Revolutionise CSR supporting NGOs with skills, not just money

While Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has evolved from a tick-box exercise to a key pillar in supporting communities and building a company’s reputation as responsible corporate citizens, the traditional approach to CSR often prioritises monetary donations, leaving a wealth of corporate expertise untapped.

Attracting and retaining skills is a difficult task for any company but in the non-profit sector, this is exacerbated by budget constraints and salary competition.

An international study found that more than half of surveyed NGOs were struggling to attract skilled staff. The result is that nonprofits experience skills gaps in areas like finance, legal and marketing.

Many charitable organisations lack the expertise or resources to develop the types of campaigns that draw attention and compel people to take action.

Corporates can step in here and dedicate time and resources, and so help fill in the gaps, support awareness, growth and fundraising efforts.

A supported campaign

The Remember To Think Pink campaign, developed by Euphoria Telecom in collaboration with the breast cancer support programme, Reach For Recovery (R4R) is an example of this.

The campaign was entirely executed by Euphoria Telecom's internal marketing team. This approach not only reduced costs but also allowed for a cohesive and targeted campaign that stayed true to Euphoria’s brand and values.

By doing the campaign work internally, Euphoria was also able to redirect the funds that would have gone to an ad agency towards Reach for Recovery’s printing and production costs for the campaign materials.

This means that the organisation has been able to roll out a fully conceptualised campaign, without having to dip into its operational budget.

The campaign is built around using bright pink (the symbolic colour of breast cancer awareness) sticky notes, to remind women to schedule their annual breast exams. This early detection messaging, in English, isiZulu and isiXhosa, is both memorable and actionable. The sticky notes are placed in businesses where women gather to act as a visual reminder to get checked. This is supported by an online and social media campaign, with a specially produced informational video.

Incentivising non-monetary contributions

Why aren’t more businesses doing this? One reason is that there is just no incentive to do it. While donations are tax-deductible, the time and resources spent on developing and executing campaigns are not.

CSR programmes should be about far more than financial incentives, but ensuring that donations of time and skills are treated similarly to monetary donations could encourage more corporates to invest this way.

Whatever the incentive mechanism, the goal should be to encourage corporations to think beyond just writing a cheque.

By tapping into the array of skills they possess, businesses have the opportunity to expand their corporate social responsibility initiatives in a way that supports the excellent work that nonprofits do.

The result is stronger, more effective partnerships that benefit organisations, businesses and most importantly, the communities they serve.