by John Boitnott
Modern society gives some great rewards to entrepreneurs who find what people need and want, and provide it. This exchange is huge part to the free market philosophy that has led to much prosperity (although unfortunately not for everyone). Successful business people are well rewarded for their ability to provide what society wants. Sometimes these people make for good philanthropists, even if many are still stingy with their wealth.
Charitable acts are performed without the expectation of direct financial gain, but they certainly are not without their own rewards. Here are four of the major ways that successful business people and even you can benefit by giving to charitable causes.
1. Building respect and a good reputation in the community.
A company’s leaders can identify needs within the community or ask prominent local organizations what they need help with, and make targeted efforts to contribute. The relationships formed between customers and prominent community members can be of great value to the company in the future. When businesses help other people, those people tend to want to support the company in return. Building a reserve of goodwill in your community means there will be people there to back you up and speak up on your behalf in the future.
A now-classic example of this is Facebook. The company’s move to the old Sun Microsystems campus in Menlo Park a few years back and raised concerns from people in the community about the effect all those new Facebook employees might have on the city and its infrastructure. There were thoughts from some that it might cost the city more than help it in the long run. Facebook spent millions of dollars in the area on things like improving bike trails to reduce traffic impacts from all the new workers coming in and out of the area each day. The company also famously donated $120 million to schools near the campus, a move which generated quite a bit of positive publicity, but also the negative opinions of those who felt the social giant “bought off” the community (haters are gonna hate, as they say).
