businesses.

This is not down to some personal mission or eureka moment since my taking part in Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire, but because in business we rely on people; as employees, investors, partners and customers. And we have to acknowledge that these people, these individuals, have interests and concerns outside of our business relationship. Interests that affect them, their families and their communities. In other words - the people and places that our businesses depend upon. So if we, as business creators and owners, can support those concerns through our own CSR policies then surely that makes us ‘better’ employers? This in turn makes our companies better companies to work at and, in the future, for.

But are CSR policies a wise investment in your own business plans for both the recruitment and retention of staff? This immediately throws into question; do businesses ever do these things in a truly ‘altruistic’ way? Or are they simply adopting CSR policies as part of a HR strategy, peer group pressure, a response to government edits, a requirement within a tendering process or a methodology of enhancing their brand to consumers and staff alike? Whatever the motivation, CSR as an industry within any industry, is growing year on year.

The easiest way to link business with charity is simply to donate ‘corporate’ time; your services or the time from your staff. You could simply encourage giving through staff payroll; schemes such as Geared for Giving are highly tax beneficial for both the charities and businesses alike. Potentially easier methods to support good causes may be that your business could simply give a percentage of sales or profits to a nominated initiative. I myself adopt similar approaches within two of my businesses. agencybods.co.uk is a small recruitment boutique which donates money to a breast cancer charity for every candidate CV we receive, while Homo-supplements.co.uk which markets fitness supplements, equipment and apparel, donates 5% off first orders to GMFA, an AIDS focused charity for gay men. Other businesses are built simply to support the third sector; nearly everyone has heard of Just Giving which enables people to use an online presence to collect sponsor money for a variety of charitable events.

Last year I became part of a team that launched JumbleAID.com which exists to not only encourage the re-cycling and re-using of unwanted items that may have a second or third life, but also raises money for all UK registered charities while reducing landfill. The launch of JumbleAID.com has shown how forward thinking charities can provide you with a marketing channel to their supporter base, but it has also highlighted that many charities are not embracing online solutions when it comes to fundraising issues.

And hot off the press, this month I will be launching a new business promoting ethical birthday parties for children while donating money to charities. PartiesAroundTheWorld.co.uk is the idea of my business partner who made her money through launching and building an ethical travel business, i-to-i.com. So the area of ethical and charitable support can prove to be a real inspiration for the would-be ‘greentrepreneur’! One issue I have seen becoming more prevalent during this ‘credit crunch’ is a shift in attitudes of the media and therefore the public. It seems that prior to the economic downturn there was very much a ‘save the world’ agenda which prompted a greater interest in ‘world-saving businesses’. But now in the darkness of the current economic climate, the mood of the populace seems to be more ‘save yourself’; save your money, your house, your job. And this less than giving agenda can damage those businesses borne in a more giving time.

But times will change so we simply need to hang in there if our businesses depend on a caring, sharing attitude or perhaps there is now an opportunity to launch new initiatives that can capitalise on the fact that there may be more reason than ever to help causes that support the disengaged, dismissed, disappointed and dysfunctional!

I have to say, I have found that giving money to charities is not an easy thing to do, unless you are doing it on prime-time TV! You may be surprised to find that your business bank frowns at you when you announce your wish to give to less fortunate people than yourself, as to them, it is a risk that you are collecting money on behalf of third parties, i.e. the charities.

Their worry is that should your venture go ‘pop’, they may be left holding the can, or in this case the collecting tin, and end up having to pay the wide-eyed and cup-handed charities the donations you owe them. However, there are bodies in place to help you, whether it is HMRC with their insights into Gift Aid or organisations such as Geared for Giving and the Charities Trust who can help collect and distribute funds to the relevant charities.

More and more consumers are being made aware of the ethical and moral issues that touch all of our lives both in and out of business. People are not looking to be lectured about the issues on the whole - they know them and even understand them and the recognition of CSR and its role is appearing at the highest level within the biggest businesses around the globe. So don’t miss out on the multiple benefits of social entrepreneurship and find our how you can add another dimension to your bow.

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