When a business opens its doors, it is important for them to realize that their customers and their employees are their neighbors as well. Fostering strong ties with the local community can help grow solid roots and also improve company morale, which significantly helps the success of the organization. However, not all businesses can afford to put a lot of time and money into community programs.
Most start-up companies cannot put very much back into their community right away, but they can make sure they do not discourage it. If an employee volunteers his or her weekend time for a cause, the start-up should not discourage that employee from spreading the word and possibly recruiting a few other employees.
Once a business gets to the stage where they might spare a bit of time, it should encourage employees to join volunteer organizations and even set aside one day a year or quarter to do community work.
The next stage of community involvement is one in which an organization can afford to set aside time as well as money to invest in the local area. CCCR Research and Policy Development explored the rationale for private firms taking part in the economic revitalization of a community and found that they are "win-win" situations. They received grants to "identify the best existing practices for companies seeking to improve economic development in their local communities" and then set up models to increase social welfare in local areas and result in a positive bottom line for the businesses involved.
Expedia, Inc. has arrived at this stage. On January 1, 2004, they began to offer five $5,000 community grants twice a year. Marj Charlier, Director of Community Relations at Expedia in Washington State, explained their program to HR.com in a recent interview.
Looking to strengthen their ties with their local community, Expedia decided to engage employees at the same time by involving them in the process. Expedia asks its employees to nominate worthy causes in the community, and then every employee anonymously votes on which organizations will receive the grants. They have six months to submit their nominations, which can be just a page or so describing the good works that the particular group does on a regular basis. The voting takes place in May and in November, and the grants are presented shortly afterward.
For the first set of grants this year, 20 charities were nominated and 120 out of 900 employees voted at the Seattle location. For the second set of grants, 30 Puget Sound, non-profit organizations were nominated by 29 employees, and 255 employees voted. Charlier is very pleased with how quickly the popularity of the program is growing and says she receives a lot of very positive feedback from the employees. Seven employees have joined the ranks of regular volunteers since the program began.
The organizations that received the latest set of grants are Habitat for Humanity, Feed Washington, Fred Hutchinson Climb to Fight Breast Cancer, Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, and Second Chance Ranch. To further encourage community participation, employees must be involved in the organization they nominate.
"Our business purpose was to increase employee loyalty and engagement," said Charlier. A recent Cone/Roper Corporate Citizenship Study, which states that more than three-quarters of employees feel that a company´s commitment to causes is an important factor in deciding where to work, helped Charlier decide on this program for Expedia. She wanted to design the program around the interests of the employees, who are mostly young and highly educated, and give them ownership in it.
In this charitable program, Charlier feels that the employees are becoming more engaged and more loyal not only because they are more involved in the community, but also because they are more involved with their company´s decisions. She feels it is a win-win situation for Expedia, their employees, and their community.