December has arrived, bringing with it the holiday season and, for many businesses, the end of the fiscal year. There are a multitude of reasons to help our animals during this time of giving and just as many ways to do so. These are some of our favorite…
Employee Giving and Company Gift Matching
We’ll start with this one because the holiday season tends to put everyone in the giving mood. Many companies choose to establish a gift-matching program which further inspires their employees to participate. The company guarantees to match any donation to a registered charity they would like to support in order to provide their staff with some direction. Morale is given a boost because the employees are excited to make double the difference and the matched donation is a nice tax write-off for the company. We call that a win-win.
Volunteer Day
Have a member of your team round up volunteers and get in touch with the CCSPCA to organize a volunteer day (or days). Depending on the size of your staff, your company may have a lot of hands to get dirty by volunteering at the shelter, as there are always chores to be done. Whether your team is cleaning out kennels, walking dogs, or giving an animal some much-needed love and attention, you’ll be making a big difference in the lives of the animals in need at our shelter.
Show Your Appreciation
The heroes on staff at the CCSPCA work tirelessly to improve the lives of our shelter’s residents, but like any job it can become a little routine. Grab a few members of your team and a few pizzas and drop by to say “thanks” for doing everything they do to help these animals. A happy staff makes for even happier animals and that’s something every company can get behind!
Online Sharing
Whether your business has mastered social media or just signing up for a Facebook profile, you can help to find our animals new homes. Make it a point to share some of the online profiles of our adoptable animals each week, or the fliers for our adoption events, and you’ll be amazed at the response you receive. You’ll be showing your customers your giving side and saving lives at the same time.
Collect Donations
Everyone has a few items around the house that would help our animals. Start a collection of much-needed donation, ranging from old towels to dog food to cameras. Your unused items will help the shelter animals and staff more than you think. For ideas on what to collect, check out our Wish List.
Donate Proceeds
Donate a portion of your proceeds and you may see your overall sales and profits actually increase. We live in the age of the increasingly conscientious consumer and people want to see their money going to support a good cause. If you can help them achieve that with something they already buy, you’ll be creating very happy customers. You may donate a portion of the sales from a product or service, your profits for a period of time, or even the sales from an event. Get creative and your donation may be leveraged into one of your most successful marketing strategies. Talk about a smart move!
Transaction Giving
Your point of sale system may allow you to round up a customer’s sale to the nearest dollar and donate the extra change to the charity of your choice. If not, think about creating a donation box at each register to make it easy for customers to donate. Every little bit helps.
In-Kind Giving
Donations in-kind are an increasingly popular way of supporting your favorite cause. Donate your product or service and you’ll be helping animals while getting some great exposure for your business.
Money
There certainly isn’t anything wrong with donating cash. In fact, we quite like it! Your donations are always 100% tax deductible. To learn more about how to help, visit our Donations Page.
The CCSPCA helps a huge number of animals in need each year and there are lots of ways to help us do that. Not all of the options we’ve listed make sense for every business but pick one or two that work for your company and get started helping animals today!