Stunning Surprises in Business Giving

Stunning Surprises in Business Giving

Every day as I play a part in the business of giving, I see surprising numbers.

One such surprising number stays with me every day — and it’s NOT the usual numbers we see about giving — like those that tell us how many children are dying through, for example, poor sanitation (for the record it’s 1 child every 18 seconds).

No …. this number is, I think, far scarier. It’s this: using USA statistics as a guide (Source, Giving USA 2011) only 5% of total giving in 2010 came from Corporations.

No, that’s not a misprint or a research ‘goof’ — it really is only 5%. And the year before it was 4%. Staggering isn’t it? So staggering in fact that the organisation I lead is committed to changing it.

The statistic is actually even worse than it sounds. And that’s because most all of that 5% comes from what you and I might refer to as ‘the big end of town’ — the multi-nationals, the large global businesses.

And here’s the problem with that: in most so-called ‘rich economies’ 60-70% of the economy is powered by Small to Medium Scale Businesses or Enterprises (SMBs or SMEs). And many — make that ‘most’ — cannot do what the large corporates increasingly do — hire someone to form a ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ department and (in theory at least) the giving gets done.

But it doesn’t get done in the SME ‘space’ where the ‘power’ for our economy gets its real drive.

For SMEs the mere phrase ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ is a turn-off. To the SME that’s talking to the ‘corporates’ — the people at the other end of town.

And not only that, SMEs are far too busy running their businesses. And they surely can’t create or hire a CSR department. So no giving gets done in this sector — the sector that powers 60-70 % of the economy.

Giving still lacks traction
And even though you know and I know that we’re in an unprecedented age of giving, giving still lacks traction — giving is still not ‘normal’ — giving is still not something that’s woven into the very fabric of business.

But what if it was?

And what if giving was not, as it is so often, an ad-hoc or even a one-off event. The kind of thing that happens when we attend the charity ball or get a group together to support us running a marathon. Or even a ‘disabled’ person playing a keyboard in the subway with a tin-can there for us to drop money into in appreciation.

Put that another way — what if giving was a habit — even better, something that happened automatically?

Take those two thoughts — giving woven onto the fabric of business and giving happening automatically — and apply your mind to this stunning set of numbers:

Now, take those two thoughts again — giving woven onto the fabric of business and giving happening automatically — and imagine a very different world.

Just imagine a world where every time business was transacted, some real good was done. Let your mind race. See if you see things like this:

• You buy a coffee — a child gets access to water

• You sell your book — a tree gets planted

• You pay for your child’s school tuition — a child in Zimbabwe goes to school for a year

• You sell your coaching services — a Social Entrepreneur in India gets coached in running an even better business

• You buy a dress — a child gets clothed

• You stay at a nice hotel — a family gets shelter

• You invoice a client — endangered Orang Utan habitat gets protected

It’s not too hard to imagine it is it? Yet maybe it seems impossible. But it’s not. It’s actually happening right now.

Businesses, all of them SMEs interestingly enough, are linking their products and their services with over 680 projects in 29 countries. And they’re doing great things as a direct result.

Individual businesses are giving across multiple projects and the businesses and their customers are choosing the projects together. That’s what B1G1 does.

Much more impact than you imagine
But of course, there’s much more impact than the 5.1 Million giving activities that have already happened — much, much more.

And that comes back to the perhaps most stunning surprise of all in business giving — people love to give. They really do. Because this is not giving with guilt; this is giving with joy at its very core.

Each day here at B1G1 we get emails saying, “WOW, that felt great”. And we get team members of businesses saying, “We’ve never felt so committed and motivated before.”

Best of all perhaps, it’s simple. As the late Steve Jobs famously said in his last Keynote — this stuff just works.

And that, perhaps, is the most stunning surprise of all. It just works.

Without any doubt, businesses have the power to change our lives. B1G1 is making that possible, every second, every day and in every way.