How giving keeps on giving
Engagement at work. Values alignment. Purposeful behaviour. Meaningful jobs.
For those of us working to reach talent and HR leaders, we see the shift in the language they are using to support their own candidate and employee experience.
Of course, we all want to make a difference.
I know make a difference to those I work with. And it is always beyond simply applied knowledge, expertise and experience. Sure, I make a difference to their marketing, their lead generation, their content, their client retention. know I often bring clarity, an external perspective, a sounding board and a coaching ear.
And I knew there was more I could be doing through my work than just directly helping them.
I asked how I could make my business into more than the sum of its parts by turning my client work into giving and for it to reach a greater population.
Let Your Client Projects Trigger Giving
One way was to consciously align my business, values, and giving and to use the work I do with my clients to trigger giving to projects around the world via B1G1. Being clear on my values meant that the decision on which projects to support was an easy one. And the UN Goals that resonate with me.
Working with B1G1 means I can easily communicate the impact with my clients: they know that whenever I complete an assignment or project for them, there’s a ripple effect in the wider world.
The key, for me, is that in this way, giving back is incorporated into the business rather than it being a sidecar. And it also feels much more me; I’m able to give little and often and distribute my support over multiple projects so that my work reverberates outwards from my own scope.
The client project might be something small, such as an interview with their client for a case study, a planning or review session with me, or an article; or something bigger like creating a white paper, an integrated product launch, or the design of an entire nurturing campaign. But this is the trigger that contributes towards one of my chosen projects with B1G1.
And while, of course, the point of giving is to give without agenda, that it turns out that giving back through business is a multi-layered experience, that, to be cliché about it, keeps on giving.
Yes, being transparent in your efforts is a strong marketing message, and one that can continue the power of the ripple effect. But it’s so much more valuable in how it enables small business owners to contribute to making a difference.
For me, this is about helping create better opportunities for people to get into employment – and sustainable employment, which means contributing to schooling, equipment, business training, and getting the fundamentals of housing, water and food in place.
The Ripple Effect of Giving
One year on, and I’ve been looking back at the impact my clients and I have made together — and it is a collaboration; without my clients I wouldn’t be in the position to be able to give in the first place.
The work my we've done together this last year has meant I’ve been able to support in ways that astonish me, including:
Training to learn and earn:
127 days of business training to women in Malawi
380 days of vocational training materials to students in Cambodia
168 days of help for beekeepers to run their businesses in Kenya
Helping children learn and develop for the future;
2,161 days of access to e-learning for children in India
350 days of ICT and internet access in Ethiopia
531 days of access to reading materials
40 special learning tools for preschool children
365 days of access to a fun learning environment
96 horticultural training sessions to children in need
The basics to get by:
150 hygiene kits for girls
410 days of access to a toilet in Malawi
565 days of access to life saving water to a family
365 medical support to children in need
3,600 days of irrigation to farmers in a rural village
360 days of vegetable seeds for subsistence farmers in Cambodia
I love that my giving is based on my client activity. And, although they know I contribute on our behalf, there is always a genuine surprise when they see that our one pebble has reached across a whole pond.
Drop me an email if you’d like to see the impact we can have by working together.