Business & Community

Last week at the Cape Chamber First Friday Coffee one of our panelists mentioned the broader importance of a healthy community for their business success and the role they play in supporting and investing in the community in different ways. Aligning business values and goals with community support can be a great strategy for success.

For businesses or organizations, the opportunity to support a variety of groups, programs or activities can often be overwhelming. Retail locations can sometimes see multiple requests per day for contributions, donations, or other similar asks.

While most business owners or leaders would love to support every worthy cause or event, resources are always limited and deciding on when and where to invest is an important part of an organization. Asking a few simple questions may help in the decision-making process and can also help individuals or organizations in identifying who to seek out support from.

1) Does this align with your business values? Investing in your organization’s common priorities is a simple way to communicate and support the issues important to you.

2) Does it support your employees or customers? Investing your resources in ways that support your employees or customers helps build and maintain trust and commitment and can have a long-term benefit for your organization.

3) Is there a potential ROI for the business? Relationship building, marketing, or branding recognition or simply helping to build a community your business wants to be a part of can all create a tangible return on your investment that you can easily quantify.

As business leaders we have the opportunity to help support and build the community we want and need. Thank you for the work and support you do as Chamber Members.