The Importance of Giving Back
Why your business giving back is a worthwhile investment
Image courtesy of Pixabay and niekverlaan
Around the holidays, the idea of giving back takes front and center stage. Not that we don’t think about it at all the rest of the year, but something about the holidays makes us think about generosity and the significance of investing back into our community becomes more prominent. As business owners, we are not exempt from the importance of giving back.
Giving back doesn’t always have to mean money, although that’s certainly included. Most of the time, the best investment you can make isn’t with your money but with your time and resources. Giving of your time and talents has a way of making a more lasting impact on you the giver than simply writing a check. It builds a stronger connection and relationship between you and the cause you’re giving to; because you’re investing of yourself, you’ll become more connected with the mission of the cause. When it comes to giving back, here are three important truths about generosity:
- There is More Than Enough to Go Around.
This is the concept of abundance – that there are enough clients, resources, time, and money to go around for all of us. Operating from a mentality of abundance instead of lack frees us to be openly generous so we can give with no strings attached. When we give from a mentality of lack, we give begrudgingly and often expect something in return – which takes away from the true joy of giving.
- The Law of Reciprocity.
While you have to give without expecting it to come back around, there is truth in the statement “what goes around, comes around.” Something interesting seems to happen to generous people: the more they give away, the more seems to come into their hands. What we get in return isn’t always monetary, but there is nearly always something deposited back in our lives.
- Generosity Begets Generosity.
Remember hearing about “pay-it-forward” stories from Starbucks, with strangers buying strangers’ coffee for hours? Generosity is inspiring. Your act of giving back will influence others to do the same. As a business owner, you can build a company culture of generosity that creates opportunities for yourself and employees to give back to your community. The affect you can have becomes much broader than just you and the organization you give to. You begin to make a difference in the lives of your community.
Over the coming weeks, we challenge you to find ways to be generous and give back to your community. Maybe it’s doing work for free for a non-profit. Maybe you take your entire team to serve a meal at a homeless shelter. Maybe you’re able to donate the funds an organization needs to complete a project. Be creative and find a way to invest in things that matter. You’ll soon find out it’s more fun than you thought to be generous in giving back.
