Should you mix business and charity?

An important responsibility of businesses in their locality is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Companies are expected to give back to the community they are located and that is helping them to thrive. There are several ways companies can give back to their communities including through scholarship for children, through the establishment of hospitals, and other facilities that will benefit the community. It might also be through supporting a nice cause such as a donation to cancer research, children’s hospital, or other similar causes. This article will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of mixing business and charity.

Advantages of mixing business with charity
The major advantages of mixing business with the charity are discussed subsequently.

Could help you gain more customers
When people know that you are supporting a particular charity, people who are interested in that charity are likely to patronize you. They would know that a percentage of your earnings is going to that charity and that means a percentage of their money when they patronize you are going to that charity. They would embrace the opportunity to get what they want, while at the same time, contributing to supporting a charity that they are interested in. This, mixing business and charity could help you make more customers. In the long run, the extra profit you will make as a result of being involved in that charity will be more than the amount that you are spending on charity. You can read about good causes to know which good causes you can support. If you want a heads up, you can read about The Giving Project to know if it sounds like a charity you will be interested in.

You might get some tax exemptions
There is some charity that you could engage in that could help you with tax exemptions in some cities and countries. You might want to look out such provisions and see how you can take advantage of it. It could go a long way to help you save some money when you are exempted from paying certain taxes for supporting a charity.

You might get extra support from others
Other people know that you are supporting that charity that will be willing to pay more than the actual worth for the good they are buying. Their purpose will be that you put the extra amount they are giving you into the charity as well. That way, you will be able to contribute more to charity and get better results.

The disadvantage of mixing business and charity
The disadvantage of mixing business and charity is discussed subsequently.

Not keeping all your profits to yourself
The major disadvantage of mixing business and charity is that you will not have all the money you have made to yourself. This is considering you are using some part of the money for charity purposes. The best way to approach this will be to use a particular percentage of the profit, probably between 5 percent and 10 percent of the profit. When you do that, you would know that you are still keeping 90 percent of your profit. As already discussed, there are chances that this disadvantage might not apply as you might be making more than the amount you are spending on the charity on profit, solely from customers that would not have patronized you if you were not supporting that charity. Even if not, at least, you would be making an impact in the community, which should be worth it for you.